My future in journalism?
Within the last lecture, we got to have interesting discussion and also get to eat the lollies again. I suppose that all of us have a good time in this course. Three months is fast, time flies and we are now at the end of this course.
Throughout the course I had learned a lot about journalism. I do see that journalism as a field is huge, wide and in-depth; just within thirteen weeks Dr Redman and our tutors can only give us some taste of the surface of this field. Nonetheless, I had gained a lot more knowledge about journalism than what I used to know. Before this course, the world of journalism is mystery to me. I used to think that media industry is a fantasy world in TV when I was a kid, but after this course, I learnt that journalism is a job that required various specific professional skills and is largely engage in and shaping the society in reality. I think journalists are cool, because they get to go out there into the real world and their report can spread the information that changes the world. It’s like you can get the world to listen to you-people will read the things you write, watch the video you make-your voice is valuable just because you are in this industry. However, I am not the speaking up type; I prefer to work behind the scene and not to be noticed.
Moreover, through the topics of practical journalism skills and introduction of journalism theories, I found that journalists are required to have good communication skills that allow them to grab audience’s attention. I feel that this requires the talent that is hard to be learned; for example, instincts and sensing of the news. Though I do think experience helps a journalist grows, but being able to present a story in an effective and catchy way is like art, if you can’t draw then you can’t, it’s not a thing that you can imitate. I was interested in becoming a journalist, but I find myself lacking this kind of talent.I am an international student; I thought my oversea experience can be helpful in handling foreign news. However, after writing this blog and making the factual story…I do notice that I am not the creative type- it’s quite hard for me to think of something interesting or smart to say. I can sit there for a day and cannot come up with a sentence that contains humor. And with factual story, though we got to do some workshop in tutorials, I just don’t have any sense of how to make a story flow smoothly. Nonetheless, it’s a good experience and an interesting ride. If I had never tried it out, I wouldn’t know my strength and weakness.
Moreover, another thing that worries me and makes me rethink about becoming a journalist is the job cutting trend in journalism industry that Dr Redman continuously mentioned in the course. And I know that the shrinking of journalism industry is not only happening in Australia, but indeed a global thing. Journalism industry is shrinking in my home country as well. Though Dr Redman had also said that there is always going to be journalism, because communication will always exist, and the shrinkage is only because the industry is “reforming” instead of “dying”; I am still kind of scared. I still remember in Lecture one, Dr Redman said that journalism will survive and “the future of journalism is in the hand of you guys”. To me, I feel like he is saying, “journalism industry is having problems, we still don’t know how to solve it, so if you guys become journalist, you are on your own, solve it yourself.” This is super scary! It’s like telling us that “there is no way to survive yet”! I think for some people, they might find a time as such is challenging and interesting, but not for me. I don’t want after three years of university study which cost a fortune; I am going to end up unemployed. If I love journalism and I am on my own, it may be fine. But the case is that, I am not financially wealthy and I need to support my family and my younger sister’s schooling after I graduate from university and find a job, so I really need a stable job and cannot risk myself to get into an unstable industry. At least, in the near future, which is after threes when I am going to graduate, I still couldn’t see how things is ‘definitely’ going to be solved. Sometimes, living is over interest, and I got to make a choice.
Feedback
However, back to the thoughts about this course! I really like Dr Redman’s lectures. I think he is the best UQ lecturer I had met so far. He got good humor and he tells us many stories in the journalism industry (which is practical stuff in the real world). I really enjoyed that, because some other lectures just makes me want to fall asleep, and only talks about theories that makes you wonder “when would you ever use that in a real job?”(I am not going to mention any name though :P) And in tutorials, we get to talk about current news and discuss about our assignment, I think that is cool as well. Because in some courses, we don’t really get a chance to discuss about assignments in class. However, I do notice that sometimes, not so many people turn up in the lecture and actively engaged in lectures ( I don’t want or try to offend anyone; instead, I am just purely sharing my opnions).
Thank you & Good luck to everyone J !
I think it is because the lectopedia is too well-done, so people sometimes just prefer to stay home and watch that so it saves them the journey to college. Also, I guess because Dr Redman was a radio presenter and he is actually really good at talking, so people in class kind of just enjoying sitting back and listen, just like how they would enjoy radio. It’s like audience don’t really talk-back all the time, they just sit there and enjoy because every moment in the speech is well structured already.
Anyway, I really like this course and I want to thank everyone in this course who shares their knowledge and experience with me, I learnt a lot. Though I am not sure about a career as journalist in the future yet due to personal and financial reason… I sincerely wish all the best for others who choose to become journalist, time may be challenging, but if you enjoy and is capable for it, go for your dream! All the best J
l Extra Material
For my dear friends who are going to go on the way towards journalism, here is a list of postgraduate courses related to journalism in Australia that you can study after you finish your Bachelor of Journalism at UQ. I hope this may be helpful for you guys at some point J
Queensland
l University of Queensland-Master of Journalism
l Queensland University of Technology-Master of Journalism
l Bond University-Master of Journalism
Victoria
l Monash University-Master of Journalism
l University of Melbourne-Master of Journalism
New South Wales
l University of New South Wales-Master of Journalism and Communication
l University of Technology Sydney-Master of Arts in Journalism
Western Australia
l University of Western Australia-Master of International Journalism
l Curtin University-Master of Journalism
.JPG)
