Studying journalism has taught me more than the basic ethical values instilled in us throughout our initial lectures. While the values of ethical journalism, such as integrity and honesty shouldn’t be devalued, there is much to be said about the less obvious aspects of becoming a “good” journalist. After completing a number of assignments during my first two years of study, the number one value I am trying to develop is independence. Though trying not to annoy my teachers too much is reason enough to become more independent, I’ve found it to be very useful not to rely on others extensively. To have the initiative and independence to complete most tasks on your own is very powerful as most of the time everyone is too wrapped up in their own tasks to help you out with each and every problem.
Far from cultivating a decent amount of courage, I can recognise how integral it is to becoming a successful journalist. For a journalist to achieve a high standard of work, network well and write stories they are passionate about they must be courageous enough to put themselves in sometimes awkward and difficult positions. No one likes cold-calling or asking controversial questions (actually that’s just me), so developing enough courage to do things that aren’t always pleasant is essential.
Working alongside my fellow journalism students through the stressful trials of trying to setup interviews only to be knocked back or cancelled on has taught me the value of persistence. While our initial reactions were to give up and change degrees, we all eventually picked ourselves back up and tried and tried again until an interview was complete. In the end, as much as you might want to stop trying there’s always a deadline to work to and another story to be told.
Though I am only in the beginning stages of my course in “Journalism Technologies”, I can already recognise the persistence required to produce good digital journalism. So many things can go wrong when coding, recording or editing; you forget to press record, your editing software shuts down before you can save your work or you just don’t know how you can achieve the well thought out piece you want to. Having the ability to work through and move on from these problems is what can separate a good journalist from one who takes the easy way out by not trying anything new at all. As the role of digital journalism continues to grow in the industry, all journalists will need persistence to develop the skills necessary to create digital stories-hard and exhausting it may be. When digital skills become second nature to future journalists, they will always need the determination to keep learning throughout their career as new ways to tell stories are developed.
