Part A- reflective diary entries

Week 1

In the first week of journalism the lecturer outlined the basics of what journalism is essentially about and what it takes to be a professional journalist. I learnt about the 5 code of ethics that journalists have to follow. Overall I think I possess some of the qualities it takes to be a good journalist, such as having a life, being open to new experiences, being curious, and making a lot of contacts.

Week 2

Apparently news writing is about keeping it short and simple. It is about keeping it accurate, brief and clarified in order of the most important details. I might have trouble with this new style of writing as I am used to having an opinion from personal writing in my journal, which also happens to be detailed. I learnt that there is something known as the “fourth estate” which journalists are apart of (Harcup, 2015).

Week 3

This week the lecturer gave us an extensive list on where to find news and researching for our story for the upcoming news article. Something I found interesting were the news values, it made me reflect on the fact that negative stories get more attention while positive things doesn’t really make a good story. It’s sad but true. Furthermore, in tutorial we did an activity that is supposed to help us find think more like a journalist by filtering out the facts in an activity sheet amidst all this information. I think it was pretty helpful.

Week 4 

This week the lecturer gave us tips on how to ask questions to our interviewees which I found useful, especially how to approach contacting them. In tutorial we did an activity where we had to go out and interview real people and write stories on it. I found it quite intimidating at first to walk up to people and ask them but I quickly realised that as long as you are upfront and polite people are happy to help.

Week 5 

This week there was no class as we were given that time to work on our first essay and I have been too preoccupied to think about my second assignment.

Week 6 

This week I started to research possible news story ideas but I am having trouble since there is so many. So far I have narrowed it down to writing about the measles disease (suggested by my tutorial teacher) or the climate change strike coming up on the 27th.

Week 7 

Ultimately I have decided to do the climate Strike idea as my news story because it is close to uni and right down Aotea Square and will be easy to get some photos. Furthermore it fits most of the news values. I think my angle will be focusing on the impacts the strike is having, the negative effects of climate change, and possible solutions.

Week 8 

This week I attended the strike to get some photographs for my essay. It was a really cool and unique experience, though I have never done anything like it. It was weird walking down Queen Street when it was closed and to have people randomly stop and look at us.

Week 9

Although I had difficulty finding sources to interview, I ended up getting some contacts by the end of the week.My classmate has a brother in highschool who was one of the organizers of the school strike 4 climate organisation which I found really useful. My other class mate also agreed to do an interview with me and gave me her flatmates contact who went to the strike and is an applied conservation student. 

Week 10 

This week I went to interview my first interviewee. She was really passionate about what she was talking about and gave me a lot of useful information regarding the consequences climate change has on us and possible solutions. 

Week 11

This week I went to interview my second interviewee. He was also very useful in giving me information for my news angle. In all I found the interviewing process to go easier than I imagined, as most people are happy to have someone listen to what they have to say, especially if it’s something they are passionate about.

Week 12

This week I began writing up my news article using all the research information I had gathered up and the audio recordings of the interviewees. I found it slightly difficult trying to condense my writing to make it short and factual even though I have had practice in class. Overall though, I managed to get it done and it was definitely an experience, different from other writing essays that I have had to do.

References

Burns, L. S. (2013). who is a journalist? In Understanding Journalism (pp. 18-26). Retrieved from https://content.talisaspire.com/aut/bundles/595c4c17540a266c146ea1b4

Harcup, T. (2015). the who what where and how of journalism. In Journalism: Principles and Practice (pp. 6,7). Retrieved from https://content.talisaspire.com/aut/bundles/5963f47e540a267c4d103554