Personal Statement Of Purpose For A Career In Journalism

Twenty-first century reporters fill the airwaves with “news” pertaining to facets of life entirely opposite of awareness and activism. When news regarding anything aside from the lives of celebrities or current pop culture does make the headlines, the story seems presented in a watered-down, somehow censored, fashion; leaving the reader asking more questions than they received answered. As the major methods of mass media become increasingly consumer driven, the great majority are presented with less mentally stimulating material called “news”. As a result, Americans are often less informed, and thus less willing to become involved in, political, social, and economic issues, nation and worldwide. Through the application of relevant and straightforward journalism, like that practiced by Ida B. Wells, the people of this country may be armed with the knowledge needed to have an effect on the events unfolding today that will affect tomorrow.

Clay Shirky who wrote Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable (1993) argues that society doesn’t need newspapers society needs journalism to save society. Shirky supports this argument by giving a historical background to the problems newspapers face and how the problems have developed over time and the solutions society has came up with. The blogger concludes that in order for journalism to go farther new models must be created in place of past molds. Shirky directs this blog toward the current and future generations in attempt to motivate new models and methods of journalism.

Taylor Sampson interviewed Jay Welsh, current Florida Virtual School instructor in Journalism and seasoned broadcast journalist to talk to him about the career of journalism. When asked what would all aspiring journalists study and do before entering the profession he states “Number one is a great writing education. Very little is done without a script, and you are responsible for writing that script.” He also says to follow your passion “There is all types of different fields (for journalism careers). Mine was sports. For others it might be politics, fashion, wild life.” He even says every aspect of life has a journalist path. “The last thing would have to be comfortable speaking. You’re going to be in front of people. It can be a bit egotistical if you like being the center of attention; because that’s what you are.”

My uncle, Pat Principe, graduated from the School of Communications at Ithaca College in 1976. He began his broadcasting career during his junior year at Ithaca where he was selected to be the sports director for his college radio station. His senior year of college he was deemed Sportscaster of the Year. Though the Sport Media Major was not available when he attended, he is happy with his general degree in communications, but urges those attending the School of Communications to major in Sport Media if they believe they would be interested in this type of career. He found classes relating to Sports Media made him realize this was his passion.

As a graduate student in School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, I have acquired so many skills ranging from corporate communications, public relations, brand communications, advertising, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), advanced writing, public speaking, just to mention a few.

The discourse community of broadcast journalists is a broad community, but can be narrowed down to smaller groups. As a discourse community journalist come in as novices, but carry the opportunity to ascend in their profession, to become an anchor for a national news network. The fundamental goal of journalists is to educate the public with events that take place daily, both domestically and internationally. With this fundamental goal at hand, news networks run astray, to where they begin to host biased opinions, with means to draw in a certain audience. These biases are presented by the networks reflect a political bias, religious bias, and social bias that can impact the facts of the story

Using Media today has become a way of life for people all across the world. It is a way for people to stay informed on current events, form opinions on hot topics, as well as determine their political affiliation. Because the media has become such an influential tool, it is important to eliminate bias in order to allow people to develop their individual opinions and become educated members of today’s society. By creating more diversity in journalism, having a more open mind about certain topics, and forming a new mold of media coverage, Americans can create an unbiased source of media that will encourage a more independent and intelligent society.

With a passion for learning and discovery journalism is the career best suited for me. In order to learn you have to be willing to go in search of information and go through the process of analysing this information, hence, the discovery of new things not known to the public or myself. This is to say that if there is an unrest in an area and residents are leaving, while law enforcement

One of my educational plans is to attend a four year university in California such as San Diego State University and plan to receive a bachelor degree in communications. With the broad spectrum that is a communication major, I plan to focus on the English aspects since I have always had the need and passion to communicate effectively through written and oral modalities. I also plan to continue on my path towards higher education by attending graduate school. Majoring in communications will allow me to accomplish my long term goals and fulfill the dreams I had when I was younger.

Pursuing a degree in Communication with a concentration in Journalism is my first step into becoming an executive for my future news and entertainment firm, A. Nicole’s Network. A. Nicole’s Network will host TV dramas and international news. With this network, I hope to bring all audiences to an outlet that broadcasts unbiased news and provides quality television for the nation’s young adults and children. Growing up, I’ve always admired black faces on television, broadcasting daily global talks and executing light-hearted punchlines. What began as a past-time hobby of making and editing videos, blogging about events of my school day, and mimicking Friday night reporters, prospered into a dire passion to communicate anything and everything

I was 18 when we moved to the United States from Cameroon in 2010. I had always known I wanted to be in journalism, yet had little knowledge of how the media worked or what being a journalist even entailed. I had a passion for telling stories, and zero experience or hope that I would someday be able to do so in a way that affects everyday people, and effects positive change. As far as I knew, journalism was the ruling government’s tool for communicating what it deemed fit for public knowledge, and stifling any information that remotely threatened the political status quo. Only in the following years would I come to grasp the power of media and communication, in a journey that has led me to this very moment.

Journalism and democracy are arguably inextricably intertwined concepts, each having a vital role in the effective function of the other. Democracy as a term and an inherent notion finds it origins from Ancient Greece with the term being derived from the Ancient Greek words ‘demos’ – people and ‘kratia’ – power (The Daily Miracle: An Intriduction to JOuranlism p. 45). Traditionally, journalism has been considered to play an integral role as somewhat of a gatekeeper of democracy by promoting and upholding the democratic societal values upon which countries such as Australia have been built. This role was first classified as ‘the Fourth

The belief that journalism is in decline has triggered major alarms, because society needs an informational environment that is easily available to all citizens such as newspapers. There is a large body of journalist that suggests that if television has taken over from the press as our main source of news this may limit our capacity to learn about public affairs; newspapers are believed to be far more effective than television at conveying detailed information necessary to understand complex and detailed issues. There is also widespread concern that if journalism fails as a profession it will not be able to reach large sections of the community, particularly younger or less educated readers. This may reinforce a growing gap among citizens between the information that they receive.

Thousands of our nation's men and women were fighting for their country, yet the media limited the amount of information that they chose to pass on to the public. Each day the media is faced with the choice of making decisions of what news to pass on, when that news could make a significant difference in someone's life, or in the fate of our nation.

I’ve thought of medical careers, a career in psychiatry, forensics, and writing. After plenty of research, experience, and self-evaluation, I think I’ve found a fairly solid fit. A fast moving, creative environment surrounded by interesting people, whilst utilizing my love for literature, a career in publishing is calling my name. Specifically, a career as an editor. Both book editing and script editing sound appealing to me, but for now I’ll focus on book editing. As an editor, I would have a working environment that suits me and appropriate skills for the job, such as interpersonal skills, language skills, writing skills, creativity, and being detail oriented. (bls.gov) Also, values that are important to me would be a focus in this career, such as independence, achievement, and recognition. A career as an editor is a fulfilling career goal because of the ability to improve communication. (Cole 2)