When asking those I know around me who have experience in the fine yet messy world of journalism, the end of their response always comes down to one thing:
This job can suck the f♦cking life out of you.
Fair. There are so many things to cover when writing and reporting, no matter if it’s local, hyperlocal, state or nationwide, or even international. And I don’t mean looking back at your grammar to fix it. I’m talking about the lead chasing, the fact checking, the interviewing, the research, the investigating, the photography. All of that is not pretty sometimes.
It may seem like I’m whining and moaning about what I do, but trust me, I love what I do. Especially here at The Shield. I’ve learned so much from the people here and their work ethic, as well as the practices we use to push content out to all of you.
I can’t lie, most of the time I feel like more than 50% of the students here don’t care about what we do or say, but I use that as motivation to make that as untrue as possible. I believe that the moment we stop what we do here, the entire campus will fall into a vat of misinformation and lies, leading us in the wrong direction as a collective. But let’s circle back to that.
It wasn’t that long ago that I had joined The Shield as an intern through one of my classes, the second semester of my freshman year. During that semester, I decided I wanted to work full-time with them and get more experience in the field. So I transitioned to become a staff writer in the middle of the semester.
I guess I was doing a better job than I expected, because I was asked to be assistant news editor, working under the person I was learning from day in, day out. That was an awesome time. I learned a whole lot more from my section editor and became more aware of how things worked here. But soon after that, I was asked to become the editor of the section after coming back from winter recess. It was a confusing and awkward time, but I decided to move forward and fill the position. I had to learn a lot in a matter of weeks to be able to fully function. I don’t have to worry, though, as I’ve got two great staff writers by my side, writing and reporting news with me.
As I write this, I’m trying to figure out how I’ll present myself in front of the board for student publications as I prepare to interview for the position of editor in chief. I have so many ideas I want to follow through, and I’ve got my eyes on a handful of problems and priorities that need some attention. Hopefully it goes well. If it doesn’t, oh well. I’ll try again next year. It’s not going to stop me from going through with my ideas and or my ability to, at the very least, try to help fix things around us.
On April 22, I was named the next editor in chief of The Shield, so it all worked out. The committee was very welcoming of myself and one of my friends and colleague, Jude Boyer, who is now the next Station Manager of 95.7 The Spin. The whole thing had me stressed, but after a few questions, I was beaming with confidence. When our advisor told the rest of the Shieldsters, they clapped it up. It was a great feeling and I hope we can all get along in the coming semesters.
Circling back to us as a collective, one of the many things I want to do, no matter my position, is to call on events and topics affecting us and our campus, whatever the controversy or retaliation that comes with it may be. We are the fourth estate, the people who keep those who are in power accountable.
Whether it be a municipal or state government, an administration and its cabinet, or foreign reign and policies. We are in the craziest times of history, where fact-checking and accountability are crucial. Google and various other search engines are free. Databases are available to you. Your phone is a tool. Know the difference between reality and AI. You are a part of this battle against the spread of misinformation.
Fight for good. Protest the bad. Prepare for the worst.
