It's Monday morning, and the time has come for my big interview. I was fortunate enough to have acquired this meeting, considering I had never really aspired to land a marketing internship, but nonetheless I was prepared and ready to kick ass.
The interview begins like any other. The typical rebuttals to questions that I had rehearsed with my mom slid off my tongue smoothly with a sense of confidence and comprehension, until I was faced with a bit of a block in the road.
"You are a journalism major?" He said with a bit of a snicker as he rolled his eyes. "It's a bit of a dying art sweetheart."
As I scrambled to find a way to explain my old fashioned ambition to save newspapers and print media, I realized journalism is so much more than this man will ever understand.
We need journalism more now than he will ever know. There will always be a need for the news and storytelling, despite the evolution and new development of platforms in which the news is found. It is not a "dying art" in any sense, it may be changing, but journalism calls the shots on how we view the world, and the perspective of the people, which is something that will never die out.
"Why do you want to be a journalist?"
Well, let me tell you. I know what it is like to be voiceless, to desire so desperately to let your thoughts be heard. What better way to vocalize and distinguish the word of the people, as well as myself, than through journalism.
Journalism has always appealed to me. The feeling of seeing my name in print is indescribable, and suddenly all of the tiring hours of interviewing and transcribing have led to this remarkable creation, and I am proud of my story.
Besides my passion for writing and language, I am enticed by the experiences assimilated through writing a story. Journalists obtain an irrevocable inclination to speak to the world. As journalists, we push ourselves into the heat of the action. Whether you are sent into a war zone, or the steps of the White House as people continue to erupt in controversy over our upcoming election, everyday is new experience. The insight I receive as a journalist, into the thoughts of so many different people is enlightening, and spurs my fascination to learn all the different ways people view the world- something that you can't find in many other fields.
Henry Luce, creator of Time-Life Magazine once said, “I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.”
I found his words to be inspiring, and accommodate to my own aspirations because many don't understand the importance that writing and reporting has to our culture and understanding of our society. Journalism is the most powerful weapon we possess when it comes to outlook of the world around us, and the leverage that the truth has above all else will never lose its value.
So, as I sit and find the way to explain how wrong this man truly is, I look around me. As he sits in his mediocre cubicle, typing away on his computer all day, I am out in the field having the time of my life. He may never understand how skewed his perception of my dreams truly is, for journalism may be an art, but it will never die.
It's human nature to be curious about the world around us, and I know that as a journalist, I can be that catalyst to find the truth and vocalize it to the world around me. I am proud to be a journalist because although times are changing, the news will ALWAYS matter.
