By OMONOKHUA DANIEL
Journalism is the art and craft of gathering, assessing, creating and presenting news/information. It’s because people need to be kept abreast of information around them and far away that makes journalism inevitable.
However, good newspapers, magazines and news broadcasts rely on the eloquence of journalists, who source for valuable and catchy information to be used in their publications.
The journalist is the first gate-keeper. He or she decides what should be given as news or information. In other words, a journalist is a person who collects, writes or distributes news or other current information to the public.
Journalists could be specialized or general, but it is mandatory that a journalist must know something about everything.
As for me, I will like to be a journalist. It took a lot of conviction to decide that though. A journalist is a habitual writer.
He/she must be able to write well because the pen is a vital tool. A journalist is a creative writer who uses his/her pen to express an enigma in the most assessable way.
I have read some publications (magazines) and when I read, there’s a clear picture of what is being read in my mind to the point that I can visualize what happened even without me being there. I will like to be a journalist because I will also want to know how to use my pen eloquently to report events and occurrences as they have happened in a dramatic way that anyone can understand the root of what I am writing about.
A good journalist with his pen can function anywhere that writing is involved, he/she must be creative and that is where most cub journalists, even I, get missing.
Aside writing, journalism thrives on information got from people. People, who provide valuable information to journalists, are referred to as sources. By this, it is imperative to note that without journalists, a media house cannot function effectively.
A lazy person cannot be a journalist. I am not lazy, though I get tired at some points. A journalist should be able to do some legwork and get sources that will provide him/her with information on the subject he/she is addressing.
Last week, I was given an assignment by Mrs. Tosin Omoniyi, Editor in charge of Megacity Desk, to do a story on the piled up refuse at Iyana-Ipaja.
I started thinking on how to get sources to flesh up the story? Which set of people should I interview? If they refused to talk, what do I do and how do I get the assignment done?
Fortunately, she gave me a clue that I should speak to people who sell things close to the refuse. I was seriously relieved.
Some didn’t even want to talk, but along the line, I said somethings about the refuse that provoked some to talk and expressed their inconveniences.
That wasn’t easy at all, I walked, talked, I even had to buy something from some that sold by the refuse side, yet, they turned deaf ears to my questions.
That was why I said earlier that a journalist should know how to legwork and know who his/her sources should be. Some could even cultivate their sources.
That’s another angle to a journalist as a public relations person because he has to know how to relate with the sources, speak politely and create a mutual understanding between themselves, adhering strictly to off-records and all of that.
I yearn to be a journalist because I will meet a lot of dignitaries and influential Nigerians. Despite the stress and failures at times, I can still cope with being a journalist.
I can write well, schedule interviews appropriately and have versatile knowledge of information, because knowledge is power. The stress can be managed. There’s no profession without a challenge and challenges make room for new discoveries.
NAME: OMONOKHUA DANIEL
SCHOOL: LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY.
LEVEL: 300L.
First Published 2018
