DC Journalism and Media Conference!

Wow, the last three days have absolutely FLOWN by…it feels like we just arrived yesterday! There have been so many amazing experiences that have opened my eyes to the countless different types and levels of journalism. Looking back at my first blog, all of my expectations have definitely been met. After hearing so many knowledgeable individuals and countless different points of view, I am even more confused and unsettled about my future than I was when I arrived. Please understand that this is not a bad thing…if securing a future was easy, then I don’t think it would be worth the ride.
So, I’d like to examine and discuss what I have learned from a few of the phenomenal speakers I have heard these past three days. Allow me to begin with our National Press Club Panel; a group of professional journalists that addressed us at the National Press Club on Tuesday morning. These panelists were one of my favorite because of they were so relatable…they joked with each other, made the whispered wise crack into the microphone, and addressed each student when a question was asked. I especially enjoyed Chris Cilliza and his remarks. Something about this panel that started to make me think about my future was Cilliza’s remark that the job never stops. It’s not a 9 to 5 kind of occupation; you’ve got to be ready for anything at anytime. I am passionate about everything I do, so the dedication concept doesn’t bother me. What does worry me, however, is that I always hoped to get married and have a family of my own someday. With this kind of occupation, I’m not sure that could easily happen.
And, of course, my favorite speaker was Chuck Todd. What a great guy! I loved his demeanor; he was so down-to-earth for someone who is as big as he is in the business. What I really liked about his talk is that he didn’t keep pushing the “where is journalism going?” ticket. Instead, he was very blunt about it. He was adamant is his belief in the strength of first-person media, of the need to get information first-hand. Overall, I just really enjoyed hearing from someone who was that knowledgeable in the field!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjmc/3721825483/
best group ever. enough said.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjmc/3721804545/
haha, well, does it look like I could do this for a living??


Asking a question to Chuck Todd…highlight of the conference thus far!


Aww, the whole crew! Is it looking like the majority of a future senate or house roster?? 😀

*again, sorry. technical issues!!*

Woo!! On the way back from the Newseum…WHAT an experience. There was so much amazing information and material to see, it was almost impossible to take it all in.
The first stop we made might just have been my favorite…the Pulitzer Prize Winning photographs gallery. There were so many amazing pictures. Some of the ones I can recall? A defiant Obama being battered by rain as he spoke to a crowd on the campaign trail. A naked Vietnamese girl screaming as she walked down a dirt road. The joyous reunion of a soldier and his family on the airport runway. A firefighter cradling the body of a burned child at the Oklahoma City bombings. The list can go on and on, and no photograph was better than another. Each managed to impeccably capture the epitome of an emotion. I could have spent hours in that gallery!
Another incredible exhibit in the Newseum was the September 11th memorial. I was a clueless fourth grader in 2001, so it has always been difficult for me to look at the event from an adult perspective after going through it as a child. I didn’t understand it, I didn’t know who Al-Queda was or what the World Trade Centers were, and it didn’t seem like that big of a happening in my sheltered childhood. This exhibit really helped in my comprehension of just how awesome and terrible this incredible act of hatred was. I think the most intense facet of the exhibit was the eleven minute movie that examined the journalistic aspects of that day. It was gut-wrenching and brutally honest; exactly what I believe good journalism is. It was an incredibly humbling and inspiring experience.

*sorry, technological issues delayed this one for a few days…

So I’m on the bus heading to the Newseum (I can’t get over just how witty that is ;D). So far today was great! A little exhausting-definitely not a good idea to try and run on 4 hours of sleep at the WJMC-but wonderful nonetheless. Breakfast was great, just like the tour guides told us it would be. I am also really enjoying our group work…we’re all very talkative and insightful when it comes to discussions (or dialogues!). It’s so interesting to meet so many different types of people…I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest. I was thinking it was going to be a group of 150 overachievers who knew exactly where they wanted to go and who they wanted to be, but we’re all so unique with different opinions and views. It’s actually quite refreshing to be in a forum in which people my age are encouraged to both formulate and share opinions and views on the world.
The speaker this morning was decent. I am sure it was a combination of sleep deprivation and excitement that rendered me unable to focus, but I did catch some interesting information. The concept of Mr. Pippert’s “constants” of journalism was refreshing, especially when we’re being told there is no predictability in the business. Quite simply, his constants boiled down to; 1.There will always be things we need to know and 2. There will always be things we want to know . The two sound very broad and obvious observations, but they are going to render journalism a nescesity in the future. We may not know where it’s going to go, but at least we know it has to go somewhere.
K that’s it for now! I’m going to power nap!

