Media and Me…for Now

Let me tell you a slightly embarrassing story. Growing up I had many career aspirations, but the one that stuck with me the longest was being a spy. I loved James Bond and Scooby-Doo, so much so that I made my own little spy-kit and pretended to solve mysteries all the time. I would write my own mystery stories and would read even more, one novel I came across, Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy gave me more hope for this dream. Then one day my sophomore year of high school, I suddenly realized that I didn’t want to be a spy anymore and panicked because I no longer had a plan. Lots of premature worry and a creative writing class later, I saw myself as being able to use my writing skills in the future.

While I always enjoyed all the elements of speech writing and performing, which lead me to pursue communications in college, I wanted more. I’d always been fascinated by journalism; shoot, instead of playing kickball in middle school I would pretend to be a sports announcer and commentate the game. So when I first started taking an intro to journalism class (which prompted me to create this blog and share it with you lovely people) I found myself even more excited about news and the media.

In both my journalism and communication classes, I’ve learned the importance of critical reading and verification. Attending these classes at CU has given me a new perspective of looking at the media; it’s hard to think that I used to just see news programs as basic reporting. Now I know more about all the ethical choices that were made about the material being presented; I know more about how and why media outlets, especially social media platforms, make the choices that they do. I have been able to see that while I try to limit my digital footprint, my information matters to someone and that anyone and anything has the ability to be newsworthy.

I can’t say for sure that I will be a journalist. I can say that I will continue writing—whether it’s on this blog, in a book, an article, or even for a news company. I do hope to continue this type of work because I’ve found a lot of joy and satisfaction in finding new or even old information, but finding an interesting way to share it. I hope that by my continuing to learn about journalism and the media, if and when I find myself in a more professional setting that I will be able to apply these lessons. It’s exciting to think that I could be part of such a dynamic and complicated aspect of our society, and that I could have some influence on its future.

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