Are You Interested in Journalism?

What do you think about journalist profession? You may think that journalist is someone who writes and presents news on television, radio, and newspaper. Actually, journalist does not only write and present news on mass media, but they also collect actual news around him/her which is important to share to public. Before the news is presented to public, journalists have obligation to edit the news. People may think being a journalist is easy, in contrary it is not because he/she has to be responsible to what he/she writes and presents. In fact, journalists do not only produce news, but also articles, features, column, editorial, etc. Basically, there are five media that journalists use to presents news-newspaper, magazine, tabloid, radio, and television. As the growth of technology of communication, now we are be able to receive news online from internet. Nowadays, lots of people are interested in journalism as the increase of netizen (net citizen). According to English Dictionary, netizen is a group of the words internet and citizen as in "citizen of the net". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general. The term commonly also implies an interest in improving the Internet, especially in regard and free speech. Netizens are also commonly referred to as cybercitizens, which has similar connotations. The netizens exactly help the journalists in collecting news, so the ability of netizens may be considered by mass media. If you are interested in journalism, there are several ways to be a good journalist such as: enjoying writing and reading, having a good public speaking skill, and obeying the journalistic code of ethics.

If you want to be a journalist, you must enjoy writing and reading. Basically, a journalist profession is based on how much you enjoy writing and reading because these two things are interconnected. You can write something good by reading more books. The more books you read means the more you fix your writing into the good one, because the books you read will be your reference in writing. By enjoying those two of things, you can learn how to write good sentences. Besides give you more knowledge, reading more books or literatures will expand your dictions and it will give your writing more colors, so people will not get bored by reading the same dictions you often use. Reading also makes you know how to make a sentence with a good grammar, soit will fix your grammar indirectly while you are writing something. On the other hand, if you enjoy reading, it will make you stay in touch to what’s happening around you and also give you a lot of information that you need as a journalist.
As a journalist, it is important to have a good public speaking skill. It is important because this will make people understand your messages and definitely will avoid misunderstood messages, so you will make a good perception to people in this case your readers or your viewers. A good public speaker helps people to receive accurate information. In the other hand, you will adapt easily in public because public speaking skill will make it easier for you to socialize. Being a good public speaker can enhance your reputation, boost your self-confidence, and open up countless opportunities. There are plenty of situations where good public speaking skills can help you advance your career and create opportunities especially in journalism. For instance: you will face situation where you feel uncomfortable and nervous to speak in front of public, but if you have a good public speaking skill, you will be able face the public and it shows you that you are a valuable journalist.

Obeying the journalistic code of ethics is the last thing you have to do. However, this is the most important part because this code of ethics will lead you to be an ethical journalist. The highest and primary obligation of journalists is to serve the public, so they treat sources, subjects, and public respectfully. There are some rules that journalists have to do to the subjects. For example, journalists are not allowed to mention someone’s information if he/she does not allow the journalists to do so, journalists also have to act independently and does not take sides in explaining one’s decisions to public. In the other hand, journalists also have to serve information based on the truth and have an obligation to acknowledge mistakes and correct them immediately. If you can hold on to journalistic code of ethics, you will get respect and can be trusted from both of public and media as a professional journalist.
          In conclusion, being a professional journalist is not as easy as you could imagine. A journalist must enjoy writing and reading, has a good public speaking skill, and holds firmly on journalistic code of ethics. If you can hold on to those three things, you will do fine with your career in journalism. But if you cannot hold on to those things, probably you are not suitable for that profession. 
 
- Ulfa Atikasari