Question: What are internships, Alex.

It became kind of a game toward the end of the trip: we’d sit down with our host at whatever establishment was on the literary for the day, and ask questions. Eventually, one of us would cave and ask the inevitable question – how do we get a job with your company?

The answer was just as inevitable. You’ll need an internship!

The real world’s a competitive place, today more than ever. The economy has created a job-seeking environment that is Darwinian at best, hopeless at worst.

Because of that, employers are demanding more and more from their applicants. It’s no longer enough to have a degree with a high GPA; even extracurricular activities like working for the school paper aren’t going to get one far.

This rather intimidating realization was perhaps the most applicable lesson from the trip. It certainly gives credence to the Communication department’s requirement that all students have to have an internship to graduate (a requirement I wasn’t a huge fan until this trip).

It’s also a rather ironic realization – I’ve felt for a while that journalism in particular and communications-related jobs in general are almost better learned on the job than in the classroom. Employers seem to realize this, as they won’t hire you unless you have on the job experience. But for some reason, a college degree is required as well. Many of our hosts said up front they don’t care about what your degree was in, or even in what your GPA was. The question is then begged: why is it important to have a degree at all? Wouldn’t it be better to just jump right into internships out of high school?

I’m certainly not saying there’s no value in going to college, particularly a liberal arts college. It just seems more and more like employers don’t care much about it, beyond it being present and accounted for on one’s resume.

Besides the importance of internships and the apparent meaninglessness of modern higher education, I learned a great deal on this trip. Much of it is related to media; some of it is not. I’ll organize this paper into a series of short, pithy sections in which I’ll detail the most salient points.

Book publishing is cool in ways I had never dreamed of

That’s not to say that I’m applying for a job with Random House, but it is true that publishing had never really popped up on my radar when considering potential career tracks after school. It checks all the boxes – there’s editing, marketing, public relations. Pretty much everything except writing the books themselves.

Probably the most interesting tidbit I learned from the book publishers we visited came from Regnery Press – apparently, the average novel sells only 2,500 copies. This makes sense when you reflect on the number of books that populate the fiction section in most bookstores, but it’s a depressing number. I’ve tried my hand at novel writing (it’s hard), but now that I know that even if I did manage to actually finish a book it probably wouldn’t sell, I’ll have to find other motivation. Personal satisfaction, perhaps?

Cities are dirty and full of people with better things to do

Admittedly, D.C. was better in this regard. But while New York was the worst offender, both places are large, fast paced, dirty, and full of rude people. Especially people in the customer service business, ironically. Restaurant employees, shop owners, the like. You’ve caught them on a good day if they’re not glaring at you for having the audacity to give them your money.

I’m not sure if it’s a pacific northwest thing, or just a smaller city thing, but I’m much more accustomed to being treated with a little respect  when I walk into a place of business. Not because I’m all that, but just because they don’t have a place of business without their customers.

On the other hand, they don’t seem to be going out of business, so maybe it’s me that’s missing something…

Bias is inevitable; embracing it is sad

It’s been pounded into us in the journalism classes I’ve taken – you can’t defeat bias. No matter how straight you attempt to look at an issue, your life experiences and worldview affect the way you see it, and thus report on it. There are ways to minimize its effect – being aware of your bias, having editors that don’t agree with every word you speak, etc – but it’s always going to be there. Reporters know it, readers should know it.

But when a media outlet decides to wholeheartedly embrace their bias and report the news from their narrow perspective, it just seems like they’re slapping blinders on.

We encountered this type of philosophy on both sides of the aisle – Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) on the left, Eagle publishing (Regnery Press and Human Events magazine) on the right. Both places have admirable goals, but both are committed to covering their particular patch of territory in a very one-sided way.

It’s one thing to believe in a set of ideals and evangelize for them. But it’s not journalism. And it’s not what these two places doing. FAIR has ads plastering their walls advertising books they’ve published attacking conservative figureheads. The editor from Regnery Press as much as admitted that they’re not in business for ideals but to get books on the bestseller list and make money.

Of course, there’s a chance that I’m just being a naive college student and these folks know something about the world that I don’t. Perhaps bias is deep-seated enough that even attempts to minimize its effect are futile and we all should just be dogmatically honest about the perspective we come from.

I’ll take a small leap of faith here, though, and assume that that’s not the case. Today’s world has made it incredibly easy to become a hardened cynic at a very young age, but I can’t fully believe that ideals are quite that far out of reach.

If they are, I suspect I’m in the wrong business.

Foreign correspondence is hip and awesome

Here’s one I didn’t expect – reporting from overseas, particularly danger zones, sounds enticing.

I didn’t expect this because I don’t particularly like reporting to begin with. I have a lot of respect for it, and there’s certain types that I enjoy (investigative), but to get to the point where you’re doing the big stories you have to climb a ladder with rungs made of headlines that read “New reality show even more vulgar that old reality show” and “Woman swears dog is direct descendent of Napoleon.”

On top of that, I’ve discovered I’m just not very good at it. I’ve learned a lot, and I suspect I could continue to learn and get to where I was pretty decent at it. But I just don’t have a natural nose for digging up stories and coming up with new angles to look at topics from. So I suspect that if I tried to make a career of it, I would quickly end up becoming frustrated.

The AP and the Newseum, in particular, alerted me to something I hadn’t considered before, however. Doing work overseas would be fascinating. A couple of reasons – I’m guessing that if one is working for the AP from Mexico, one isn’t doing many stories about Napoleon’s dog child. The stories that seem to come from reporters in those situations are stories that matter, stories that change lives and make governments angry.

The other reason is I love the idea of putting myself in danger for something that matters. Call me a hopeless romantic, and it is admittedly a rather naive thing to think, but writing a story important enough to put you on a hit list is worth doing.

Perhaps I’d think otherwise as bullets are whizzing by my head, but whenever I see a picture of a photographer running beside a solider into a fire zone, I can’t help but think “I could do that.”

However, it’s a lifestyle that doesn’t mesh with what I want even more – a family. Perhaps in another life I’ll learn Chinese fluently and cover their takeover of the world on location, but in this life I’d like to have children. And I’m happy with that.

Hostels are groovy and not full of murderers

I’m thoroughly sold on the idea of hostels. My last experience with a hostel (in New York last spring, incidentally) left me rather skeptical. A grouchy front desk guard with a thick foreign accent and a penchant for yelling at confused visitors thrust some linens at me and muttered guttural warnings and demands before I was able to escape to the seedy, insecure room which was already inhabited by a sleep-deprived French dude. This hostel, however, is lovely. Owned by Hostelling International, it’s quite large, filled with mostly friendly foreign travelers, and stuffed with thoughtful amenities. Like couches and Wi-Fi and a free beer night. I hate beer, but that’s not the point. The point is, I feel appreciated here based solely on the fact that I’m far away from home. And that’s pretty cool, I guess.

