Reflection

​Mobile Journalism is a very important field that is only growing alongside of society. The way people receive their news is changing as social media and news apps become more and more popular. Getting the news is small and quick chunks has also become a more prominent way people desire to get their news. This means that journalists must learn to adapt to these changing requirements by shifting their practices to a more mobile form. Since 20th century news practices are no longer successful in educating the public, journalists who still write and report like it is the 20th century are unsuccessful in their pursuits. In a world where celebrities, public figures, and even the President can post information and opinions in the blink of an eye, a modern-day journalist has to be able to adapt and work on their feet. The world’s pace has increased significantly in every sense, and the journalistic world is no different.
The interviews with Jim Daley and Daniel Connolly were extremely insightful to me as a learning journalist. I was so intrigued by the similarities and differences between them. Both for example, didn’t study journalism in college but instead began writing about areas they did study. Learning about Jim Daley’s experience as a scientific writer was great for me because my dream is to go into the health and science field of reporting. Daniel Connolly is an investigative reporter that focuses on immigration issues now, and he provided so much insight into the world of reporting. Investigative reporting has always piqued my interest and covering topics such as immigration in the social climate of the world is very impressive as well. 
I wanted to interview journalists who prefer print media like I do. I was however extremely shocked when I found out from both interviewees that they don’t use Instagram or social media. Growing up in the 2000s and then studying journalism in 2020, not using social media is outlandish to me. Both men said they didn’t really see a need for it in their area of reporting. I find this to be interesting because it proves that while media journalism is on the rise, classic print newspaper journalists still exist and thrive. When I think about my future as a journalist, both men I interviewed are inspirations to me. I really respect that they both found the love of journalism through other subjects. They were both so passionate about their area of study, they began writing about it. I find great courage in that; and making a successful journalism career from those circumstances is extremely impressive. I have minors in both studio art and psychology and would love to involve those in my career as a journalist. I also hope to become a novelist one day so Connolly’s success in having a book published made him even more interesting. I also realized during this process that I took for granted the in-person interview process. While both of my interviewees were great, it didn’t feel as personal as meeting face to face. Readers want to know what is happening in the specific moment and how it applies to their daily lives, so journalists are constantly playing a game of staying ahead of the curve or at least keep up with it. Other journalists are writing to target a specific group of individuals on a particular topic which would require more expertise and provide knowledge. Some of these interest groups can allow for journalists to write pure opinion pieces in which they state one side of an argument or theory and hope for active debate and argument. Since I want to someday write for National Geographic or another journalistic based magazine, I need to especially take note in the mobile journalism facets. Nat Geo for example now has an app that updates users a couple times throughout the day with stories that may interest them based on specific prechosen categories of interest. This means writers need to be more educated on the subjects they are choosing to cover and write about. In the state of the world today as well, during the COVID pandemic, being able to keep in touch and read the news in a mobile form is extremely apparent. Some journalists are even having to conduct interviews and do research from home or over Zoom. These aspects along with numerous more are all reason why becoming well-known in the mobile sector of journalism is important to me. This course and the interviews I conducted have helped me realize that this field is not what I expected it to be. You can easily use your other interests and passions as a driving force in your writing. While you may have to work your way up the ladder and take any job you find; you can always be writing. Whether it is freelancing, for a newspaper, for your personal blog, or just in a journal; writing can happen anywhere. This is a great thing because news can happen anywhere. Stories only have to be newsworthy to those people you are writing for. Not every piece is going to connect with every person and that’s okay. Learning the ways to get information from sources and how to use that information to create something worth reading are skills I will never again take for granted. Learning to use the mobile kits from the beginning and end of each story helped show me that journalism can happen from anywhere. You don’t have to have a great camera or amazing recording commitment. If you have basic knowledge of interviewing and audio video, you can make a story happen from anywhere. 

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