Okay so this is yet another venture from my usual news-based writings for this blog, but when inspiration hits, you’ve just got to run with it! Since I started my degree in journalism and new media in UL, I constantly get asked why I want to be a journalist or what I plan on doing after I finish my degree. I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t 100% know! I guess there are lots of reasons why I chose the course.
Firstly, I love the news. When I was young there was nothing else allowed on the TV at 9 O’Clock other than the news on RTÉ One. Whether it was Father Ted, Fawlty Towers or Anonymous that was on RTÉ 2 we were never gonna miss the news. In truth, I thought news boring (like any kid) and was one of six children constantly bugging my parents to change the channel. I guess I just grew a genuine interest in it! Even then. I found some news was interesting (Not always because of the impact on the country/the world, or because they were human interest, but instead were just funny)…..
Other than that I really fell in love with the medium of Radio a few summers ago. I’d spend my free time with Today FM on, listening to Ian, Ray D’Arcy, Ray Foley (who was probably the inspiration behind the show I’m gonna be involved with for ULFM for the semester), Tony Fenton and of course Matt “The Matt” Cooper! Radio Kerry was always on in the car, so I feel an affinity to that station. I can distinctly remember that during the summer before I went into 6th year around the time that the CAO points were coming out, Matt Cooper was discussing it with a news reader in Today FM, who said that they got into radio by doing a degree in journalism. I guess that was the first time I considered doing journalism…..
I think it’s important to note at this stage that I didn’t get into it for the money…. there is no money….
There are two very separate, yet indirectly linked things that I love about journalism: being able to inform people and being able to make people smile. Now this is where I guess I have to answer the question; “What are you going to do after your degree”. The answer is………………… I don’t know! I feel like I’ve stuck a finger in each pie, tasted each and still don’t know which I like most! Right now, if pushed, I’d probably say I like radio the most, but which part? I enjoyed doing the news bulletins last semester, and also had great fun doing the news show (As boring as that sounds). But every time I filled in for music/chat shows I just felt at home. I probably took a lot of inspiration from the likes of Ray Foley as well as Tony Fenton for the shows (More so Dermot & Dave these days), and absolutely loved it! (Though I don’t know if I always will!)
Then again, I think print has a special place in society today, and will defend the medium to those who say it’s “dying”. Of course there are still lots of things I’ve not yet tried, like magazine, TV and other kinds of online media and will probably fall in love all over again! I’ve really grown to appreciate the power of social media in the last year, and will always be happy promoting articles/media via Twitter (Though it can be frustrating at times).
So yeah if you’ve read this far, then you’ve probably figured out by now that asking; ”Why do you want to be a journalist?” or “What do you plan on doing after you finish your degree?” is likely to get you a long-winded answer. Why have I chosen to be a journalist, well I can neither confirm nor deny that Ron Burgundy was the true inspiration!
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