Just Around the Corner.

The world is so full of opportunity, and there’s a million and one ways in which you can do something. With a dash of creativity and a stroke of luck, anyone can make something new happen. This applies to the world of journalism. There are so many different kinds of journalists out there, and journalism can operate on so many different platforms. You don’t need a degree to be a journalist, even though that’s what I’m doing right now. Anyone can pick up a camera or start writing. All you need is an issue and some passion.

Our guest lecturer today, Steve Molks, was talking to us about his story as a journalist, and all the different kinds of journalism out there. There are so many different types of journalism, and a lot of it is interconnected, and it can get pretty overwhelming thinking about it all. But it got me thinking about exactly what kind of journalist I want to be, and the kinds of things I want to write. Now, I’m not naïve. I know that sometimes you just get given a story, and that sometimes there isn’t much choice in the matter. But every journalist should have their own style and their own voice. Every journalist should have something unique about them.  I want to have that dash of creativity and luck, and be a journalist that stands out a little and thinks outside the box.

If I’m completely honest, I have no idea exactly what kind of journalist I want to be yet, but I’m okay with that. I’m more than happy to dabble in a few different styles until I find my niche. Steve Molks was talking about what he does, I was thinking about what I want to do. But something important that I took away from it is that you don’t need to be writing for a newspaper or magazine to be a journalist. The online world is changing the face of journalism, and is making it much more accessible to the public. It’s easier than ever to get your thoughts out there, and find other people who think the way you do, and also people who don’t. Because the world can’t just be all one sided, can it?

The fact of the matter is I don’t have to wait until the end of my degree to be a journalist, and I can be any kind of journalist I want. Because the world really is full of opportunity, and there’s always room for something new. 

You Catch My Eye.

I like pretty things. That fact is pretty universal. People rely so much on their eyes to judge whether or not they’ll like something, or someone. We pick our clothes, our homes, our things, and sometimes even our friends by what things look like. So why wouldn’t we do the same thing when we’re reading news stories? Don’t stories get to be pretty too?

I learnt today in my lecture, taught by guest speaker Skye Doherty, that yes, they do. There’s much more to a story than just the body. The headline, images, captions and quotes are all just as important as the actual story you’re trying to tell. These are what catches the reader’s eye, and sparks their interest. In traditional newspapers, the main story would be on the upper left, often accompanied by a picture or graph, like this:

Slide Five

This is because our eyes scan from left to write. Nifty, hey? But with the development of online media, the way news stories are presented has had to change. No longer do five stories have to be crammed onto a page; the limitless expanses of the web have enabled writers to spread things out a little, and has given them the opportunity to add more than just words and pictures. Hyperlinks, videos and shortcuts to other stories can all now be included. Pretty-ifying has starting to happen to news stories. This expansion, however, has meant that the layout of stories has had to change. Now, more often than not, the look of a story changes depending on where you see it. It’s kind of like an online chameleon. The same story can have different headlines and pictures, depending on where it is on the website. This is all done to catch the reader’s eye, and to make the story more visually appealing.

This is pretty exciting for me.  While online layouts still have some kind of structure, there’s much more freedom as to how your story can look, and exactly what you can put on the page. Not being a tech genius myself, putting said things on a page might be a slight road bump, but having the possibilities there is exciting. Like I said, I like pretty things, and making things pretty is something I love to do.