Journalism is cool! We need to respect it

Often in this day, when people think of journalism as a profession or major, they see it as irrelevant. I find that a lot of the time, people do not respect it. I want to write a little OpEd piece about why I think that should not be the case. A lot of responses I get to telling people I major in journalism is that it is a waste of my time and money or that it doesn't matter or that it is easy and stupid. Personally, I'm in college to follow my passions and prepare myself for a career in those passions. Just because that is in journalism and not a more "difficult" major, doesn't make me any less intelligent or hardworking, it just reflects where my passions lie.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a voice and I have a lot to say, and I will say it. Writing editorials allowed me to write about and express my opinions backed up by research, all while making sure to address the other side of the argument. Many people hate the media because of bias and "fake news." Media bias 100% exists in mainstream news organizations, there is no denying that. Different platforms have different audiences and they tend to cater to their reader's opinions and interests. That being said, that is not all media. Myself and many other young journalists I've worked with who are interested in reporting news, want to report the truth. You research and you interview to find new information to bring to the public. As a media consumer, it is important to recognize the presence of media bias and know platforms providing the facts, or be able to use media literacy skills to cut through bias and find the facts out of a story.

Media literacy is an important skill for everyone in this day and age to have, so important, that I'm taking a whole class dedicated to it this fall. As a society, we consume so much media everyday. Media extends past the nightly news and updates in the New York Times. It is social media too; what influencers are posting, your friends reposting infographics, everything on Tiktok, TV shows, and movies, etc. We consume so much different media on the daily, it can be hard to separate it all out. And that is exactly why media literacy is so important. Being able to understand what we are reading or viewing, what it means, the validity of it, and the background of it seems easy to do, but it is a skill we have to work on. It is one of the reasons things can get blown out of proportion. Often, opinion can be taken as fact without any proper research.

This is exactly why having journalists is important. They are people who want to research and interview. They are curious about the world, people, events, opinions, and everything that comes with it. They are looking for a story to share. Media and stories have been around forever. It connects us to each other and keeps us all informed.

Another argument against journalism is that newspapers are dying out. Even if this does eventually happen, which would be so sad because it is my favorite format and I love designing print spreads, print media is only one thing under an entire umbrella of different media types. Broadcast is still incredibly active with newscasts, shorter video formats for Tiktok or YouTube, and even podcasts. Digital is booming with online newspapers, magazines, and stories. The death of print media will not be the death of journalism, and it shouldn't be. Journalists keep us informed and they keep people and parts of our society in check. As media consumers, we also need to make sure to keep the media in check.

To look into my own personal experience with journalism, it is something I've always had passion for. I grew up reading magazines and in my 6th grade mock-township, I was editor of the town's newspaper, and then grew up to be one of the editors of my high school's paper. Interviewing and reporting is something I've always wanted to do. It was always interesting to me how the press is involved in our politics and how much it can influence culture and the social aspects of our society. Taking a newspaper class in high school and pursuing this major, I've gotten to collaborate with different people and open up discussions with them that have introduced me to new perspectives and taught me new things. That is one of the things I love about this field.

I've written a lot of different types of stories over the years. I've written a few political editorial pieces, I've written news pieces on different events, things changing in the country, and school clubs, and I've written feature pieces on people doing exciting and impactful things. And of course, I've written more fun fashion centered articles for this blog. In my personal experience, when I tell people I want to write about fashion or for a fashion magazine, it tends to make their respect for my journalism major go down even more. Fashion has such a superficial and consumerist veil over it that it is hard to see what lies beneath. Of course there are superficial and consumerist aspects, but there are also so many cultural aspects. Looking back at the history of clothing and fashion and trends can tell us so much about the time period. How people use fashion for self expression and the ideas up and coming designers have are inspiring. Some of the most respected news organizations have fashion or style columns that have a deeper insight to the "glamorous" industry. And that is the sort of thing I care about. I love doing a good trend report, but I've also done research on consumerism's relationship to sustainability and on how gender and fashion are intertwined. There is so much to learn and report on and new stories to share that can not only inform people, but also broaden world views.

A journalism major is a very specialized major where very specific things for the media field are being taught, but it can be applicable to so many different things. It may not be the most "difficult" major, but it is full of people with a lot of passion for what they are doing. Journalists and media professionals contribute so much to our daily lives in ways not always recognized. I wanted to write a bit about my frustrations with misconceptions and things overlooked about journalism and share more about my own passion. There is always going to be need for reporters and the news, and that is something that should be respected.