So I believe I am blogging. At least I hope that’s what this is, otherwise I’m completely lost as to what I am writing/where it will be seen. And thus, you, reader, are now sharing an amazing moment with me. I am blogging for the first time. Hold your breath and cherish this moment.

So here I am at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference. It’s been a crazy day, and I would love to go into details. Actually, I wouldn’t. So I’m going to dive right in.

Today was extremely unsettling. Extremely. But I don’t believe that ‘unsettling’ is an adjective that nescecarily deserves a negative connotation. In truth, I came to this conference because I was unsettled about journalism and it’s future; and I did not and do not have any expectations to come home with that unsettled feeling resolved. If anything, I am expecting to come home even more torn and confused than when I arrived.

While my expectation may sound depressing and cynical, I assure you it is anything but. My opinion is that while we can all speculate on the future of journalism and news publishing, the process is futile. No one can predict where journalism is going to go; it is an ever changing force, an uncontrollable wisp of wind that never goes exactly where it was predicted to exhale. Similarly, we can not see what tomorrow, or next week, or next year will bring. We can predict and make an educated guess, of course. But will fate listen to our opinions? Of course not. So why should we try to pin down the whirlwind that is journalism?

This is only one side of my story, however. I, of course, wish I could say that I avoid specualtion and worry about where my intended field will be in six years. But to do so would be completely contradictory to my nature. So I worry. And I contemplate. And I hope that somehow, I will receive a gaurentee from fate that I, indeed, will have a stable job lined up for me in this chaotic sphere we call Communications when my time comes to enter it. But for the moment, I am straddling a line. On one side is a cliff I cannot see down…there might be a parachute or a ledge awaiting me if I choose to leap from it, however, there is no gaurentee. But the view could be beautiful. It really could be amazing. However, on the other side of the line, there is a soft, smooth descent down to level ground. It’s boring. It’s not something I’m going to like, and it’s not something I will do my best in. However, my security is guarenteed. So which do I choose? Do I take the risk and attempt to enter the unstable, unpredicatble field of journalism? Or, do I take the safe road out, knowing I am taking security over self-fulfillment? This is the question I have been attempting to answer.

However, tonight, and, I hope, the rest of this conference will help make my descision much easier. Mr. Brian Lamb, founder of C-Span, asked our correspondents tonight what the definition of journalism was. Each of our peers gave a completely different answer. If the definition of journalism is so difficult to pin down, how can one think the carreer will be any less complicated? It has taken the past year of thinking, and now tonight’s lecture, to produce a guarentee for me. This guarentee is that journalism has never had, does not have, and will never be predictable. It is not going to be easy, and no one has ever disillusioned me into thinking that it would be. It’s going to be incredibly difficult, time consumng, and quite possibly a difficult career to live off of. The possibility for failure is immense, and the odds for success, miniscule. As aforementioned, it is incredibly unsettling. The odds are no doubt against us.

But regardless of these odds, there is the possibility of making a difference. And this is what is going to get me every time.

I can weigh the options, I can make a pro/con list, but it is this variable that, I believe, will be the determining factor. Just the possibility of leaving my mark, my handprint, a scribble on the pages of history will be enough to convince me to take that leap. Maybe there won’t be a parachute. Maybe there won’t be a ledge.

But I’m thinking I’ll take my chances.

I can’t wait to learn more!

Welcome to onMason. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!