Bloomberg was creepy

We received a tour of the Bloomberg building (massive) from a quiet young man who probably had better things to be doing but was kind enough to show us around anyway (my theory: he lost a bet).

The building is constructed mainly of glass (to enhance transparency), the elevators only go to high traffic floors (to enhance community), the artwork is obscure and abstract (to enhance despair over the state of modern art), and the snacks are free (to remind us all that we are most certainly not just cogs in a giant media machine that will eventually consume our souls).

While impressive, it was perhaps the most Orwellian experience I have had to date. I have no doubt that every second of our stay in the building was recorded; I wouldn’t be surprised to find that our heart rates and chemical levels were measured for analysis to improve on the near transparent formula they have for making people feel relaxed there. Near transparent, but not quite. The furniture is just a little too plush, the glass just a little too prevalent, the art just a little too…too. From the moment we entered, I couldn’t get away from the feeling that everything in the building was carefully calculated to make its inhabitants feel a certain way. Open space to make you feel relaxed; glass to make you feel honest; free food to make you forget the gnawing sense of unease that your mother warned you never to ignore. It was creepy. I wanted to leave. The New York Times, which we visited next, felt more like a workplace, were people gathered to, you know, do work. It also felt like there was significantly less chance of your soul being sucked out by a corporate void there. I would definitely work for the Times; I would definitely not work for Bloomberg. Not that I’d ever be offered a job at either place, but don’t pay that any mind.

After the tour, we were ushered to a meeting room made of glass (the shades were drawn, however. Conspiracy? Hmm…) and told by a genuinely nice lady that we were all sworn to secrecy. Sort of. Her exact words were “all of this is off the record,” but nobody actually knows what that means anymore. So, on the off-chance that there is a sniper team following me right now, I’ll keep my descriptions mysteriously vague. Suffice to say that they have the most impressive intranet/database I’ve ever seen or heard of, accessed on completely custom computer equipment. The amount of money in that building is staggering; I did a few quick calculations and estimate that the actual dollar figure would give me a heart attack.

With a few quick clicks, Bloomberg people can access incredibly detailed financial (and other) information on just about any company worth mentioning in the world. You can have your very own Bloomberg terminal for the price of $1,800 a month. Worth it? Very probably.

The New York Times, by contrast, was lovely. Walking through the hallways of the Gray Lady feels distinctly less like being in an ant farm compared to Bloomberg (an improvement). Rather, it feels like a place where one comes to do actual work and then go home feeling good about it afterward.

The graphics department there is quite impressive. Their staff is around 20 strong, publishing graphics and animations to illustrate and support stories both online and in print. They even do some of their own reporting. I made a note of this for implementation at The Whitworthian.

The law is complicated and I’m glad I don’t have to do it

We visited the Student Press Law Center, which was probably the most directly beneficial visit of the trip. It’s an organization dedicated to providing free legal advice to student journalists. What this means is that they defend a lot of student newspapers from their fascist administrations.

Whitworth is a private institution, so many of the First Amendment rights don’t directly apply to us. We’ve been blessed with an administration that has chosen to behave as if they did, however, a fact for which I can’t be grateful enough. However, it’s still a bit disconcerting to know that the free hand we enjoy with our press could be taken away without our being able to offer much resistance.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit of the visit was hearing how the courts are handling cases involving social media. Basically, the courts have no idea how to handle social media. Unsurprising, since most judges are of the “the internets are Al Gore’s devil creation” time of life. At this point the basic approach is to shoehorn social media cases into precedents of physical media cases. This works…mostly…it’ll be interesting to watch how it all shakes down over the next few years. But until then, organizations have a little leeway in how they handle stories related to social media, since the law hasn’t really caught up with it yet.

The Newseum may, in all likelihood, be a level of Heaven

The best news of the trip comes, without irony or pun, from the Newseum. Six floors of all things journalism. I bought two books published by The Onion, which should give you some insight into the degree of cynicism I have already developed at the ripe old age of 22.

Honestly, however, it’s one of the best places I’ve ever visited, Smithsonian and, yes, even Disneyland notwithstanding. There’s a gallery there dedicated to Pulitzer prize winning photos, of which there are roughly a lot. They’ve been officially giving them out since 1946, I believe, and in the 60s they began giving out two a year, one for news and one for features. The result is one of the most powerful and emotional 60 minute experience I’ve ever had.

Photos that will make you smile, even chuckle; others that take your breath away. Most powerful of all are the ones that nearly brought me to tears – a picture of a devastated survivor of the Columbine massacre embracing a fellow student, his face frozen in an agonized cry; a shot of a Sudanese child, curled up in starvation, a vulture sitting patiently in the background; human suffering on a scale I’ve never even begun to experience. And probably never will. But by gazing at the timeless still recordings hanging on the walls at the Newseum, empathy springs naturally and unbidden.

Unfortunately, it springs straight to the tear ducts, which is, of course, unacceptable for a man as manly as I. Somebody must have smeared onions on the walls, I explained to the woman next to me before I scuttled from the room.

The ‘L’ subway line in New York is probably another level

In New York, NY, I saw Boba Fett playing an accordion in the subway. Allow that to sink in, gentle reader. It may help to know that I am a geek, that I may or may not have a belt buckle in the shape of Boba Fett’s head, and that if a Wookie had suddenly barged into our hostel and asked for volunteers for an assault on a small European nation, I would’ve followed without hesitation.

That last bit might not be all that relevant, but don’t pay any mind. The point is, this guy made my day.

Thank God I’m a country boy

Some of my classmates decided after our time in New York that it was the sort of place they wanted to live.

I decided it was the sort of place that makes me glad I live elsewhere. I’m not precisely a country boy (I don’t think you can be a geek and a country boy at the same time…) but I’m definitely not a city boy either. If I had my own place in the city where I could retreat and get away from everything, it might be different. But it just doesn’t seem like the friendliest place to a guy whose idea of a fun time involves hanging out with a few friends playing video games and guzzling Mt. Dew…

I like advertising; I don’t like its stunted stepbrother, PR

I hadn’t really realized this fact before this trip, but I could never do PR.

Well, never is a strong word. But I would much rather do advertising. Between Saatchi & Saatchi and Ketchum, I would work for the first doing anything before I took a job at the second (edit: because I’m going to have so many options, I’d turn down a job at a giant PR firm…right…).

PR is just too…soft, for lack of a better word. It relies entirely on convincing other people to do your job for you. You have to convince the client you have a good idea; then convince their marketing department to pay for it; then convince the media to cover it; then convince your client it was worth tens of thousands of dollars; then go home and convince yourself you’re not wasting your life away pandering to the rest of the world.

Advertising on the other hand is active. You have an idea, you create it, you pay for it, and it happens. It seems like it’s easier to track your results and get hard data, and you get to do a lot of the things PR agencies do anyway.

