What you need to know:
This Digital Journalism course has changed my thinking about journalism for both traditional and digital outlets
Working on my own multimedia journalism projects helped to open my eyes to all that goes into journalism
I now understand that journalism incorporates all sorts of media plus editing it all together to tell a story
Before I started this course, when I heard the word journalism I just thought about newspaper editors and TV reporters. However, now that I’m nearing the end of this course, I realize that journalism is so much more than that.
The American Press Institute defines journalism as “[...] the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities” (“What is Journalism?”).
In this course, I have learned that journalism is a whole industry in and of itself. There is so much that goes into journalism that I never would have known had I not been required to create my own journalism projects.
I now understand that, while journalism does include newspapers and TV, it also encompasses radio, the web, videos, photos, infographics, writing, and editing it all together to tell a story.
Mario Garcia at the Columbia Journalism School says, “Today, stories are produced as a linear narrative with video, infographics and other visual elements that create a tangible experience for the reader. Through this method we transport readers to the heart of the story, . . .” (Garcia).
The main way my thinking about journalism has changed is in how much is involved in journalism, for both traditional outlets like newspapers, TV, and radio, as well as digital. For both kinds of outlets, I now know that it is much more complex than simply standing in front of a camera and reading off of a script or taking a few pictures and adding captions. Sure, that’s part of it, but there’s much more.
Journalism is about telling someone’s story and doing everything you can to bring that story to life. For both traditional and digital outlets, there is a process that has to happen before the final product can be shared.
Storytelling, according to Professor Katie Gibas, includes developing characters, providing details, exploring deeper themes, finding emotion, and thinking visually, using video, audio, and digital channels to enhance the story (Gibas).
For example, when I was completing my audio story assignment, I had to think about how to tell the story without using video, to ensure that I was able to tell the organization’s story in the best way possible. I had to think about what natural sounds would help enhance the story along with photographs, and then I had to figure out where those sounds and pictures would fit best as the interview progressed. In the editing process, I spent countless hours going through the clips repeatedly to make sure it was the best work I could do to bring the story to life.
I found the video story assignment to be even more eye-opening. It was challenging to get the right shots the first time around, but I discovered that I needed to focus on what would be visually appealing for the viewer. When it came to editing, I spent hours just going through all of the raw footage to pinpoint parts that I thought would help tell the story; some clips would be great for natural sound but not for action purposes and vice versa. Eventually, I found a good fit of video and sound to tell the story.
But that’s not all that went into it. For both assignments, I also had to write a web version of the story. I needed to find a way to incorporate what the video or audio story was about while also expanding on it a bit more without being too repetitive.
All these elements combined, the video, audio, pictures, and written work, make for a large multimedia project. Creating these projects helped me to understand that there is a lot more involved in putting every story together than I originally thought.
Having experienced what a real-life journalist does, I have now come to think of journalism as the art of storytelling.
Works Cited
Garcia, Mario. “Digital Storytelling: A Marriage between Journalism and Design.” Digital Storytelling: A Marriage Between Journalism and Design | Columbia Journalism School, https://journalism.columbia.edu/digital-storytelling-marriage-between-journalism-and-design.
Gibas, Katie. “Newsworthy Storytelling.” CMS 222A Digital Journalism. 31 Aug. 2023. Niagara University, Niagara University, NY. Lecture. https://niagara.instructure.com/courses/28940/files/folder/Powerpoints?preview=2444409.
“What Is Journalism? Definition and Meaning of the Craft.” American Press Institute, 18 July 2017, https://americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism/.
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