10 things every journalism student can relate to
We’re all journalism students here, there is quite a few things you can bring up in any conversation with your peers and everyone has a “that happened to me, too!” moment. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes predictable, but most of the time it’s probably a little bit annoying and we all like to vent about it. So, I’ve done the generous task of compiling 10 things every journalism student can relate to; maybe use them as a conversation starter one day!
1. The source of few words
This is the source you’re relying on. The last one you need to round out your story and you are very excited to finish it off. The interview starts and you try to warm them up a bit with conversation and they’re nothing but a stonewall. You get into asking some questions and they manage to answer the broadest questions with “I guess.” They’re lack of words is almost impressive. Bonus: contemplating if this means you have to find another source because this one was so useless.
2. Staring at the battery level of your recorder during an interview
Okay, sure. Every professor says, “Double check your recorder’s battery before an interview, you don’t want to lose it.” But it won’t ever happen to you, obviously. One bar? Pfft, it’s a 15-minute interview, there should be no problem… Until it’s the middle of the interview and your source is talking but all you can focus on is manifesting additional electricity into that battery and praying it lives.
Bonus: The extra anxiety from seeing the recorder jump from two bars to one in the middle of an interview.
3. An edit on your piece you despise but grin and bear with it
Yay, you see your piece is up and published! This is a great moment; you share it with your family, and you go to re-read your own work in its final form as one last hurrah. But wait… What’s this? You didn’t phrase that sentence that way. Why is that paragraph over there? Your lede wasn’t that bad, was it? You tell yourself you got the by-line and that’s all that matters, but the insecurity festers.
Bonus: Someone you know compliments the edited part of your story you despise.
4. The source who decides they don’t want to be quoted after the interview
The talkative cousin of the source of few words, this person delivered some amazing information and quotes which will take your story to a whole new level. They had more confidence in the subject matter than you initially had in the story, but they single-handedly made you optimistic. That is, until they suddenly are not comfortable being quoted anymore and wish to either be anonymous or go off the record. Your entire story crumbles away before your eyes, and so does your will to be a journalism student.
5. Riding the awkward limbo between identifying as a journalist or a student
Are you a journalist? A journalism student? Just a student? Are these projects or articles? What are you even doing? When you e-mail a source, should you say you’re a journalism student or just a journalist? Oops, you said journalism student and they just didn’t reply. Oops, you said journalist and they had much higher expectations for your publisher.
Bonus: Just having imposter syndrome, we’ve all been there.
6. The source that got away
The least time-consuming but most common occurrence of the whole source family is that one source you think would be really good, but they just stop replying. You send e-mail after e-mail to confirm your interview, but they’re just gone. You’ll be thinking about them until the day you die, even after you settle for a lesser source. They will always be the one that got away.
Bonus: They conveniently e-mail you after the story is completed apologizing for “losing track” of the e-mail chain.
7. Random people asking, “Isn’t journalism a dying business?”
Sir, I am here to Uber, not be interrogated about my life choices thank you very much.
8. Having no clue what you actually want to do
There was something about journalism that brought you here, but it doesn’t seem like you’re actually finding it. Don’t worry, this one is perfectly normal no matter how much it may not seem so. Sometimes you just need to workshop with multiple forms of journalism or even programs to figure out exactly what you like to do. Maybe writing actually really sucks and audio editing is more your speed, or maybe you just love to see that pretty face in the camera. You’ll find what you like soon enough, just make sure you leap on it, don’t let it pass by.
9. Telling yourself you’ll transcribe quotes later until it’s way too late
This is the worst, and it’s hard to blame it on anything but yourself, but why would you want to transcribe quotes when you could do absolutely nothing instead. It’s such an unfair proposition. So, you ignore the task until suddenly your story is due in a couple days and you have a good idea of what your source said but you actually have no clue at all, and you got to pour through a 45-minute interview for 2 hours trying to find the best quotes.
Bonus: You have, like, three jot notes in your notebook for some reason that don’t help at all.
10. Reworking your lede for hours before you even start writing
This might be the trope with the most victims. You know the lede is one of the most important components of your story, coincidentally it’s also the most fun! You think to yourself, “I’ll just make a placeholder and get back to it later,” but for some reason it’s been about an hour and you’re still working on your “placeholder” because none of the phrasing feels right. The lede is an addictive piece of writing you just can’t stop playing around with in the amount of time you probably could have finished everything else.
Bonus: Your lede gets replaced anyway once your story is edited and published.
Bonus: When the headline feels like the best part of your story
Sometimes the headline is just that good, and you can’t help but be proud of it.
Bonus for the bonus: Your headline has like 3 puns in it.
