Reasons why I hate journalism:
It is too ideological.
It is too shallow.
It forgets things and moves on, regardless of the wider issue. It basically has the attention span of a gold fish.
Journalists are very rarely experts at anything. And yet they are called upon to be experts on everything.
Regardless of how you hard you try, your work will always be biased towards your view. It could be as simple as putting a quote above another quote, or who you choose to quote.
It is dictated by trends.
It is dictated by corporations who control everything.
It is a commodity.
Reasons I like journalism
It puts things on the public record.
It helps hold power to account.
It has the ability to get news out to a large and varied audience.
It analyses events in an easy way to understand.
I'm torn between loving and hating the media at the same time. The problem I am facing now is, do I still want to be a part of this industry? Am I meant for something else?
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
I can't play this game anymore
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4 Stars Have Something To Say!:
Tell me about it!
I doubt everything about my life: and I think it's healthy! Normal even! But in the end, I know what I am doing is right for me RIGHT NOW, but that I can always change it later if it doesn't work out. We only get one shot (well if you don't believe in reincarnation) at this life. This means to me, that there is no such thing as screwup.
Amy, you were meant to be where you are. Or else you wouldn't have been there, in that place. You have achieved something, in some form...You have touched at least one person (me: I have been reading your blackcurrent articles: they are good girl!!). That's not to say it's not time to change: in fact your the only person that can answer that!
And btw, I have been calling you for a couple of days: pick up yr GODDAMNED phone!
Keep positive,
Love,
Jo
Hi Amy,
My first impression when I read this entry was that the negatives outnumbered the positives and they do sound awfully convincing. I'd like to offer my own thoughts on some of your points:
On it being ideological/shallow/quick to move on: I guess you could say that that is to be expected of newspaper journalism -- after all, the newspaper's function is to deliver what's happening today. I imagine that, say, independant journalists would be more likely to have an output that cohesively ties stories together to illustrate a certain wider issue.
On it being biased towards your view: is that really such a bad thing? If a person writes something, that it will be biased is inevitable, be it journalism, fiction or science. People do their best work when they imbue it with themselves. Of course, a biased opinion can be a terrible thing (Hitler being the epitome), but this occurs when people broadcast their own opinions as being an absolute and natural truth of the world. You can clearly define your work as being of your own opinion. The readers will either agree or disagree.
Dictated by trends/corporations/commodity: All good points. If you feel like you're being encouraged to write from someone else's viewpoint, then maybe it's time to get out. Everything that exists is a commodity.
By the way, all of that was my own opinion. :-P Even though we all know that what I say is always right and in sync with the will of the universe because I am me.
I hope this helps. :-P
Hi Amy (I am late as usual),
Reading the news became rather monotonous... I began to think "is that all there is in the world?" -- loads of sensation and pain...
you report something you believe is important. people who think it is worth reading will pay attention. and so on and so on...
As to whether you belong somewhere or not, see if you can weigh it beyond love and hate... I believe I should do something as long as I can be professional about it -- every job needs to be done and done well.
Hi Amy (Lidia),
I share your confusion. If you are a journalist, at time everything seems so cynical, so negative. Rapes, murders, wars, gender groups, religious groups, hate groups, all medelling into each other's affairs for their share of power. And to top it all you have to have an "understanding" of these events. WTF.
I was big on journalism at some in life. Got into a good J-school passed out to find out that its like any other corporate job. The deadlines, the headlines, the quotes, ah! it seemed so mundane and rubbish. One has to look everything with suspicion and analyse it.
But on the flip side, it gives you the freedom to choose on things other professions might not have offered. In some sense you are ahead of the rest of the world in predicting trends and whats coming. You are smarter and more aware.
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