Minor Reflections
Design
Design has always been one of the aspects of journalism that’s interested me most. As a visual artist, I’m always excited to find ways to incorporate creativity into my school life, and magazine spreads were an obvious outlet. Yet when I was first introduced to InDesign, it frustrated me to no end. Working on my first feature story, I felt unprepared for the design aspect once it came to production night, but I quickly learned to overcome my doubts, and ultimately, the experience has left me even more confident in my abilities as a designer. After spending weeks learning the ins and outs of the program, however, I can confidently say that I’ve grown to appreciate the program as a viable outlet for my creativity.
Reporting and Writing
Since I was four years old, I knew I wanted to be a writer. However, journalistic writing has taught me to approach this skill in an entirely different way. Through journalistic writing, I’ve learned the importance of staying informed, and paying attention to both sides of a story. One of the first things we learned in Beginning Journalism was- with the exception of opinion articles- to cover both sides of a story equally and without bias. This has pushed me to seek out perspectives that I normally wouldn’t have gotten exposure to, and allowed me to craft more well-rounded stories both in my journalistic and creative writing pursuits.
Broadcast Journalism
In Beginning Journalism, we had to create a video on an issue happening in our community. My partner and I chose the debate over extending one of the Palo Alto Airport’s runways into the Baylands. Throughout this experience, I had to focus on visual composition in a way I hadn’t before, and learned how images or videos could provide a new meaning to the voiceover that went with it. By the end of the project, I gained a new understanding of what makes an interesting video, and was able to explore a medium I hadn’t previously had experience with.