The semester is almost over? I need a cigarette. Nothing says "times up" or "it's over" like a gulp of ammonia, rat poison and tobacco. Sweet relief: that's my kind of finality.
This semester has been hectic: I've fallen behind, attempted to catch up, been tripped by a tortoise and kicked by a hare. "The Tortoise and the Hare," by Mother Goose, is flapdoodle*: both animals are malicious. But I got my revenge: I hired Tonya Harding, an unscrupulous female boxer who knows some people with crowbars, to help me get back in the game. The turtle/rabbit team of destruction hasn't bothered me since.
Moving on...
I took the multimedia journalism course for enjoyment more than anything else. The class satisfied a degree requirement, but I wanted to take a print journalism class that tied into my minor: communication design.
I will not being working within the multimedia subfield of journalism. I don't need to know how to write html. I won't be using Flash. I have no desire to make a career of photography, and I doubt I'll ever make another podcast. But why shouldn't I be familiar with all of those things?
I will be making a career of copy editing. I need dictionaries and the AP Style Guide. I love grammar. And, because I am a journalist, I need to understand every facet journalism. It's the responsible thing to do...
There are specialized doctors, lawyers, computer programmers...the list goes on and on...and all of them, no matter what field and specialty, must have a general knowledge of their field before they specialize. Journalists are not exempt from this. I will not be a photojournalist. I don't plan on designing online extras, working in broadcast news or becoming an radio personality. However, I am not an island and, as a result, cannot learn about only those subjects pertaining to copy editing. A child cannot learn to walk before learning how to crawl (eewww, that's as like totally overused as the sounds "uh" and "um").
Mine is an abstract reflection on the material we covered in Multimedia Journalism. I enjoyed the class, but none of the projects struck me as exciting, though the Flash project will probably change that; I love Adobe Illustrator, which Flash is similar to. Either way, I'm glad I took the class: it expanded my knowledge of journalism as a whole, and was an opportunity to gain experience in areas I had not worked in before.
* I've achieved my No. 1 goal for the semester: use the word "flapdoodle" in a graded blog post. I will receive a yellow smiley-face sticker at the award ceremony, in addition to a fantaginormous cookie served on a Braggart plate.
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2 comments:
FYI - Unless you already have a job as a copy editor...you are going to need know everything so that you can get that job.
I don't think multimedia is a subfield of journalism, dear. It's where print is heading.
However, yes, we will always need copy editors. Computers cannot replace all of us.. until the robot uprising, that is.
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