Why Journalism Matters

*opinion piece*

Firstly, what even is journalism? Well, journalism can be an activity or a job where a person writes news to be broadcasted. Whether this be through a newspaper, a website or a magazine it is always news and should have no bias included. Journalism is presenting information in any way you want.

There are so many different forms of journalism and so many different places that people can get their news from. And where people get their news from will determine what type of news and what information people will hear. For example, people who get their news from newspapers are interested more in politics, world issues about money and taxes and more "adult things". And people who get their news from a social media platform like TikTok will probably hear more about issues to do with us humans, equality and the planet (Black Lives Matter movement, climate change etc.) People hear different news reports depending on where they hear their news, but it's all news. It's all journalism, and it all matters an equal amount.

People don’t always think of Journalism as an actual job, and people don’t respect and appreciate everything journalists go through to get the truth out into the world. People sort of just read the work of journalists and move on with their life. People don’t realise that without journalists the world would have no news, no magazines, no newspapers no way of communicating what's going on in the world with only facts. Journalism is what connects us and helps us be aware of the news and what's going on in not only the world but also in space sometimes!!

I think that not only appreciating journalism is important, but learning about it is also important. Learning journalism is really important because not only are we learning to write without putting our own opinions into our piece. We are also learning to listen to everyone's side of the story and make sure everyone is being listened to equally. Even if maybe, we don't agree with what is being said, journalism class is teaching us that we still have to include everyone's opinion and everyone's story. I'm currently learning about journalism and it's really helped me become more aware about what's really going on in the world - and how to report on it without putting in my own opinion. I'm learning about fake news and how sometimes some titles can be deceiving and I'm also learning about how real news is sometimes not as popular because people don't always want to hear the truth.

Journalism is so important in the world. It's all around us, and without it we would be so disconnected from one another and the world. And journalism is not only something that we read, it's people's jobs, their livelihood. Journalism comes in many different forms - newspapers, magazines, the news, radio stations, podcasts, books. There are so many different ways people can present information, and all are equally important.