Woes of a journalism major
As a journalism major, there are a few things that I have found are hard to do, or things that make me cringe that many probably don't understand.
Now no need to worry; I only silently judge your grammar in emails and social media posts. I know, I know. But other than that, here's a little list of things that I'm pretty sure only journalists and photographers think/do/live.
1) The AP Stylebook is practically my bible. I refer to it for everything and it eats away at my soul. I follow the Twitter feed , and I make all these annoying posts about it on Facebook. But let's be serious: AP Style is weird. Examples:
-Lectern vs. podium: Every college professor has lied to us. They're really standing behind a lectern, not a podium. According to the group of AP editors who decide all of this, a podium is something someone stands on. #yay!
-Internet: That's not right anymore. It's internet and web. Not capitalized. A recent change brought to you by the wonderful people of AP.
-State Abbreviations: You spell out all states now, except in datelines, cutlines (captions) and headlines. Oh. And you never use postal codes.
-OK: It's not okay, or ok, or Ok. It's OK, OK? I know it may seem like I'm yelling, but I'm not. OK!
and my all-time personal favorite:
- Adopt, approve, enact and pass: Amendments, ordinances, resolutions and rules are adopted or approved. Bills are passed. Laws are enacted.
2) We all secretly want to be like Walter Mitty. We're all pretty sure this movie was made about us, and I'm pretty certain this character is the man version of me. Just saying...
3) Embracing the fact that it's a real struggle to write paragraphs that are longer than 3.5 lines. If you even look up in the previous paragraphs, none of them exceed three lines. Why is that? because when you make them into newspaper columns, they get squished and long anyway, and when they get too long, it turns the readers off. And hey, look this paragraph is 4.5 lines! Yippee!
4) Realizing that school never prepared you for the deadlines that you have to work under as a real journalist. And I mean it. Every morning, I go on rounds, and have to write up blotter to turn in about 15 minutes after I get back. And then sometime I have to turn in another crime or fire report. Yep, all before my 11 a.m. deadline.
5) I prefer the phrase "Naturally Curious" to "Nosy:" that's what journalists do. We find answers, and sometimes you just have to dig for them. That's all. We find answers that no one else is willing to go to the lengths to find.
Yes. These are the things I have noticed as I step into the real world as a journalism major.
-Megan Fischer signing off.