I’m hoping to jump into a job doing marketing, which is similar but distinct from both fields. I’ll probably end up doing some of all three, however. But I already know which part I’ll enjoy most.

Non-profit news organizations are the way of the future

Here’s something that pleased my inner cynic: non-profit newsrooms. Propublica, primarily. Bias is inevitable, as discussed above, but it’s worse when your bias is also writing your checks. It’s a story I’ve heard from several professional and formerly professional reporters – when the big story paints the big advertiser in a bad light, the big story suddenly doesn’t look so big anymore. Doesn’t even look like it’s worth running. Too bad.

The solution to this, or one solution, is to run ad-free. A non-profit business model is an effective way to accomplish this (or so I gather). While you’re still accepting big checks from people, it’s often private interests. Propublica did a smart thing and had their benefactor pay for a few years up front so even if they got mad they wouldn’t be able to damage the news gathering process unduly.

It’s a problem that will likely plague the journalism industry until the four horsemen raze it all to the ground, but at least there are organizations out there trying to do something better.

Celebrity journalism is not journalism

I’ll file sensationalistic journalism under this heading, too. This primarily came up at TV Guide, the Smoking Gun, and surprisingly (or, perhaps, not surprisingly) at Human Events magazine.

When your newsgathering day involves finding out who Brad Pitt is sleeping with, it’s time to reevaluate your life trajectory. It’s not news; it’s gossip.

Sadly, it’s also the most popular type of publication in the nation. President Obama drives nation into debt: one thousand page views. Katy Perry is pregnant by WHOM???: the internet explodes with page views.

Ambush interviews, like those practiced by Human Events, are not journalism either. Not good journalism, anyway. I suppose there are contexts, perhaps, where these might be appropriate. But when you go out with the intent of making someone look bad or unprepared, it’s “gotcha journalism,” also known as “terrible journalism.”

The year’s top ten craziest mug shots, as found on the Smoking Gun’s front page, is not news either. Interesting? Perhaps. Worth publishing? From a certain perspective. Journalism? Hardly. It’s sensationalism barely above the level practiced by trashy tabloids.

I could go on, but now my blood pressure is up.

Twelve pages is a lot of pages

I had no idea I had this many reflections when I started writing. Looking back over this paper, I’m still not convinced I actually have this many reflections.

In the end

The Media Impact Tour was a blast. Just being able to say I’ve been in some of those places, places where news is happening and stories are published that shape the course of the nation, is cool.

The opportunity to talk with people who are working in the field, particularly young people not long out of college, was extremely beneficial. Even though I’m not actively looking for a job (with any luck, I have one already nailed down), the insight gained from hearing recent job seekers and from the HR professionals who hired them was valuable.

Internships; experience; extracurricular activities above and beyond the call of duty; a degree in whatever and a GPA that isn’t dragging its knuckles on the floor: these are the things that will get you a job in today’s world. Perhaps in less competitive environments (i.e., not in New York), the standards are different. Of course, there aren’t as many jobs in less competitive environments (one wonders if those two facts are related…hmm…). But the bottom line is, all this is making me glad I chose to focus more on the Whitworthian than my GPA for the last couple of years. Not that I’ve let my grades go completely; but I believe the time spent working on the paper will prove to be much more valuable in my future than straight As.

Between job seeking insights, interesting places to visit, and three weeks on the east coast, this trip was well worth the time and the cost. I’d recommend it to any student, if only for the odd chance that they, too, will get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Boba Fett playing an accordion on the subway.

Throughout my years at Whitworth, I took classes that I had an interest in.  On my transcript, this translates as a good handful of studio and historical art classes, French courses, literature courses, a random film or history class (etc.), and naturally all of my general requirements.  The grand, sum total of my efforts equaled a B.A. in French with a minor in literature.  Quite naturally then, as my last semester came to a close, I was asking myself, “What on earth do I do now?”  I have interests varying from translation and book publishing to natural medicine.  The steps I want to take at this point, and what I initially hoped for this study program to function as, was to test out a few of these interests and see which one seems right.  I was hoping that my passion for literature might lead me towards a career in the book-publishing world.  A January of escapades in New York and D.C. with various book and media outlets seemed just the ticket.  After preliminary research about the industry and the businesses we were about to meet, I expected that my time on the east coast would amount to much more learning and much more enthusiasm.  However, I was met with some surprises.

Experiences and Application

As for my hopes to learn and develop a better understanding of the media industry, I was not disappointed.  Happily, our first meetings were those with book publishers.  Our meeting with John Wiley & Sons provided not only an insight into the business, but also gave practical information for the recent grad in where to go from here and what sort of options exist within the world of books.  From the first glance, it was clear that this was a work-your-way-up-the-ladder industry.  Whether one starts in an editorial position, it was helpful to see what other areas were available upon working up the ladder, things I had not really considered before like marketing, art & design, and global rights. I was impressed by Wiley’s efforts to adapt to the new digital world.  Curiously enough, it seemed the more educationally driven innovations in technology were the most practical and cutting edge.  Wiley, along with PBS and The New York Times’ graphics aimed at explaining and demonstrating content, had an impressive mission for advancing their technological capabilities.

Sitting down with Wiley’s human resources representative, we heard the first mention of a recurring watchword of our trip: INTERNSHIPS.   Here, and everywhere else we went, in order to acquire an entry-level position, your resume must show evidence of multiple internships.  In our present day and age, it is becoming apparent that one’s education is almost less important than the experiences you have gained.  Until later in the trip when I began hearing words of encouragement and motivation, I cannot pretend I was a little disheartened and dare I say panicked on receiving this news time and again.  It seems rather contradictory to the idea of a liberal arts education that we, American students, are encouraged to get a basic understanding of a number of areas of study however, in these industries, our meetings were promoting a much more narrow path.  As the odd man out on this trip, a French major, I would hear HR representatives proclaiming that it does not so much matter what your major was, but their replies concerning how they came to hold their position did not match this statement.  For example, the employees at Ketchum Public Relations professed a major in Public Relations, supplemented by internships in public relations, and in turn got jobs in public relations.  I know that such a direct path is not always the case (Bloomberg’s Karen Toulon was a pleasant surprise; major in English with a minor in Anthropology.  And our Bloomberg guide Jake takes the cake with studies in literature and Scandinavian languages), however this situation occurred so often as to make me question my own indecision about the future and therefore my efforts to be as well rounded as I can in the mean time.

Nonetheless, more meetings ensued.  I began taking in the reinforced emphasis on internships and accounts of people who were under the impression they knew what they wanted to do with their lives (not to be a skeptic, but while end-destinations are excellent motivation, they often change) I focused on the information that I could apply directly to myself personally in thinking about these next steps in life.  Resume and interview tips are always helpful.  And in any case, it’s always fascinating to learn about other people’s jobs and what they do on a day-to-day basis.  Although our meeting with the New York Times resulted in an impromptu and somewhat disorganized visit, it was intriguing to see how their department worked to explain parts of a story visually, using an interactive oil spill tracker or graphics analyzing “How Mariano Rivera Dominates Hitters” by utilizing computer programming, cartography, design, and journalism skills to make that come to life.

