Out of my comfort zone - Journalism Lecture 1

Journalism. It is a foreign concept to me. I had no real idea what I was going to walk into when the day came to attend the first lecture. I am not a journalist. Nor do I have any aspirations to be a journalist. I simply did the course to challenge myself. To see the world differently.  It was a pleasant surprise that the lecturer was upbeat and excited to be teaching the course, after all, passion for what they are teaching is necessary to keep students motivated. Without having a mentor that loves journalism, how are we supposed to love it ourselves?

There is one aspect of the first lecture that I would love to draw all your attention to. It’s not how to use blackboard or getting to know our lecturers and tutors. It’s the various quotes that Dr Redman presented to his class.

 “Journalism is organised gossip” – Edward Eggleston

“People may expect too much of journalism. Not only do they expect it to be entertaining, they expect it to be true” – Lewis H. Lapham

“Generally speaking, the best people nowadays go into journalism, the second best into business, the rubbish into politics and the shi*s into law” – Auberon Waugh

These are all very different opinions on journalism. This got me thinking, there is no real definition of journalism. There is not one specific way to be a journalist. No guidelines you have to follow. No rules or regulations. You can be as creative as you like, write about anything and voice your opinion to the world. I was previously a student in the Health Science faculty so you can imagine my struggle when I have so much freedom to be creative and form my own opinions without being persuaded by others. This lecture made me realise that if I can see something my own special way, I then have the power to persuade others to feel the same way too. I feel inspired already.