The future of journalism is rather unpredictable. I feel that newspapers will take a huge hit here soon since everyone will just go online to get their information. But the industry as a whole will remain in good shape because there is always going to be a demand for news. People will always need and want to know the weather conditions, if their sports teams were victorious, what the stock markets are doing and if there is a murderer/burglar in their neighborhoods.

The field is good but the job market in it does not look as fruitful. I feel like fewer journalists are required to do the same amount of work. For example, instead of having a reporting team, an editing team and a producing team, that one journalist is required to do all three things by themselves. Therefore, the job market is shrinking.

I really would like to be a reporter because I would get to meet new people every day, learn something new every day and be able to inform my community about topics in a way that everyone could understand. In reality, this may not happen. But I am going to keep my hopes positive because this would be a very rewarding career.

Covering the campus community through the student-run newspaper is very important for this University. The newspaper allows students to know what is going on around campus and lets students know how the administrators and the Chancellor’s decisions will affect them. The newspaper also lets students know what their fellow classmates are doing besides just attending classes.

The newspaper provides community. For example, how many students would have even known about the Corpse Flower blooming in our own greenhouses or realize that their teachers do more than just teach a few classes; they conduct research that looks for answers/cures regarding heart disease and cancer if it had not been for campus media? The newspaper invites its readers to step outside the bubble that surrounds them and become more involved and informed about the campus community they are in.

It has been thrilling to overhear students say, “Did you read about such and such in the Voice this week? I had no idea!” Informing people on this campus has been very rewarding and has felt more like a privilege than an obligation.

For the Fall 2010 semester, one of my beats was Student Senate. Along with writing a story, Kirsten Blake and I took turns writing the “Senate Shorts” a quick recap of what had happened at each Senate meeting. My first “Senate Shorts” report, when the newspaper was published, had a misprint. Instead of saying a section of the bylaws of a Senate committee had been stricken, the short said that the entire committee had been dissolved!

I received a couple of e-mails from Senate members saying that this was wrong, I needed to run a correction and that I needed to be a more observant reporter and do my job more accurately. I was at first mad because that was not what I had sent to the editors at all and was confused as to how this mistake could have occurred. I went back into my original story and looked at how I had stated it. I realized that yes, I could have been more clear in my writing.

So instead of pointing fingers and blaming someone else, I replied to the Senate members saying yes, I will run a correction and that if I ever have questions regarding a motion/procedure again, I will contact them right away. This way of handling the situation was the most professional. I realized that since I am covering this beat for an entire semester, it will be crucial to have good rapport with the Senate members and President.