Also, as I had not been initiated into the world of journalism prior to our departure, I learned all sorts of tidbits and facts that I had hitherto been unaware.  Even witnessing individual’s passion and lives devoted to the mission of investigative journalism was rather inspiring.  Members of The Smoking Gun, while a small operation, were undoubtedly passionate and driven by their work.  I saw their dedication to presenting a story that is well written and in its very essence something of interest to its readers.  Second, they were devoted to publishing work that was fair and accurate, obtaining primary source documents through our government’s freedom of speech, the press, and freedom of information.  ProPublica offered a similar dedication to the mission of investigative journalism.  Their organization stood for journalism that has an impact on the world.  In speaking with C-SPAN’s very frank and knowledgeable president and CEO, Brian Lamb, he explained that the media industry is all about money, but the difference lies in how you go about getting it.  For businesses like The Smoking Gun and ProPublica, their focus seemed less on profits than on their passion for their work and creating something that was truly of quality and impact.

Brian Lamb also spoke to us about how the media plays the game.  Its all about the drama, and for viewers, we love them and hate them because of this.  A lot of the drama that we witnessed on our study trip revolved around the more recent move towards digital.  WNET was literally in between in this development; they were moving into new offices and developing many more goals towards digital innovations.  The Pew Foundation gave us the statistics for how the industry is trying to maintain revenue in the switch to free access online and the lack of advertising capabilities on the web.  While struggles exist over the financial end, this move also presents a whole world of opportunities.  Sree Sreenavisan introduced us to a number of advancements online and in new technologies.  Not a technical guru myself, Sree advised that to be aware and stay on your game that you need great pointers who know what’s new and exciting and can help show you the way.  Digital helps find new ideas, trends, and resources, helps us connect in new ways to new audiences.  Social media is changing the way we communicate.  I acknowledge these developments, but cannot help feeling some hesitation.

I can explain these hesitations with the second recurring watchword of our trip: TRANSPARENCY.  In nearly every meeting, the word was dropped, but the record holder in this competition went to Bloomberg.  It was an easy win.  Not only was transparency their motto, but the concept was also expressed down to every fish tank and piece of Scotch® glass.  Bloomberg terminals revealed publicly the status of every employee, giving details like the time each person clocked in and left to go home.  The prominent place of social media in our lives, applying even to our resumes and potential hireability, questions our sense of privacy.  This expectation to bear all changes the way we communicate with one another; it changes our attention span and our way of finding information online. Our class saw that media outlets are working towards adapting to these new changes.  It is an industry that now requires you to adapt to it.  As a naturally private person, I cannot help but need to take a moment and consider my options before I continue in this new age.  One thing I did learn, fascinating and instructive as it was, the media industry is not for me.

So for me, the search continues.  While I have reached this conclusion for a number of reasons, the trip has nonetheless been quite invaluable.  I love learning new things.  Learning is never a loss. And if what I need to do now is find my path by process of elimination, I am headed in the right direction.  I left our meetings several times with the words of encouragement from our various contacts that I will keep with me.  The Smoking Gun encouraged us, no matter what we do, to be innovative.  Come up with our own ideas.  Don’t be part of the pact.  Immerse yourself in your career and be passionate.  President of the NAB Marcellus Alexander encouraged us with quite the same words: do what jazzes you, because that is what you will be best at.  Life is short.  I am happy to leave Whitworth with these words in my mind and in my heart.  Listening and learning from these remarkable professionals gives me encouragement.  My extracurricular jaunts to museums to see profound, inventive, and beautiful artworks and artifacts from history equally made my visit to the east coast memorable and enlightened.  And now?  I will continue to keep my eyes open and take hold of the opportunities that God puts in my path.

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All words and images by Evanne Montoya

Small beginnings can lead to a big future

Whenever I tell a person that I am a journalism major, I often receive the same reply.

“Oh. I hear journalism is a drying profession. Well, good luck with that.”

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mr. Pessimistic. Although, before today, I would have said the same thing.

Journalism, in itself, is an art form that is slowing burning out. Even as new media technologies are emerging, the modern media have downsized in terms of resources and employees. In a way, journalism has lost its spark.

However, this trip to New York is changing my entire perception of communication. Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with John Wiley and Sons, the second-oldest global publishing firm in the United States. After taking the train and subway to reach their corporate offices in Hoboken, New Jersey, we met with several top directors within the company who reinforced Wiley’s belief that their commitment to integrity and excellence as a publishing firm began with the foundation created by Charles Wiley in 1807. What started as a small print shop in New York has grown two billion dollar company through Wiley’s rich history and ongoing mission to provide the customer with the best possible product. Charles Wiley may have come from humble beginnings, but John Wiley and Sons is a fine example of what it means to dream big and see your dreams become reality.

In fact, after speaking with Susan Spilk, Vice President of Corporate Communication, I feel that there is hope for me as a young, aspiring journalist. (I was starting to worry I would have to move to plan B and work at Wal-mart my entire life. Not good.) Spilk, although a native New Yorker, went to college in Portland, Ore., my hometown. She started low in the chain of command and has risen up in corporate management at Wiley through hard work, excellent reading and writing skills and an undying passion for her work in publishing. This fact alone gives me reason to believe that my education will help me reach my goals in life.

Similarly, my running career started from the ground up. When I first started running, I couldn’t hold a pace faster than a walk for ten minutes before I was huffing and puffing and out of breath. Yet over time, running became easier as I continued to go out and slowly go for longer runs. It took a lot of time and patience, but I can say from experience that the journey from running my first mile to completing my first marathon has been well worth the time and energy.

In summary, I have a lot of work ahead of me to achieve my goals. I may have to serve coffee and make copies as an intern. Heck, I may need to work at Wal-Mart just to make ends meets in college. But it will be worth it. I have the passion for journalism, and this trip is helping me realize that passion is essential to love the vocation you chose. So New York, I’ll start small, but I’m dreaming big. I’ll take the low-income, high-stress jobs, because I know it’s going to pay off in the end.

And that is a comforting thought.

PRACTICE YOUR TRADE: The Smoking Gun

Each day I’m here traveling through the fast-paced, not-so-cleanly streets of New York, I learn something new about running, about journalism and about life. Somehow, these life lessons all seem to mesh together.

On our second full day in the Big Apple, we met with the four writers of The Smoking Gun, including founder and editor-in-chief, Bill Bastone. After being in production for more than 14 years as one of the most prominent investigative periodicals online, Bastone and his team have learned the tricks of the trade for staying sharp and finding the stories mainstream media tend to overlook, misinterpret or ignore all together.

