Get Students Out of the Classrooms!

Two related concepts were presented in class discussion that were thought-provoking for a number of reasons. The hegemony theory describes what journalists believe according to their social, cultural, and ideological influences. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3VVBeVvNBc News work describes what journalists learn and experience in the work force. These two ideas are closely related because it describes the common phenomena that occurs when most students transition from school to the work force. In my experience, classes are very theory-based which is important to understand prior to starting a career but can’t replace the practical experience gained from an internship or a field study. Especially with journalism, I believe that aspiring journalists should spend as much time as possible volunteering or interning in a newsroom or writing for a newspaper, which allows them to gain “news work” and become more confident in their practical skills in the career force. This student had a successful internship in this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwA6YpzFLYI. The quote that stood out to me from the presentation was “If a culture is optimistic and expects things to work out well, then progress and safety become the expectation, and events threatening these are seen as news.” This is a credible observation because it’s true that disasters are shocks to our society because we experience a relatively comfortable lifestyle in the United States. However, this quote does not hold true for international disasters necessarily because sometimes we only hear about destruction which skews our perception of other country’s problems or political situation. My dad served in Iraq and while the political situation is very unstable, there are many Iraqis who are grateful to Americans for improving their lifestyle by invading the country. However, most Americans believe that Iraqis are deeply unhappy with the United States because the news broadcasts so many bombings and attacks. The destruction is also emphasized in places like Afghanistan, which may slightly skew our perception of their daily life. http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/10/world/afghanistan.interactive.irpt/index.html?hpt=wo_mid It is important to report stories according to our experience and based on the experiences of those we interview, and accept that while we may not be able to remain completely unbiased at all times, we have a duty to the priesthood of journalists.

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