What's the Buzz With Journalism?

WHO AM I?

For my new readers, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Dannah Shurling and I am currently a freshman at Creighton University pursuing a Journalism and French double major. I kept up this blog during high school for my e-Communications program that I was in and now I am excited to continue it during this new chapter of my life. This post is for my journalism class this semester which is called Information Concepts taught by professor Dr. Carol Zuegner. I chose to take this class to jump start my pursuit in being a journalist, as well as, to expand my knowledge of the field. I have been blessed to have already a great deal of experience with media due to the e-Communications program that I have mentioned previously. It is a program that allows students to explore the fields of animation, video production and editing, graphic design, and web design with hands on projects and opportunities for client work. Despite the irony of wanting to pursue journalism, I am not the biggest fan of the new, especially TV journalism. I think that this mainly comes from my dad's hatred for the news, but I would much rather read my news on my phone through the BBC news app. I prefer BBC over other news networks because I think that global news is very important especially in today's technological and interconnected world. I would like to say that I am not always on a screen for my eyes' sake; however, I have to admit that I am almost always either on my laptop or scrolling on my iPhone and I definitely have a deep adoration for both.

MEDIA IN THE NEWS

As I stated before, I am not the biggest fan of news media; however, I am fully aware of its importance. I think that in this social media driven age, journalists are presented with a cornucopia of new challenges that we cannot figure out how to solve based on the ones who have come before us. Journalists today must figure out innovative and unique ways to combat the challenges of today. These challenges include the strong opposing views of the global audience, human rights issues, and reliable sources. What frustrates me the most about news media is that it seems to me that a lot of journalists intentions are focused more on the amount of views rather than the actual quality of their work, I hope to one day be a journalist who strays away from this method.

DON'T FORGET THE SEMI-COLON

I have been fortunate to have a great deal of experience with programming. Within the e-Communications program my emphasis was on web design. Through this program I was able to learn HTML, flash, PHP, and even some Java Script. I am capable of making a website from scratch which is a very useful skill in today's world. I even won an award for my PHP run beauty blog which was a project that frustrated me greatly but ended up being so worth it. 

GLOBAL COMMUNITY

With the power of technology, social media, and the internet the globe is becoming smaller each day. It is imperative to establish an international voice in the journalistic community. Unlike in the past, it is not just the members of your local town who are reading your writing, it may be someone completely on the other side of the world. This is both exciting and intimidating as it is easier than ever to have one of your mistakes be detrimental to your career. Nevertheless, it is the world that we live in and it is interesting challenge for all journalists to adapt to this ever changing and demanding world. 

Below are a few pictures from my e-Communications Senior Show that I helped coordinate where all of the seniors in the program were given the chance to showcase their work to local clients, family and friends.