This post is part of this month’s “Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists.” Each month a group of young journalists picks a topic to blog about, similar to “The Carnival of Journalism.” For October 2008, the TNTJ topic is What would your ideal journalism job be and why?
I wasn’t always interested in journalism. In high school I was more into environmental sciences. I studied chemistry — hoping to be a chemical engineer working on compounds and processes that would help the environment. Obviously, my career path changed.
My passion for the environment hasn’t.
I hope to take my journalism experience and cover the environment. I know, the beat’s too big, but let me explain. I want to to cover localenvironmentalism initiatives as well as national and technologicalprogress toward a “green” world. Managing a beat blog — either on my own or as part of a network or publication — would let me work on both local and national or international stories.
Besides the beat blog I’d like to cover larger enterprise stories either as a freelancer or as part of a publication. The purpose of these larger stories is to cover an environmental issue, maybe from around the world, all the while supplementing written posts or printed articles with multimedia content like Soundslides, videos, infographics, and whatever else could tell the story in the best way.
That last part, that’s what I really want to do in journalism — tell the story in the best way.
So how do I get there? Well, I’m not too sure, yet. Right now I’m debating taking an extra semester to get a second degree (after journalism) from Temple University. My most desired secondary degree is Environmental Studies, but that’s fluid right now.
The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University has advanced degrees and other programs specializing in environmental journalism. I might pursue that education, I might try starting my own site, I might also try working for a publication covering environmental issues. Or I might do all three. There’s a lot of opportunity out there and I’ll be apart of it.
TNTJ: What I want to do in journalism — Covering the environment as a journalist who cares
This post is part of this month’s “Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists.” Each month a group of young journalists picks a topic to blog about, similar to “The Carnival of Journalism.” For October 2008, the TNTJ topic is What would your ideal journalism job be and why?
I wasn’t always interested in journalism. In high school I was more into environmental sciences. I studied chemistry — hoping to be a chemical engineer working on compounds and processes that would help the environment. Obviously, my career path changed.
My passion for the environment hasn’t.
I hope to take my journalism experience and cover the environment. I know, the beat’s too big, but let me explain. I want to to cover local environmentalism initiatives as well as national and technological progress toward a “green” world. Managing a beat blog — either on my own or as part of a network or publication — would let me work on both local and national or international stories.
Besides the beat blog I’d like to cover larger enterprise stories either as a freelancer or as part of a publication. The purpose of these larger stories is to cover an environmental issue, maybe from around the world, all the while supplementing written posts or printed articles with multimedia content like Soundslides, videos, infographics, and whatever else could tell the story in the best way.
That last part, that’s what I really want to do in journalism — tell the story in the best way.
So how do I get there? Well, I’m not too sure, yet. Right now I’m debating taking an extra semester to get a second degree (after journalism) from Temple University. My most desired secondary degree is Environmental Studies, but that’s fluid right now.
The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University has advanced degrees and other programs specializing in environmental journalism. I might pursue that education, I might try starting my own site, I might also try working for a publication covering environmental issues. Or I might do all three. There’s a lot of opportunity out there and I’ll be apart of it.