WHO: The voiceless. (A better question is: WHO will speak for them?)
WHAT: Journalism, more than just a profession or my career choice… It is my calling to public service.
WHEN: 24-7. News happens when it happens. It’s not your typical 9 to 5.
WHERE: Once I covered a women’s rights story on Venus… Just kidding! News happens wherever it happens.
WHY: Glad you asked…
Five Ws hardly explain why I chose journalism or what it means to me. To fully explain this decision would be impossible, without revealing a little about me. Initially attracted to the profession because of my love for writing, I found much more upon entering my first journalism class. I found truth.
Like archaeologists unearthing obscure findings, journalists dig for truths that, otherwise, may never be found. This forms the skeleton of democracy, upholding the essence of freedom and civil rights. Without journalists, a democratic society would be misshapen, deformed and would eventually die.
Journalists serve as the eyes and ears of the public. They are watchdogs of government, better known as the Fourth Estate. With rights protected by the First Amendment, journalists work in a profession like none other. If executed objectively, journalism can help to purge society’s corruptions and to protect the public trust. These ideas, regurgitated from a book or professor, helped me to forge a greater passion for journalism and the future of the profession. But it was not until I left the classroom and entered the newsroom that I discovered how to apply these lessons.
I saw the endless potential that comes with being a journalist. I saw a way to connect my passions: writing and helping others. I saw a way to connect worlds through information and the people living in them. This – to me – was journalism at its finest. But in sharp contrast, I saw what journalism should not be. I saw people become pompous and self-righteous, losing sight of what the profession was all about.
It was these real-life lessons that helped me to define what kind of journalist I wanted to become and exactly what journalism meant to me. Like a magnet, I was drawn to it – journalism as a public service. A debt to society. As a person, as a Christian, service was an extension of me. As a journalist, my “person” extends into my profession, a profession that serves an essential role in society. And as a journalist, it is my responsibility to work to ensure that purpose is fulfilled in the seemingly precarious future. So, maybe I didn’t choose journalism at all. Maybe journalism chose me.
