I am a broadcast journalism major and this was my first semester at University Park. I took a few required journalism classes this semester and will take a lot more in the final few semesters at college. Certain topics will stand out in each class as I continue to pursue a career in journalism. In other classes I learned the history of journalism, preferred writing techniques, and how technology will impact the journalism world. In Comm409, Dr. Z taught me what it takes to be an ethical journalist. So far, it has been one of the more important classes I have taken because I have learned a considerable amount about what it takes to be a successful and respectful journalist.
While there are a considerable amount of journalism ethics that I learned and will use in my career such as invasion of privacy, conflict of interest and reporting graphic content. The two that stand out the most for me, however, are web journalism and ethics in sports reporting. These were important lectures to me because this is area where I want my career to be. Print journalism does not have much of a future, and I am not sure whether or not it is still available as a major option. The world is being digitalized and being able to succeed at a profession built for computers and mobile devices is incredibly important for today and the future.
Journalism in social media is also important. We talked about how major news organizations post stories on Facebook and Twitter. If a journalist has a story in a newspaper, it would also be online and the writer can tweet the link to read it. All of this can be done on mobile devices, that is the future of journalism and that is the medium for which my career will take place. The specific field of journalism I want to be in is sports journalism. The biggest take away from that lecture was that the same standard of ethics applies to all forms of journalism. Sports is fun and important, but also it has to have their journalists to be fair and accountable.
The Stephen Glass case study stood out to me the most because it showed the repercussions of poor journalism. If a journalist messes up, the consequences could be dire. Considering it is the job a journalist to present the facts accurately, when they are incapable of doing so they lose the trust of so many people. They lose the trust of their employers, readers and sources, everything a journalist needs to be successful.
When I look back on this course, I think it will be one of the most important ones I have taken in college. Investigating stories and writing engaging, quality material is essential in journalism, but presenting those things in an ethical manner is as well.