My Thoughts On Journalism

Journalism. Defined as the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media, the public press, or an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or the management of a news medium, by Merriam-Webster. 

I would have never guessed in a thousand years that I would be a part of a newspaper staff, or even interested in journalism whatsoever. 

When I was in high school I began writing in a word document whenever I had something on my mind. It was my own personal computer journal. I would write about everything and anything that was going on in my life. It was my "safe place" where I could talk about anything and no one would judge me. I used to try to write a book about this boy I met before I went to high school named Jake Adams. He had a "Lifetime Movie" sort of life, full of drama and I used to want to write a book about my experiences with him as a friend. I got to page 2 and I was done. I was bored of writing about the same topic in such depth; I didn't like only having one subject, one person to write about. I needed to have numerous things to talk about, so I just continued to journal on a regular basis. I decided that writing about one subject wasn't my thing, writing about numerous subjects and life experiences was. 

So I continued writing until college, but when I got to school I started writing less and less. Only writing when I was bored or had something very interesting happen to me that I never wanted to forget. 

I have over 80 pages of text about my life; they are full of secrets, dreams and aspirations. They are about me. 

When I learned I had to take newspaper as part of my major, I looked at it as a learning experience. I thought I would be able to have my own column where I could help other people with their life experiences because that is what I have always enjoyed doing, but I was soon disappointed. I would have to write about something every two weeks that I wasn't necessarily interested in. I was not excited about this at first, but once I got my first story topic I became more intrigued. I was going to broaden my mind by writing. I was going to learn about things I had never had much of an interest in and actually enjoy it. 

I wanted to enjoy it and also be good at it, so I enrolled in Advanced Reporting and Editing. It probably wasn't smart to get into the advanced class before taking the regular one, but I did it anyways. I was out of my element! I was so behind compared to some of my other classmates, so I had to adapt. Although it wasn't easy, by the end of the semester, I had more of a feel for what I was doing. I really felt like a journalist. 

The classes I've taken that include journalism have made me respect journalist a lot more. It's not as easy as I thought to write a really great, intriguing story. It takes a lot of time and effort, as well as knowledge about journalism and grammar. 

My future in journalism probably won't go past college, but I plan on using everything I've learned over the next two years of school. I hope to one day get my own "Ask Alice" column in the school newspaper and really do what I love; help others and hear personal stories. 

Time To Upgrade

So...it's my job to make a website for a newspaper, and I need to make it innovative and exciting! I need to make it unlike other any other website...I need for it to appeal to all my readers. How am I going to do this? 

First, I am going to look through some of the most famous and "looked at" newspaper websites, including: news.yahoo.com, CNN.com, nbcnews.com, nytimes.com, huffingtonpost.com, foxnews.com, washingtonpost.com, abcnew.go.com, and usatoday.com to see what catches my eye, and what makes me want to look away.  

So what caught my eye? What intrigued me? What looked new and hip? What were some common themes? 
One common theme was a BIG PICTURE in the middle of the screen of the "Breaking News". This look isn't necessarily bad, it's showing me what the most important thing, in their eyes, that is going on in the world. 
How would I put the "Breaking News" on my website? I would do it in the same way, with BIG BOLD lettering, but I would make sure to make it in a easy to read font, that was also interesting and eye catching. There are many fonts out there that are much more interesting than TIMES NEW ROMAN and if they are readable, I think they should be used. 

Also, with that "Breaking News" I would make sure it had a link posted on it where you could click to see photos along with a different link where you could read the full story. Making it more innovative then just having words to read.  

I would also use color coordination, like USA Today does. Each one of their tabs at the top of their website has a different color, News is blue, Sports is red, Life is purple, and so on making it easy to know what part of the paper you are looking at. 

To be honest, I would do pretty much what USA Today does all together. 

• They have quick links on the left side of the page taking you to Sudoku and Crosswords and in the middle is all the most recent, most important news.  
• Each story is in a block with a picture inside of it with the story title on the bottom of the photo and the name & color of what part of the paper it is under on the left upper corner. When you hover over the picture you get a small blurb about the story and who wrote it.  
• They have a photo gallery at the bottom of the page with scroll options so you don't have to click on each individual photo to see what they look like larger  
• Down the right side of the page the have "Right Now" news that is updated with other, interesting "new" news stories. Even though they're not "World Breaking News" they're still important stories that should be read 

My website would be different and stand apart from other area newspaper websites because even if I had the same news as the other sites, I would have it in a more colorful, aesthetically pleasing way that was innovative and hip.   

I would catch their eye, I would use a font they've never seen before, I would give them something new and fresh instead of your typical TIMES NEW ROMAN I would make them want to come back for more and make them want to see what each colored tab meant, and what stories were under each tab. I would make them want to comment on how easy it was to find the newest stories as well as the most important, "Breaking News" stories. I would give them what they were interested in & the stories that influenced them the most. 

I would make sure that there were lots of visuals and videos as well as well written stories, but if the story needs visuals to make it more clear and concise, I would make sure to have them. I would make a story as realistic and as "feeling like you were there" as I could.