TruthAboutLies101

Journalism is a broad term. It encapsulates so many forms and differing aspects that it cannot completely be placed in a box and given a definition. Unsurprisingly this is not something they tell you in High School. No, they let you believe that being a journalist means either writing for the Herald or being a war correspondent for the BBC. Ignorance, I have learned, is nowhere near bliss. As a naïve and overly complacent first year, I had a long way to go before being able to appreciate the impossibility of finding a true meaning to the word. To say that I broadened my mind through doing each course over the year would be a horrific understatement. This is why during this last term I was not particularly shocked when I was introduced to this modern form of journalism: Blogging.
Saying this I can remember my shock on hearing the name of the course. To my mildly embarrassing but completely justifiable astonishment, I was not all that familiar with this specific genre of news production. Actually, I should rephrase that. I knew almost nothing about the genre except small details I had heard from other people about it being something like having an online diary. Not exactly a whizkid, I was rather peeved at knowing that I would have to work twice as hard merely to gain some kind of understanding. Suffice it to say, I was ridiculously relieved when I realized that we would be working in groups. This meant delegation, and delegation meant less of having to crack my brain to accomplish the technological mission. The feeling I had when I finished my first post is still fresh in my mind. The letter to my younger self. I recall thinking how some poor, misunderstood soul might have been given false hope about being able to change the past through writing these letters. Was the exercise honestly accomplishing anything? What exactly was I gaining from it? Then it occurred to me that I had just written a piece based solely on emotion, personality and individuality. I had been given a platform to express myself beyond the confines of traditional news writing and as is typical of “The Life of Me” kind of stories, the world became my muse. My writing was now an outlet, not simply an assignment.
This however, did not mean that I would begin campaigning for animal rights and saving the whales because I had to stay within the characteristics of the group blog. Saving the world one reader at a time was not completely lost nonetheless, as dispelling myths and revealing the truth behind the lies we have grown up to believe can be just as effective as freedom speeches. Who doesn’t like bursting unrealistic bubbles? My group was very good about this particular aspect of the course, and it made it easier to write knowing that each member shared at least some of my enthusiastic pessimism. Consequently group meetings did not end in catfights about whose design was better looking. The creative juices will always flow when one person says something and the rest respond, “ja ja ja, that’s great. Let’s do that.” Support is always crucial. When people say they don’t need compliments form other people to boost their self esteem, they’re lying. It obviously helps to make the members of your group feel like their contributions are not only welcome, but actually purposeful. Even though you saw the reactions of the other members when the suggestion was made and were trying frantically to come up with something new before they all said, “ja ja ja, that’s great. Let’s do that.”
Having to work together on the blog was not really a problem. The problem was in having to integrate the assignments set out by the lecturers into the character of our blog. Being in First Year seemed to be a favourite theme in the topics, and to be frank became rather monotonous. Yes, let’s communicate with the rest of the world on issues that affect society, let’s stop being narrow minded in our opinions, but let’s also make sure it’s all about first year at university. Does anyone else see the irony in that? It’s because of this very fact that our ideas for various stories were rather limited in scope and imagination. As a result, we had a very restricted audience which to appeal to. That was another thing; the audience. Actual people who were not lecturers or tutors were reading what I was writing. This should have in fact left me paralysed and almost comatose but strangely enough it only excited me further. This idea made reporting or the writing process far more interesting because although there was still consideration of the genre, blogging remained an open platform of expression.
Finding the first years to interview and profile was not actually difficult. It was finding the right first years to interview and profile that was challenging. Who was interesting? Why were they interesting? Do they have more to say than “It’s chilled?” Observation became an essential aspect of the blogging experience. Acquiring the detail meant being able to spot the difference in everything. Some people however do not appreciate having the spotlight shining on their difference. One young man had a serious problem with my wanting to write a piece on his homophobic tendencies. According to him, he did not need to be made an example of in such a public manner. I eventually agreed with him after putting aside my own desires of creating an award winning masterpiece on such a controversial subject. Objectivity is very difficult when you have made yourself the subject.
Did I grow from the course? Well, the fact that I can even just ask that question tells me that I have. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would place myself at a 7. Whatever doubts I may have had about giving the public a chance to read or hear what I had to say, simply vanished with that first post. I don’t intend to be the Loise Lane that stole superman’s outfit and added a notebook and pen to the ensemble, but there is so much more to journalism that I cannot wait to explore and I believe that blogging gave me somewhat of the perfect push start.