Why do I want to be a journalist, you ask?
When I was in high school I didn’t really know what I wanted to be “when I grew up.” I went back and forth between law and journalism, and mostly for the same reasons. I’ve always wanted to make a difference, fight injustice and help people feel like they’re not alone. Finally, I decided that journalism was the less corrupt way to approach this kind of idealism.
Now that I’ve worked in journalism for a couple of years, been around the block and gone through the process of getting accepted into a professional program, I’m still surprisingly idealistic. I no longer want to be rough-and-tumble reporter unearthing the next Watergate, but I want to make a difference. I want people to know what’s going on and to know that they’re not alone.
Ideally, I want my career in journalism to center around food. I love food. I love cooking it, eating it, photographing it and even talking about it in theory. As a vegan, I enjoy being part of a whole food culture, a community. I want to bring my passion and knowledge about this community into my career. I want people to know that I will help them understand their world by pushing to understand my own. The more I can learn, the more people I meet and more I can give to my career, the better I can serve the people who look to me for answers.
I am an idealist and I intend to stay that way.
Now that I’ve worked in journalism for a couple of years, been around the block and gone through the process of getting accepted into a professional program, I’m still surprisingly idealistic. I no longer want to be rough-and-tumble reporter unearthing the next Watergate, but I want to make a difference. I want people to know what’s going on and to know that they’re not alone.
Ideally, I want my career in journalism to center around food. I love food. I love cooking it, eating it, photographing it and even talking about it in theory. As a vegan, I enjoy being part of a whole food culture, a community. I want to bring my passion and knowledge about this community into my career. I want people to know that I will help them understand their world by pushing to understand my own. The more I can learn, the more people I meet and more I can give to my career, the better I can serve the people who look to me for answers.
I am an idealist and I intend to stay that way.
The Montana Kaimin
When I started my sophomore year at the University of Montana I also started working for the Montana Kaimin. Originally I was an “online copy editor.” I essentially helped out the tech-heavy Web Editor by writing headlines and deks for our Web site and doing front-end publishing. After a couple weeks of that, the Web Editor decided to move on to other things and I took over that job.
Although I wasn't as tech-savvy as he was, I learned a lot through playing around. I really started to get into digital journalism and I cared about bringing readers an interactive experience. I helped publish slideshows with stories using Slideshow Pro and Flash 8. I kept up on updating the Web site’s poll to keep the interactive elements on our site interesting for readers.
Learning how to produce information for a newspaper Web site was one of the most enriching experiences of my career so far. I learned to be proud of my work without needing a byline and how to help writers and photographers really show off their talents by giving stellar presentations of their work. Being a digital journalist made me a part of the newsroom.
This year I passed the reigns of the Web site on to a freshman who has integrated a lot of cool new technical features while I focus on honing my copy editing skills for the print edition. Moving to print for my primary editing has also given me the time and opportunity to focus on building blogs for sections of the newspaper. We now have a GameDay Kaimin blog and a Kaimin Photography blog to give readers a colorful and interactive look into our sister publication and the art that brings our stories to life.
Using my skills to help writers and photographers showcase their talents and bring the new face of journalism to our readers gives me satisfaction. I can’t think of a better way to say it. At the end of the day I can look at my work for the Kaimin and feel content knowing that I am helping people see news stories come to life in the digital world.
Although I wasn't as tech-savvy as he was, I learned a lot through playing around. I really started to get into digital journalism and I cared about bringing readers an interactive experience. I helped publish slideshows with stories using Slideshow Pro and Flash 8. I kept up on updating the Web site’s poll to keep the interactive elements on our site interesting for readers.
Learning how to produce information for a newspaper Web site was one of the most enriching experiences of my career so far. I learned to be proud of my work without needing a byline and how to help writers and photographers really show off their talents by giving stellar presentations of their work. Being a digital journalist made me a part of the newsroom.
This year I passed the reigns of the Web site on to a freshman who has integrated a lot of cool new technical features while I focus on honing my copy editing skills for the print edition. Moving to print for my primary editing has also given me the time and opportunity to focus on building blogs for sections of the newspaper. We now have a GameDay Kaimin blog and a Kaimin Photography blog to give readers a colorful and interactive look into our sister publication and the art that brings our stories to life.
Using my skills to help writers and photographers showcase their talents and bring the new face of journalism to our readers gives me satisfaction. I can’t think of a better way to say it. At the end of the day I can look at my work for the Kaimin and feel content knowing that I am helping people see news stories come to life in the digital world.
The Blogs
Creating the GameDay Kaimin and Kaimin Photography blogs gave me a really good project to immerse myself in for the first few weeks of this year. I recoded a lot of the backend for the blogs, created new banners for the top and added fun and interactive sidebar features for readers to take a more active role in understanding journalism.
One of the biggest reasons I chose Blogger to host theses sites – other than the fact that it’s free and saves my newspaper’s budget – is that with blogs, readers can easily leave us comments on the work. Reporters can receive feedback, compliments and suggestions that can help us keep up the good work or gain insight into how to make it better.
The photographers can display their images in color, publish some of their amazing photos that our print edition might not have the room for, and give readers insight into their creative process.
I didn’t get paid to make these blogs for my paper, but I dedicated myself to my coworkers and created these sites so they can join in the digital revolution of journalism and learn that although printed papers are a beautiful thing, we can bring readers additional information and learn more about how to expand our own experience as journalists through digital publication.
My latest blog project is working on the 21st Century J-school blog. Students and faculty in our department have decided to take on the need for change in our program head on by starting discussion and a flow of information. One of the best ways to connect that many students and provide an open forum for evolving conversation is to have a blog. I created the head graphic and generated the sidebar information for the blog. I check in periodically, along with some faculty, to moderate comments and add any more information students might find useful.
Please check out:
One of the biggest reasons I chose Blogger to host theses sites – other than the fact that it’s free and saves my newspaper’s budget – is that with blogs, readers can easily leave us comments on the work. Reporters can receive feedback, compliments and suggestions that can help us keep up the good work or gain insight into how to make it better.
The photographers can display their images in color, publish some of their amazing photos that our print edition might not have the room for, and give readers insight into their creative process.
I didn’t get paid to make these blogs for my paper, but I dedicated myself to my coworkers and created these sites so they can join in the digital revolution of journalism and learn that although printed papers are a beautiful thing, we can bring readers additional information and learn more about how to expand our own experience as journalists through digital publication.
My latest blog project is working on the 21st Century J-school blog. Students and faculty in our department have decided to take on the need for change in our program head on by starting discussion and a flow of information. One of the best ways to connect that many students and provide an open forum for evolving conversation is to have a blog. I created the head graphic and generated the sidebar information for the blog. I check in periodically, along with some faculty, to moderate comments and add any more information students might find useful.
Please check out:
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