“We break more stories than [mainstream media] do,” Bastone said. “The heart of what we do is finding news; the angle.”

The Smoking Gun, unlike other start-up periodicals, thrives on digging up the stories within specific documents. It is a practice; a lifelong commitment to themselves and to their audience that their content is always accurate, researched and often, in the words of Bastone, “newsy, racy all balled up into one.”

The career of investigative journalism can easily be tied to one of my life passions: running. It is my firm belief that anyone, no matter age, gender or physical fitness, can go out and run. But what distinguishes an occasional runner from a distance runner is practice.

Like journalists, runners must practice their trade. I’ve found that the only way to improve is to do what you love, and do it often. This amazing experience is teaching me that each day is a new day to practice, improve and perform to the best of my abilities as a runner, as a journalist and as a human being.

Like the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect.”

PREPARING FOR RACE DAY: Ketchum Public Relations

A theme that has consistently been reiterated over the course of this trip is the importance of gaining hands-on experience in the field of journalism through internships. As directors at Ketchum Public Relations emphasized, having a strong resume and being well prepared for your interview will set you apart from the rest of your competition. Hundreds of applicants apply every year, each with excellent credentials, GPAs and majors. To really stick out from the crowd, you have to prepare for “race day.” (In other words, the infamous interview.)

Like each interview you undergo, each race is different. Whether you are training for a 5k relay or an ultra marathon (50 + miles), preparation is key and specified to the distance and elements you will face in a given environment.

For example, when I trained for my first marathon, I followed a specific training schedule. I put in the miles consisting of long runs, tempo and speed work along with cross training, core strengthening, stretching and lifting. I did my own research on the marathon route, race day weather conditions and other runner’s reviews on the race. The week before the big day, I tapered, amped up my carbohydrate intake, picked up my number and laid out my marathon outfit so I would be ready for my starting time. With all of my preparation done beforehand, I stepped on the starting line with hundreds of other racers focused, relaxed and ready for run my first 26.2 miles.

Preparing for an interview is much the same. The Ketchum team made an excellent point that your resume, like race training, must be adapted to a specific position (or race) you are applying to. Make it clear, concise and include the experience that is relevant to the company.

Do your research about the company: Know their ethos, mission and recent work. These topics can serve as talking point during the interview. It also shows an interest in the company and the work, product or service they create.

Before the starting gun sounded for the beginning of the Spokane Marathon, I met a marine who decided the day before the race to run a full 26.2 miles, a feat he had never come close to completing. However, even without training, he did, quite amazingly, finish the entire distance.

Here is the real kicker: I passed him around mile 20 and finished a good 20 minutes before him.

Between the two of us, the marine had more strength and brawn, but I had more experience and preparation.

Thanks Ketchum (and Mr. Marine) for the excellent wisdom.

TRAIN TOGETHER AND SEE RESULTS: BLOOMBERG NEWS AND NEW YORK TIMES

Two of the most influential and inspiring role models in my life are Molly Cooke and Carla Pletcsh, my running partners that I have trained with for six months, but have known as friends for a majority of my life. This past July, Molly and Carla had the experience of a lifetime competing in the Cascade Lakes Relay, also known as CLR, a challenging, 216.6 relay race that runs its course from Diamond Lake Resort to Bend, Oregon.

On top of running an amazing distance, Molly and Carla were part of an ultra running team, meaning all the members of their team were over a certain age and the team consisted of only six runners, compared to the regular 12 in most teams.

The thought of running 3 legs consisting of 3-8 miles is daunting. Multiply that number by two, and the idea becomes borderline insane. Yet through their collaboration and hard efforts, each member of the team brought something to the table, helping the team to finish this amazing challenge.

Molly had the ability and strong legs to fly down hills. Their team captain had the relay experience and stamina. And Carla, with her strong determination, flew up hills like they were non-existent.

In a relay like CLR, it is the team that crosses the finish line. The group itself creates the results.

The sites we visited today run on a very similar system.

The first location was Bloomberg news, a globally syndicated online news source that provides the most accurate and timely facts, statistics and analytics for the financial and business realms within the United States as well as around the globe. With more than 11,000 employees in 72 countries, Bloomberg never sleeps. Between the New York, Tokyo and London Bureaus, the terminal signal is always updating information live. Valuing transparency, as seen through their building structure and employee dynamic, the work Bloomberg produces is more important (and valued) than the work of any individual.

The New York Times graphics department held a similar belief. Although interactive maps, graphs and charts are creating a more straightforward method of informing and engaging the Times print and online audiences, it is through the group efforts of connecting the images to a story that have allowed this newspaper to succeed in a financial decline.

Again, I have found that running and journalism connect: Sometimes it is better being a team player than working alone, because joint efforts often yield more rewarding results.

PURPOSE-DRIVEN RUNNING; PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE: ProPublica

In my opinion, ProPublica was one of the most interesting and inspiring sites we have visited on this trip. Even before we visited this location, I was intrigued by what they do and how they serve the national community through their service.

From previous research, I learned this non-profit newsroom specializes in conducting investigative journalism that will benefit the public and their various partnerships within the media realm, including CNN and PBS.

According to their website, ProPublica’s research “shines a light on the exploitation of the weak by the strong and one the failures of those in power to vindicate the trust placed in them.”

This fact alone amazed me. Providing their stories and research free of charge, newspapers, radio/TV broadcasters and periodical websites can include in-depth content in their publications without sacrificing the time of their limited staffs.

Yet my amazement didn’t end there. After talking with Mike Web, director of communications at ProPublica, I learned that this organization not only seeks stories to investigate untapped reservoirs of content, objectively seek to change the world one story at a time.

“We want our stories to fix the problems we are writing about,” Web said.

Unlike other publications, ProPublica does not have a hidden agenda. They want to make a difference thorough each story they publish, and have succeeded in doing just that from their founding in 2007.

“Politics are irrelevant,” Web said. “We are passionate about getting our stories right.”

This idea of writing for a purpose reminds me of why I run.

The medals and free gear are fun to receive, not to mention the awesome food and bragging rights you have after completing a marathon.

But once I put those physical memorandums aside, I remember that running is more than a prize at the finish line.

Ever race I register for costs money. Although the price is often steep, the money raised not only covers the event, it raises awareness (and often funds) for a given organization.

In fact, my church organized a Reindeer Run this December where the funds raised were donated to a local Toy-N-Joy, which collects and distributes toys to young boys and girls in our local community.

With this reminder, I now know why I run. I run not only because I love it. I have a purpose when I run. All the training, sweat and tears lead to a race that not only benefits me, but changes the lives of others.

And this is where ProPublica excels, and this is where I want to excel also.

Have a purpose; have a goal. Be passionate towards a cause. And work not out of selfish ambition, but with others in mind.

