The past few weeks have definitely been a learning experience for me in the journalism world. Just when I felt I was getting the hang of writing long-form radio stories with creative sound and writing, I had to completely switch gears and churn out several quick news stories during my shifts. Although I do believe my writing has improved greatly since the beginning of the semester and I can turn out more stories written decently, I feel some of the creativity I was enjoying has been lost.
The more I have watched the news lately, the more I have really begun to wonder where media is headed as a profession. "Citizen" journalists continue to pop up everywhere, and almost anyone with a phone can now videotape an event, post it on the internet, and write about it. Clearly there is a difference between a trained journalist and an "average joe" in terms of quality of work. But do online readers really care? I think a great example is the news coverage over the new TSA regulations. Ironically, most of the media frenzy surrounding flyers complaints came AFTER one man refused to receive the scan and pat-down while taping the entire ordeal, which he quickly sent to media outlets and posted on the internet. Writing a web version of almost all T.V. and radio stories has become standard, and more and more people get their news from the internet. The change of news is not a new topic of conversation, and has been debating among the best in the business; but it doesn't make it any less interesting to analyze!
This week, I listened to a lot of NPR (This American Life) to continue working on improving my scripting in my stories. Something else I have been observing and trying to emulate are interviewing skills of the "greats" in journalism. Because I grew up watching it, I always enjoy watching the correspondents and anchors on the show lead into great stories with great interviews. In the interview with President Obama, the questions ____ asked were both challenging and interesting. He clearly had done alot of research, which helped the interview progress without "cookie-cutter" responses that politicians tend to use. My dream would be to ask great questions like him, and challenge such a prominent individual to answer clearly and concisely.
My goals for the the end of the semester is really developing my interview skills (which are improving) and continue working on my writing skills.
