No no no, you don't have to be a working journalist to come in and play. Five years after graduation, a majority of journalism students are NOT working in journalism. Some have tried it and didn't like it, while others never had any intention of doing journalism but enjoyed their journalism study nevertheless.
(And some of you are working in some form of *public relations.* Oooooooh. What's it like over there on the dark side? Yet the force is still strong in you.)
For many USF students, the study of journalism is just another emphasis, just another path through the mindfield -- accidental wordplay; let it ride -- of requirements on the way to careers that, superficially, have nothing to do with the collection of information and the production of news. And that, of course, is fine, since I would argue that journalism trains us in analysis, sharpens our abilities to focus and summarize and certainly is one of the best ways to sharpen our media literacy.
The study of journalism builds citizens, right? From one point of view, the problem right now is not that "better" news is not being offered to the public; the problem is that the public does not want better news. We need educated motivated consumers. We have plenty of competent makers -- if the public decides it wants what they make.
So this is also a place for those of you who aren't journalists and want to talk about the big picture and how USF fits into that picture.
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1 comment:
Well said. And thanks for the official invite to all of us post-grad journalism drop-outs. As it turns out my journalistic glory came on a "research" trip to San Jose in preperation for my Magazine Writing final assignment - I wouldn't have had it any other way ... at least that's the way I remember it.
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