July 16, 2009
A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION FOR WJMC!
Just a note before I begin my next post: the information about myself in the previous post is all legitimate. I did actually do all of the things I said I did, but I must admit I inserted my own “bias” into my self autobiography… ha ha ha. I’m really not that conceited, I PROMISE.
Anyway, since my blog was defective ALL WEEK LONG… I suffered mental, emotional, and physical damage, for I had no place to preach about my fabulous WJMC experience. Then, the lightbulb flickered on in my head: Mr. Kohler, my history teacher! Before school let out for summer vacation, he told me to e-mail him all about the conference and what it was like. And since I wasn’t able to blog, I channeled my enthusiasm into an e-mail instead! I figured I’d post it here, just for something to read. That is, if anyone truly pays attention to my blog in the first place. Oh well! This is what I sent him:
Hi Mr. Kohler! How’s your summer going? I’m coming to you live from my dorm at George Mason University right now. Yes, I realize it’s like one in the morning. I have NO spare time to e-mail you during the day, and I always get back to my dorm late because there’s a million things packed into every single day at this Journalism and Media Conference. I can’t even begin to tell you how great of an experience this is. Earlier this week, I listened to Brian Lamb speak and I got to talk to him afterward! I asked him questions about journalism, where it’s going, and what it takes to be a journalist. I visited the Newseum too, and it was spectacular. All of the exhibits were top-notch. They have this special area where they have the front page of hundreds of different newspapers from around America, as well as other nations, and they are updated every morning at 5 a.m.! There was an exhibit all about how the Watergate scandal broke out, and they even had the ACTUAL DOOR to the room where Nixon held secret meetings. It was so interesting. It had a sign taped to it that said “This door is not to be opened. This is an emergency exit only.” It even looked like a dirty old emergency exit door.
There was also an area of the museum that was all about how the press handled the Lincoln assassination. There was a giant picture of John Wilkes Booth, and when I saw it, I heard your voice saying “Boooo!” I don’t know if you remember saying that, but back when I took U.S. History, you were teaching us about the Lincoln assassination and you asked us if anyone knew the name of the man who shot Lincoln. When no one raised a hand, you gave us a hint by saying “Booo! John Wilkes Boooooth!” You have to see this museum someday. It is astounding. The 9/11 section of the museum was really interesting too, because it had a section of the building after it had been hit. It was this mangled heap of wires, pipes, and metal. The walls in the exhibit were covered with front-page news stories about 9/11 from places all over the world. Another section of the museum that was really cool was the section about how the press handled the Vietnam War. There was a big screen that showed scenes of people rioting and stuff, with ‘For What It’s Worth’ by Buffalo Springfield playing in the background. It reminded me of the 60s movie we watched in class!
We also visited the Smithsonian Museums, which I LOVE. I visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History the first time I went to D.C. and I loved it then, so I was happy I got to visit it again. Later on, we went on a tour of some of the monuments in D.C. at night. I’d never seen them at night before, and the World War II Memorial looked especially beautiful when it was the fountains were all lit up. Oh, and guess what… when I was in the Lincoln Memorial, I was reading the words of his second inaugural address, I found a misspelling. My tour guide told us there was a misspelled word somewhere in the Lincoln Memorial so I was determined to find it. It turns out that the word “Futures” had originally been put on the wall as “Eutures”. The government tried to fix it by covering up the bottom line on the E to make it look like an F, but it was still pretty obvious. It was funny!
What’s special about this conference is that we’re not just learning about “newsprint” journalism. People are saying that journalism is dying because newspapers are dying, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Journalism is actually flourishing. With all of the new bloggers our there, and all of the different ways to convey news to the world, such as podcasts, radio, and internet, Journalism CAN’T die out. The future of journalism is going to be very different in the next couple of years, but it doesn’t mean that there won’t be a need for journalists. I see now that professional journalists are more important than ever, because people are going to need and want to hear real, factual information from people who are trained to find out the truth. Not everyone can rely on news from bloggers or other sources that aren’t professional. People are going to need to hear the news from people who know what they’re talking about. I used to be worried about going into journalism because newspapers are in major trouble, even The New York Times, the best paper in the world. Now I’m not worried, because journalism is about to go through this big “rebirth.” It’s going to be really interesting to see how it happens.
I also had the privilege of visiting the National Press Club, and I listened to Vaughn Ververs talk to us about journalism, along with three other reporters. They were all really funny and lively, and they all truly loved their jobs. Everyone at the conference enjoyed listening to them talk because they listened to the questions we had and gave us long, detailed answers. It was really nice to be around people who were so passionate about their jobs. They didn’t sugarcoat anything, and gave us good advice on what the real world of journalism is like.
The hardest thing about this conference is WAKING UP IN THE MORNING. Breakfast starts at 6. I have to set three alarms for myself every morning, arranging it so that one goes off every five minutes. I also I have to put the alarm clock on the other side of my dorm so I’m forced to get up and turn it off. I wake up every day at about 5:30. Other than that, I love this conference. Every time I go somewhere or listen to a professional talk about his or her experiences, I’m completely engrossed.
Tomorrow (or today, rather) I get to hear Chuck Todd speak! There’s also a session about colleges, and what the best ones are for journalism majors. I’m going to tour the Capitol, learn about bias in the media, and I’ll finally have a chance to go souvenir shopping, yay! Oh, and I forgot to mention this, when I went to the Newseum, there was a section of the Berlin Wall! I took a bunch of pictures of it. The artwork that covered the wall was AMAZING. Walking around the Newseum and the Smithsonian Museums was like going back in time to my sophomore U.S. History class. It was like the things you taught us came to life. At almost every exhibit I thought, hey, I remember learning about that! There was stuff about muckrakers, yellow journalism, the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, and a bunch of other things.
I think it’s time I went to sleep, since I have to get up in like an hour anyway, because the wake up call is practically at 3 a.m. I hope you’re having a good summer, and I’ll try to keep you updated on the stuff that’s going on! Bye!
Filed by rbourne at July 16th, 2009 under Uncategorized
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