This class has taught me so much about what it means to be a true journalist. After completing it, I absolutely understand why it is a mandatory class for all journalism majors considering the lessons it has taught me. Upon completing the course, I now much better understand why journalists are told to do the things they do and why they act in the ways that they do when reporting and covering certain things.
One of the most important lessons, I believe, that this course has taught me is about seeking the truth and reporting it. I think this can be broken up into two parts. As a journalist it is your duty the public to let them know what you know when you know it. This is done by seeking the truth. As a journalist, your most important task is to find out the truth so that you are not reporting false facts to the public. If you report false facts, it puts your company at risk, but more importantly, the public isn’t receiving the proper news that they may need to know. It is important to never lie to the audience, because not only are they not receiving their proper news, but you are then becoming an unreliable news source which harms yours and your company’s reputations.
Another important lesson I learned is to not form strong relationships with your sources. As a journalist, it is extremely irresponsible to accept gifts or anything of monetary value from the sources you are covering in order to receive or give out information. It is also important to not form bonds with the sources in regards to reporting the facts about your source. If you form a certain type of friendship or relationship, it can skew your mindset and thus lea your reporting to be biased, which is not of the highest ethical standard. All reporting should be unbiased and the best way to adhere to that is to refrain from forming any kind of bonds with them.
The final important lesson that this course has taught me is the overlap between your life as a reporter and your life as a normal human. When you are a journalist, you need to constantly remain unbiased. Whether or not your political views lean right or left, it’s in your best interest to not let the public know this. The best way to refrain from this is to not have a personal blog. It’s important to balance your personal life with your work life, and to make sure things with your personal life interfere with your journalistic reporting.
This class as a whole has taught me so much about what it truly means to be a not only a journalist, but an ethical one. These along with many other lessons that I’ve learned have taught me lessons that I will definitely carry into my future as a writer, and I am extremely satisfied with this course and the past semester I’ve had in here.