Who is a Journalist?

Who is a Journalist?

To dive deeper into a previous mentioned subject of what is a journalist? I wanted to mention a few more things that set journalists apart from the every-day writer, blogger, or freelancer.  The first is the idea of having a degree or just being a freelance writer. I don’t necessarily believe that you must have a degree to be a journalist, there are plenty of examples of those who never got a degree but are amazing writers and put their talent towards journalism. Here is an article that talks about whether or not a journalist needs a degree, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5516316/do_you_need_a_journalism_degree_to.html, in this article it mentions a few that don’t have journalism degrees but are still well-known journalists such as Anderson Cooper who got a degree in international relations and  political science, Walter Cronkite who was a college dropout, and Larry king who never even went to college. So it can be proven that you don’t need a degree to be a journalist, but I believe having one helps those that are not “gifted” with the ability to write like a journalist naturally.  I also believe that journalism isn’t just a one-time thing, journalists write their entire lives. A degree helps separate the one-timers from the real journalists.

            With today’s new technology and computer-dependent citizens, the definition of a journalist gets a bit more difficult. Some argue that a person who posts things on Twitter would be considered a journalist. Blogs, maybe, if they’re really good and very consistent, but twitter? That’s where I draw the line.  Writing something in 140 characters or less does not equate to the kinds of stories a journalist has to write. 140 characters or less is more like a headline to a journalist’s story, then the actual story itself. Twitter is a place to throw out news in very small tidbits of information, I don’t mean to bash twitter, twitter is a great place to gain information about the news of the world, I just don’t believe it should be considered journalism. A journalist can gather all the information, and all the facts and then turn those into a story, it’s not merely puking 140 characters about what has just recently happened.

            Journalism is an art that takes dedication from its writers, and for those that don’t have a special talent in this art a degree is a great way to get on the right track to writing amazing stories. It may not be a prerequisite to journalism to have a journalism degree, but in today’s slow-going economy and ever-changing news I feel it’s a good thing to have up your sleeve. But just because today’s world is ever-changing and news is being thrown in our face in new ways, doesn’t make all news journalistic news. Things like twitter where a blast of only 140 characters is needed should not make that writer a journalist. A journalist is well-rounded in their stories; putting all the information ,and all the facts into an interesting and intriguing story.