Best Journalism Schools for Prospective Students

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For students aspiring to be journalists the question of whether to go to graduate school is often puzzling. Many students ask: Do you need a graduate degree in journalism in order to be successful, or better yet to obtain your first journalism job? The Huffington Post’s article poses the question: Is Journalism Grad School Worth It? Some of the biggest advantages to enrolling in graduate school could be to gain further professional connections and a graduate degree could give you a higher edge upon entering the industry. In addition, receiving a graduate degree in journalism will only further refine your resume and provide you with proficient clips to share with your future employers. If you decide graduate school is the right path for you it is essential to look into top schools to enhance your experience. According to the Education Portal, The University of Missouri and Northwestern University are the top ranked schools for prospering journalism students to attend. My Many Eyes Data Visualization displays the remaining top colleges.

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Inner Beauty Shines Through in Dove’s True Beauty Campaign

Dove released a new campaign video that has been viewed by millions of people all around the Internet. Dove’s Beauty Campaign is trying to tell women that they don’t have to be a supermodel to be beautiful. Dove’s video is trying to help women reach a higher self-esteem and recognize the true definition of beauty that lies within. The female participants in the video discover the individual beauty they each possess, and for some this discovery leaves an emotional impact. Overall, the participants are able to see how the outsider views their beauty and in the end this opens their eyes to lessen their insecurities. My popcorn video displays the key points of Dove’s Campaign. This interactive video displays an active Twitter feed highlighting viewers’ comments.

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The Evolving Journalism Industry

Photo Credit: Ashley Fountain

Throughout my four-year college career, I have been enlightened to the fact that the journalism industry is constantly evolving and adapting to new patterns. The field of journalism is a young person’s field. As young journalists, we have lived within Journalism’s social media craze. We have developed an intuitive eye to help us tell stories.  As aspiring young journalists, we know we will have to strive to perfect any advancement within our career path and work to build a definition for this constantly varying atmosphere we call the news industry.

Previous to the Conclusion, we were able to read about the changes occurring within the journalism industry. The Conclusion, highlighted those changes and evaluated the impact change will have on our future. The report’s Conclusion left my mind in a more hopeful state. The writing highlighted on what we as aspiring journalists need to do. Journalists need to adapt to these evolving tectonic shifts and be prepared for the changes we will face as the year 2020 approaches. Journalists need to understand that news will come from a wider variety of sources in the future.

People within the field “will concentrate less on questions of what is news and what isn’t than on questions like ‘Will my friends or followers like this?’” This occurring shift can be used as an advantage for any journalist. We are learning to use social media as a tool to widen the distribution of information, not just use it for social purposes. We are staying mindful to how many of our followers will like our news output. By the year 2020 the journalism industry will be far more polished and efficient.

Photo Credit: Ashley Fountain

Journalism is like a quilt, consisting of woven details, variety of sources, and a diversity of detail. In order to keep this quilt tightly sewn journalists need to find their talent, and expand their craft. “News isn’t a coherent or ontologically robust category; it is a constantly negotiated set of public utterances by a shifting set of actors.” Seeing as the news ecosystem is so vastly spread, journalists need to find their passion, expertise and excel in those areas.

The Conclusion brings everything together. It tells us to know ourselves. To gain an understanding of what we are good at and understand where we fall. We must begin to determine if we “are an interviewing journalist? A researching journalist? A Final Cut journalist? An Excel journalist? or A Hadoop journalist?” We must come to know when our network can help us. We need to “know when to work alone, when to call for help, when to partner outside our usual sphere.” Above all else once we learn these things, we must adapt and survive. Survivability is the greatest quality a journalist can have in this ever-changing news ecosystem.