Introduction to Journalism

"Journalism is the first rough draft of history" - Philip Graham.

The first lecture of the Introduction to Journalism and Communication course gave a brilliant insight into the life of a journalist and the power one can hold when reporting. There were a few themes to the presentation, but the most important one was arguably 'the opportunity to speak'; the opportunity to reveal the truth.

Many wise quotes were included in the slideshow which offered an entertaining yet truthful view into the values and respects of journalism.

"Journalism is organised gossip" - Edward Eggleston

"People may expect too much from journalism. Not only do they expect it to be entertaining, they expect it to be true" - Lewis H. Lapham

The audience was shown the challenges journalism is facing nowadays, which truly revealed how undervalued some journalism is. With the digital phenomenon growing exponentially, hardcopy newspapers could be looking at extinction. PR and public opinion journalism is on the rise also which is putting investigative journalism at risk of extinction also.

Overall, the lecture was informative and interesting - erasing my initial concerns about joining the journalism cohort.