Have a digital voice

Yesterday marked one of the major turning points in my life. For starters, it was my birthday. My twenty-first, in fact. Along with my general excitement for this special day, many of my fellow New York travelers, as well as family and friends from home sent their congrats and well wishes throughout the day. On a negative note, other loved ones did not. But what really surprised me is that most of my birthday wishes did not come from word of mouth. Rather, they came from text messages, Facebook comments and phone calls.

This small observation made me realize that in order to be heard or recognized in today’s world, you have to have a digital print in society; one that allows you to reach others and brand yourself outside of your immediate social circle.

As these questions of cyberspace began to whirl in my head, our class had the privilege to meet with Columbia University new media expert Sree Sreenivasan, one of the leading technological experts in today’s digital media-driven culture. Out of the many topics discussed during our time together, Sreenivasan brought up a key point: The world is changing, and so is the way people collect and synthesize information.

News is distributed not only through print mediums, but around the clock through publications available online as well as via smart phones. Music and movies can be streamed, rather than purchased. People can be connected nationally and internationally through social networking. Media is changing how we view the world; they are changing how I even view myself.

After talking with Sree Sreenivasan, I’m realizing that in order to be hire-able, I have to be more than just resume and cover letter. Heck, I have to be more than just a great office personality and team player. I have to be heard as an authoritative figure, both in my personal relationships and digital ones. Journalism is multifaceted. Expertise in a variety of forums is not suggested, it’s required.

Runners can often get “stuck in a rut” if they limited themselves to one distance. In order to keep things lively and new for each run, I find myself trying new distances and routes so each day I venture out, something new and exciting occurs. One day may be a tempo run, where another day I may work on speed work. All in all, it’s the variety that keeps me motivated to keep running and improving on my form and pace.

Although I do not consider myself a digital expert, I’ve dabbled in a few media realms (and running distances). However, after talking to Sree and my fellow Whitworthians, I have a stronger drive to be seen and heard. I’m going to put myself out there and go beyond my immediate, localized comfort zone (also known as the “Pine cone curtain”). So watch out world: I’m taking names, and emails.

Do what you love: TV Guide vs. SAATCHI & SAATCHI:

It’s funny how a negative experience can turn into a positive one. This phrase my need a little explanation.

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to visit with two very different companies, TV Guide Online and Saatchi & Saatchi. The first location is a national online publication that provides their audience with the latest interviews, features and information on their favorite TV shows, while the second company is an advertising agency that creates “Lovemarks” for their clients through brand recognition. Both are excellent, profitable companies. However, there is a defining factor that makes them remarkably different.

TV Guide Online does their work because they HAVE to. Saatchi & Saatchi works because they WANT to. They love what they do.

It’s a simple fact that makes all the difference in the world.

When we met with the TV Guide Online staff, you could tell after only a few minutes of conversation that the employees didn’t enjoy a large majority of the projects they have to do. Even though each writer gets to cover shows they enjoy and interview famous celebrities and actors, they also face all the negatives that come with the media industry. Their work may seem glamorous, but in reality, it seems to me to me more of a frustration and monotonous type of work than a rewarding one.

Saatchi & Saatchi, on the other hand, was an inspiring place to visit. We were greeted by Erin Lyons, communications team leader at Saatchi & Saatchi, who has such a passion for what she does and what she represents as a key member of this prestigious advertising agency. Through the “Lovemarks” system, Saatchi & Saatchi not only makes a given company’s brand recognizable; the brands become trustworthy and reliable, creating loyal customers that will last a lifetime. This type of work builds up brands by building strong relationships between the creator and consumer.

This stark contrast between these two locations made me realize that whatever I do in life, I have to have a passion for. Without that drive and love behind it, everything suffers.

When I first started running I had this same realization. Whenever I was forced to run, I hated it. When I saw other, faster runners pass me by I could not understand where the enjoyment was. In all honesty, I thought runners were crazy.

Then one day, something clicked. I tried running with friends at a slower pace, rather than running full throttle on my own. It was then that I realized I loved how I felt when running. There was an enjoyment there I had never had before. And once I had that reverence for this activity, I found that my running form and pace improved.

In essence, you have to love what you do. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, as long as you have a passion for it. Once you have that excitement in life, nothing can hold you back.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: FAIRNESS AND ACCURACY IN REPORTING (FAIR) and Eagle Publishing ( Regnery Press and Human Events magazine)

When shopping for your first pair of running shoes, it can be one of the most exciting and nerve-racking experiences at the same time. As a beginning runner, I went to Portland Running Company to buy my first pair of legitimate running shoes, but found myself lost in a sea of brands, colors, and sizes. I had no idea where to start, let alone what shoes would best help my running form.

I was then approached by one of the employees at PRC, who had an amazing knowledge and background in running. He first watched me run on a treadmill, where he recorded my running form with a small camera. With the footage, he was able to discover what shoes would help correct my overpronation, a common running error where your feet roll in too much mid-motion. After bringing out some types of shoes that would correct this issue, the employee had me try on each pair to test them out and get a feel of each fit. Without his help, I would have been completely lost. His familiarity with all brands and types of shoes help him give an unbiased opinion.

In media, this idea of “objectively” and “unbiased reporting” is often spoken of, but not always enforced. As a producer and viewer of media, I have found that journalists, whether consciously or unconsciously done, have a preference for a given political party or social agenda.

Over the course of this media impact experience we were able to visit two locations that differed in their political affiliation by being openly liberal or conservative, those being Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and Eagle Publishing, an umbrella company containing Regnery Press and Human Events.

Although each location was open about their slanted agenda, they each held the belief that providing the most accurate and timely news.

“We believe news should not be defined by the powerful,” said Janine Jackson, program director at FAIR magazine. “Media have a role to play to educate and inform.”

Harry Crocker, editorial director of Regnery Press held a similar belief that the truth should be put before support of a given party, not the other way around.

“The better way [to publish as a journalist] is to not have a party line,” Crocker said. “That parry and thrust of ideas is a good idea.”

Jackson and Crocker work for contradictory publications, but this doesn’t prevent them from understanding each other’s point of view. In fact, having a well-rounded understanding of their opposition has helped each of them remain informed on a variety of subjects.

I have a party I would consider myself affiliated with. But I’ve learned there are things more important than being a party member. It is better to see both sides of the coin than to be so pig-headed as to not understand all the possibilities.

‘JUST DO IT’: C-SPAN AND PBS

That iconic swoosh, seen on running shoes, hats, sports equipment and athletic attire has spurred athletes around the world to “Just Do It.” When the going gets tough, you push through, no matter what.

From my own personal experience with running, I have found that an athlete, regardless of their sport, needs more than talent and raw skill to be successful. What sets a true athlete apart from the competition is their unswerving determination. It’s the heart within an athlete that creates a true champion.

I know that I am not the strongest, fastest or victorious runner in the collegial level, but I am determined to be the best I can be.

