The Elements of Journalism

In another 2 weeks, I'll be embarking on my second stage being in university life, which is pursuing the degree course. Some might argue that degree life might be a pain, some might say it shall be a breeze. I doubt any kind of breeze will come from my course, which has appeared on the title. I'll pursuing lessons of being part of the media society.

Not many would choose the life of being a journalist, said that this is the hardest career in mass communication and pays very little. This is very much evident when my university has only two, if not, one class in every degree course. This minimal number represents endangered species. Luckily, this course is creditable. If not, I would not have choose this university in the first place.

Journalism, according to Wikipedia, is "a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and more broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles". This is what I have to learn during my 3 years studying this course, and I have to endure the large amount of paperwork to be done. Even so, I probably had to keep allowing creativity to knock into my head and say "Hey, just do this and forget the old set of rules! This is you!". Yep, journalism changes rules and styles easily, which is why they have editors, because editors, are like disciplinary teachers. They either think your story was good, quick, and have lots of coverage, or they might squeeze your head dry to see how many creative juices are there.

I'm preparing to face a very hectic journey ahead, filled with lots of running around. This is the fate of a journalist I guess, running around, trying to gather news, jotting down whatever that is useful, make good use of it, write out a report, hand it to the editor, re-edit your piece of work, make interviews no matter you have personal feelings towards the interviewee or not, being criticised, being judgmental, being very meticulous and so on. Ouch, I might have to create another persona to fit into that role, because although I like the feeling of running around, not being in the office, not wearing formal wear(journalists can't wear formal wear and run around do they?), but I might get tired of it after a while. Yet I don't want to regret choosing what I do best, which is, well, writing?

I discovered this part of my talent late, because my family emphasized on all rounder academics and sports, or they give me a wrong talent to pursue on: organ practise. I like music, but I'm for sure not the type to play on the keyboard. I was too restless to sit down and play a piece. It was until I got fascinated with chinese lyrics that I discovered the writer in me. Nothing has ever stop me from writing since then. I never actually published any articles on newspapers, mainly because I don't think I want to join in the debate, nor am I good at poems (writing, and poems are not the same), so I'd just observe how the reporters write their reports, with no distinctive style, and no taste. Everything looks and sound the same. But I can see the differences when they took in reports from other countries. The other journalists have more capacity in writing. They probably had done more research, but still it is evident on how they wrote out their distinctive style. I sure hope that there is a chance for the journalists here to be able to write out a style on their own.

There are nine elements of journalism, which none in this country nor other countries has fulfilled all the elements, only some. Here's a look on the nine elements:

1. Journalism's first obligation is the truth.

This is one element that I vow to keep if I ever go into the world of journalism. No matter what kind of pressure I have, I'll keep the one thing that ever encouraged me into journalism: portraying the truth to the whole world. Unfortunately, sometimes, the government can do stupid things to cover the truth that is against them. And I'm not only talking about the government in my country.

2. Its first loyalty is to its citizens.

One element leads to another, and they are all interrelated. The government must know that the press, is working to fulfil its work to the major part of the country which is the citizens, and not to serve the government, so be prepared for some major opposition if they didn't do their job well. Lets just hope those political parties would leave the press alone, instead of giving threatenning endorsements.

3. Its essence of discipline is verification.

Nothing much to say about this one, except that a journalist have to make clear of the news report that they are supposed to give, and whether is it a fraud or a real truth. Or not, the tragedy of China Press is going to happen again. the Nude Squat incident is still vividly on my mind. It will be a severe warning to all press that they must verify clearly on the incident.

4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.

This element, can cause the journalist to lose an arm, a leg, or possibly, his or her life. This is because a journalist when they report on something, it might go against a certain company, it might expose a secret organisation, it might turn one person into living hell, and they all want to prevent that from happening, so in order to stop the journalist from exposing their secrets to the media, several actions could be done. This is a risk of a journalist, at the possible ends of losing one's life. However they must not bow down to the fear, because what they only want to do is to find the truth. Therefore, bribes might help, but, if there is anyone as stubborn as me, I'd probably be dead anytime if I was told to investigate or do something life threatenning.

5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.

Power. The power of writing. Any kind of news exposed to the public will either be propelled someone to a celebrity status, or act as a death sentence to many. That is how powerful news can be. Which is why the journalists are responsible with what they write. However, paparazzis can just write nuisance, and the press agency still got sued. What a "wonderful" bunch of dogs, them paparazzis.

6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

Well, this part is served in every newspaper. The public can always write in to express their dissatisfaction, their greetings, their complaints. Luckily, companies too make use of this to explain their actions, or their wrongdoings. Oh, they even allow companies or a certain persona to apologise to the public via advertising.

7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

This is what I don't see in my country, interesting? relevant? The only thing interesting is news from other foreign agencies in other places. What ever happen to researches that were done in Malaysia itself? Those very topics that make people cringe, those very topics that makes people understand a new level of knowledge? I certainly miss those days of how I enjoyed reading all parts of the newspaper, before some certain authority bogged it down with unnecessary pressure.

8. It must keep the new comprehensive and proportional.

Not sure how to explain this, but, I guess the news that are meant to be small, don't get too worked up on it, but those news that requires alot of attention, like feature stories, do lots of research, interview people, and write and rewrite it so that it fits into whatever that is happening now, and also the taste of the public. There is a fact that the public prefers negative stories over positive ones, though I'm hoping to report more positive than negative.

9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

Now this, could not be practised in this country for the time being. Why do I say so? Every press agency has a political party to "rely" on. So how do the media practitioners be allowed to exercise based on their personal feelings about a certain issue? Everytime when there is an election going on, the political party that has major influences on the media, gets more media coverage. Nothing much was said on what the opposite party did during the whole election period. In the end, who wins? The one that has more media coverage. It is sad that this is happening. Luckily, blogs are available and I at least get to see the two sides of faces that this media news have. Though I pray I get the freedom to even READ them in the future. Because, hey, I'm a blogger too.

Well, that sums up on what I feel about journalism. Hopefully, I'm able to excel in it. I don't pray to stay in this country for a career, because I don't think I can survive the pressure, unless I got into leisure like magazines and travel. Hopefully, my degree life is going to be a happy one. Hectic, yes but a happy hectic life.

Thanks and good day.