Reflecting on blogging as a form of journalism

The first term of Journalism and Media Studies required me to produce creative pieces in the genre of life as a first year university student. The fourth term appointed several genres that surrounded the topic of survival as a first year. Although we were constrained to certain genres, I felt that this did not make a difference to the limitations I had in the first term. It taught me that almost any story may be moulded and perfected from an angle so that it reflects a genre.

As a future journalist, any work that I publish should be available to a wide audience at the earliest stage possible. With the aid of the blog course, this possibility is granted. However, the stipulated topics limit the scope of the potential audience. As the topics surround the perspective and events of South African first years, it is only aimed at first years at South African universities. The percentage of South African Tertiary students contributes a minute percentage to the population of South Africa. Hypothetically, I write an article surrounding the current political events in South Africa. It has to be written in a casual tone so that it may provoke the interests of a first year. A corporate lawyer would not read this. Should she stumble upon this, she would probably judge my insight, however knowledgeable or ignorant, in a condescending manner because of the mood and manner in which it is construed.

Nothing is truly an achievement I can reflect on as my own unless I achieves it on my own. As an educated young individual, I am familiar with the rules of decision making. Majority votes will always win and the minority shall be pushed aside. I cannot say that this course has aided me in the achievement of my personal or professional goals. This blog does not reflect a single aspect of my personality and beliefs. But as they say, consensus is the ladder to high design. You can never truly express yourself when there is a conflict amongst interests which results from working with others.

Blogging is definitely a fresh, innovative embodiment of journalism. New Media is the way of the future. Why would you go the grocery store to buy a newspaper if you could divulge topics beyond your wildest imagination by merely surfing the net? Lets face it, the 'Computer Age' is a reality. Books are replaced by online scripts, letters by email, and newspapers by news forums. Why shouldn't creative writing come in the form of a blog? It opens doors to a larger potential audience than I could possibly imagine. With the aid of a blog, the global population is your audience and you are the star actress.

Personally, the main constraint present was not the limitation to a specific genre, but the limitation of topics. Your experience as a first year is past its expiry date. Journalism students have had to compile every creative assignment through the eyes of a first year, for the eyes of other first years. There are only so many topics one can cover that shall serve as a general interest to other first years. I sufficiently covered the general scope of these topics. Now I need to write about the same topics in fourth term. Although I have had many new eye opening experiences that illustrates these topics since first term, I feel that the topics were quite overworked and mundane.

I did not change my methodology that I undertook when researching in first term and researching for pieces that have been published in this blog. After watching the movie Shattered Glass, I have always practised a strictly honest account of real facts. The consequences of the young journalist's acts of perjury, as well as the consequences of plagiarism at Rhodes has ensured my deterrence.

Our blog served as a manual of do's and don'ts in your first year of university. This entailed me having to research the challenges various students have had to overcome. The bigger the challenge, the better the piece. Surprisingly, many people experienced similar problems as a first year. The research illustrated various insights to the same problems.

As stated above, I was required to interview people who had to overcome difficulties as a first year. Surprisingly, all my friends and acquaintances had stories to share that were relevant to the genre. Unfortunately, upon finding out that it their stories shall be published on a globally accessible medium, people tended to be reluctant to divulge their experiences. Majority of my interviewees, specifically those who told of their experiences with alcohol, wished to remain anonymous. Even though they were assured that their names were not going to be mentioned, they remained somewhat conservative for the rest of the interview. I felt at times that, when reflecting on experiences of my friends and I, I was exploiting personal memories to create a competent piece.

I felt the genres, coupled with its underlying concepts, have aided my writing greatly. These genres acted as the backbones to every piece I submitted. The genres were helpful because they mapped out a list of instructions which made it easier to compile a competent argumentative piece that plausibly supports my opinions.

I feel that the medium, Internet technology, hindered the performance of quite a few journalism students. When applying for journalism and media studies 1, none of us were informed that we were required to be 'tech savvy'. I have personally encountered over ten students who struggled to competently establish and utilize their blogs. Although it is the Computer Age, there are those who come from homes absent of computers. Should the journalism department continue practising this course model, they should consider the implementation of computer literacy course as a prerequisite for journalism 1.

Vickie