Yet this trip has taught me more than to believe in myself as a runner. From the examples given to me by our visits today at C-SPAN and PBS, I have learned that the concept “Just Do It” transcends beyond the track field.

Our day began with a collaborative conversation with Brian Lamb, president and CEO of C-SPAN, a private, non-profit cable television program that focuses on different areas in politics. As founder and creator of C-SPAN, Lamb never stopped pursuing his dream. As such, Lamb has conducted more than 1,000 interviews over the course of his career while directing a news source that continually provides the public with specialized coverage of our countries current political topics. Even when ratings drop and viewer interest declines, it is times like these that journalists, like Lamb, strive to encourage other journalists in producing the most accurate and objective material as possible.

Lamb said, “Just do it, and do it, and find your own way of doing it.”

This same philosophy can also be applied to Paula Kerger, standing President of the Public Broadcasting Service. During her eighteen years working in public television, Kerger has continually endeavored to give “viewers like you” programs that are uplifting, educational and engaging to audiences around the nation.  In part, this goal has been achieved through PBS’s work to reach audiences in the digital realm, making a variety of games, programs and content available online through mobile devices. According to Kerger, this transition to online media has allowed PBS to gain momentum in difficult times, reaching a wider fan base than in previous years.

“[it is important] to have content that reaches beyond physical borders … and lives forever.”

Kerger has also proven her determination by competing in triathlons. Her will to reach amazing goals both in athletes as well as in her professional career has encouraged me that running, similar to journalism, takes more than skill; it takes spirit and gusto.

I believe it is through Lamb and Kerger’s faithful commitment to their company’s missions that allows C-SPAN and PBS to flourish. With their hard work, dedication, and unyielding loyalty, I believe that these organizations, despite economic hardships, will carry on and endure in their future enterprises.

With these excellent examples before me, I feel that I too, can be a champion. Or at least finish a few more marathons in the meantime.

From Brooks to barefoot running: STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER/REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

With every technological advancement that is been made in terms of media, journalists are faced with new ways in which to research and produce their work. Although journalism is still viewed as the art of storytelling, the ways in which to tell a given story are growing with each new media tool.

From print to radio, radio to television and television to the Internet, journalists can either adapt to the transition to digital media, or they can try to combat the changes occurring to this art form.

Yet with the recent fiasco of WikiLeaks, it makes one wonder: Is there such a thing as too much media consumption? According to executive director Lucy Lalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, media has to be used with some leniency.

“Technology is not always your friend,” Lalglish said. “Sometimes the good old fashioned methods of reporting are better.”

Although media technology has helped reporters exponentially in gaining more information quickly, it seems that media and legal experts alike are finding that a balance between new and old media must be met. Digitally savvy journalists will not be born overnight. A transition period must occur first.

In running terms, this age of technological advancement is happening as we speak. Instead of the shift involving an emphasis on digital, runners and athletes alike are transfixed by a new trend that is circulating around the world: barefoot running.

According to the latest research, runners were born to run barefoot. The feet are designed to run across given surfaces without extra cushioning from chunky running shoes. The common errors in running form actually occur because of the shoes you where, not because of how the feet hit the ground.

Due to this new revelation, runners want to ditch the shoes (and keep their cash) and run barefoot for good. Sounds like a great idea, right?

Wrong. Although this new phenomenon is in fact appealing, runners are learning that transitioning to barefoot running cannot happen overnight. Therefore, the minimalist shoe was born.

With a design more like a rubber sock than a shoe, the minimalist shoe allows runners to have a lighter, less cushioned shoe to wear as they prepare to throw out their old Brooks and move towards going barefoot on all their runs.

In both the journalism and running realms, I’ve come to the conclusion that every good thing must be taken in moderation. These strides we are making in terms of technology are amazing and I am ecstatic that I get to be a part of this age of change. However, I’ve learned to not forget that this is a transition period. I have to walk before I can leap; jump before I can run. I’m looking forward to trying new digital media methods, but first I’ll start small.

Maybe one day I’ll even make it going barefoot.

CONCLUSION: Lessons learned. Skills developed. Running improved.

Over the course of this amazing trip, I have learned so much in terms of journalism that it’s hard to even scratch the surface of all that I gained from touring New York and Washington D.C.

But most of all, I love the fact that the gleaning process didn’t end when we left our meetings. In fact, I felt like each tourist stop, museum visit and run I learned something about myself as a journalist and a runner.

On our last Saturday in Washington D.C., I had the opportunity to run 18 miles with my friend Amy, a fellow traveler who was also staying at the International Hostel. It was her first  18-miler, and I was so excited I was going to be able to be a part of this amazing milestone in her life.

We started off from the Hostel, ran along M Street into Georgetown until we saw the Capital Crescent Trail, a beautiful paved route that travels through picturesque forest scenery of rivers, streams, full-bodied trees and amazing wildlife.

It was on this trail that I had an epiphany: Anything you do in life that is worthwhile doesn’t come easy. It takes hard work and determination, but when you face a challenge head on a complete a task to its completion, the feeling of accomplishment is unlike anything else in the world.

That is what it feels like every time I finish a run. It doesn’t matter how many long runs or races I complete. Each day I wake up humbled by the fact that each day is a new challenge; one that is well worth the effort.

Completing this trip was an experience of a lifetime. The lessons I learned are not only applicable to my future career; they are life lessons I can apply to almost any aspect of my life.

I’ve learned that through hard work, determination and a positive attitude, I can accomplish my career goals and running aspirations. I just have to remain humble and look at each day as a new opportunity to practice and improve.

Finishing a marathon is more than just crossing a finish line. The best part, in my opinion, is the journey you undertake over those 26.2 miles.

So even though my time in New York and Washington D.C. has ended, I’m still running through life, learning more about journalism each day and the endless possibilities that are in this field that I love. And this journey in life is only just beginning.

This trip was a chance for me to grow.  With every location, I was given the chance to ask myself, “do you see yourself here?”  Yes, there were places where I could answer no wholeheartedly, but there were also places where I thought yes.  Yes, yes, yes.  And although I may not end up working at that particular place once I graduate, I learned what I wanted.  I walked away from this knowing there is a way to get there and it’s not completely out of reach.

CHINA TOWN

Welcome to China Town which could very well be called a poor man’s Midtown.  Your eyes are bombarded with the retina-searing colors of knock off handbags and fake pashmina scarves.  If that isn’t enough to cause a mild case of nausea to sweep your body, you catch a whiff of the hot oil from the Chinese restaurant across the street.  The ‘C’ on the front window confirms your fear that something is not quite up to code, literally. Enter the petite Chinese woman who aggressively beckons you into her shop.  Careful with how much interest you show.  Before you know it you’ll find yourself crawling past Prada bags that read ‘Parda’ on the label to get to a small back room that looks like it’s breaking every building code known to man.  The walls and ceiling are lined with various faux leather bags.  There’s something wrong with each of them.  But you’ll buy one anyway.  Everyone ends up buying something.  I’m unsure whether it’s out of actual want and desire or straight-up fear that you may not leave that back room unless you buy a blue and yellow bag.

