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!