Ethics and Morals as seen through China Town

One place we visited, The Smoking Gun, mentioned how many news organizations will pay others for story ideas.  I’m a believer that by accepting money from sources, you are in essence accepting bribery.  This seems like an ethical issue.  I wonder if these news organizations check the connection between the story idea and the source; do they have anything to gain from the situation?

I picked the wrong career path if I wanted to make friends and be morally and ethically sound.  Here’s the problem: if I do my job right and tell the truth, people will hate me.  They will call me a sensationalist if I do investigative work because I will shed light on an issue that may reflect negatively on others.  But I must remember it is my job not to cover up and protect others, but to hold them accountable.  With that said, I believe you need to have passion for this line of work for it to be rewarding at all.  Really, the only time people will know your name is if you screw up.  And you will.  The Smoking Gun said it best by pointing out you can either be in it or be a follower.  Most people settle for the easier path.  But I choose to challenge myself to be in it whole-heartedly.

FINANCIAL DISTRICT

I like to think that the second largest commodity in this area other than money is Pepto-Bismol. Not because of a plethora of food vendors in the surrounding streets or restaurants with Zagat ratings so high the number resembles an ACT score, but because of the stress involved with handling the world’s money.  Standing in the center of it all means you’re hedged in by grey stone buildings.  You can either slick back your hair and suit up or remain a tourist easily discernable in the crowd by your lack of patent leather loafers and black pantsuit.  There isn’t anything wrong with being a tourist; my theory is that businessmen moving along Wall Street secretly desire to be one of us.  After all, we’re at least spending our own money, however meager it may be. Unfortunately you only have two beacons of hope when the stock market crashes next time: a bull statue to cast your tearful gaze and frustrations upon and a subway station to get the hell out of dodge.   And get out you will, because there isn’t anything quite as unnerving as watching a grown man weep openly.

Finances and job security as seen through the Financial District

Sree Sreenivasan of the Columbia school of Journalism gave me hope when he said that we are still a traditional newspaper society.  Up until then I feel like there were an unlimited number of professionals in the field willing to tell me the newspaper is dead.  After all, several newspapers have moved to an online-only platform – I point you to the Newseum exhibit that showcases the stack of papers that have closed down in recent years to either move online or abandon their efforts all together.  It really comes down to this: newspapers have been closing down since they first began.  Failure is part of the game.

When it comes to actually obtaining the dwindling number of journalism jobs out there, Sreenivasan says “no matter how the world changes, the ability to synthesis, process and digest will make you employable.”  In other words the basic premise of journalism will always remain the same regardless of what new technology waits around the corner.  The editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, Mike Hoyt also had something to say about what an aspiring journalist could do: make noise.  In order to be successful in this industry you need to get your work out there.  Don’t be afraid to self-promote your work.  The more people read it, the more people will know your name.  Journalism is not a career path where you can sit quietly and hope success will find you.  You need to find it yourself.

GREENWICH VILLAGE

New York doesn’t have a hipster refugee camp but if you squint and cock your head to one side while standing on one foot, Greenwich Village may, kind of, with the right lighting look like that place.  Get off the subway and you’re bombarded with boutiques, oh, and a cemetery.  Close to NYU, this small area of Manhattan doesn’t resemble Spokane in the slightest.  I was both thrilled and deeply wounded that not every geographic area surrounding a college could be so eclectic.  Wal-Mart is not eclectic. In the end no one seemed to appreciate my green Keds.  Appreciation for Portland style apparently got confiscated by TSA.

Getting started as seen through Greenwich Village

Possibly the most common advice given to us on this trip was the power and weight an internship brings to your resume.  It seemed like everywhere we went they told us the one thing we could do to put us above the hundreds of other people applying for the same position is prove ourselves through our experience.  At Ketchum PR they brought up something that is important to remember though: even in internships, you have to start from the bottom.  As one of the best PR firms in the world, Ketchum recommends previous internship experience before applying for their fellowship.  Just say it already: you need previous internship experience to even get an internship.  There isn’t anything wrong with this; it just isn’t anything I’ve considered.

Given this thought I completely underestimate how lucky I was to get my internship with Willamette Week when I did.  I had no prior work experience, I had taken one journalism class and I was entering my sophomore year.  In all honesty I don’t think I would hire me.  As the industry continues to struggle it becomes increasingly important to have that prior experience.  News organizations don’t have the staff or the funding to hold your hand as you try and figure things out.  They expect you to come in with some kind of knowledge.

MIDTOWN

Don’t go into the Tiffany store.  This is my advice to you.  If Greenwich Village is the twenty-something daughter of a West Coast family, Midtown is the step-mother that may have poisoned her first husband to get access to his millions. And succeeded.  Walking into Tiffany was like walking closer to the sun.  The glimmer coming off the rocks in the cases wasn’t so much a glimmer as a light on a landing strip.  Tiffany had elevators; Elevators leading to other levels of hell the store.  For the record, if I had a ring that cost that much, I would have to sell organs.  I would be a one-lung, one-kidney, bride that was woozy from her plasma donation.

Priceless skill sets as seen through Midtown

Journalism is shifting.  No longer are you just required to write a decent story, but you also need to be able to bring more to the company.  Because of downsizing in staff size the skills set you bring to the table is important.  The general consensus is that you should be a jack of all trades.  Learn how to edit video and audio.  Learn how to shoot and record both correctly.  Coding knowledge is more important than ever.

At the same time your basic premise as a journalist is still to write well.  When talking with the AP, they pointed out that “if you cannot write a good sentence you cannot tell a good story.”  Journalists still struggle with the basic concept of how to write a decent lede.  I feel like I underestimate my education.  Sure, there are areas of the communication department that could use a bit more attention, but we not only learn the basics, we have them drilled into us.  I know how to write a headline.  I know how to write a lede.  I may not know how to do a radio broadcast but I know how to use the inverted pyramid and use it well.  I would rather have the basics nailed down than have sporadic knowledge of a lot of areas.  If it’s really that important I’ll learn it through the Whitworthian or WhitworthFM.  It just takes initiative on my part.  Initiative shouldn’t be the issue; everything about journalism takes initiative.  You cannot be afraid to ask questions; to question authority; to dig until you find an answer.  You may not find the answer you wanted, but an answer you will likely find nonetheless.

UNION SQUARE

I think the world needs more places like Union Square.  In a city like New York where life travels at such a fast pace, you don’t even have the opportunity to look at the person walking next to you.  I learned early on that people don’t smile when they walk down the street.  Granted, if you smile there’s a good chance you’re going to breathe through your mouth and who knows what makes up the air in this place. Business is the top priority.  Like an emotional reservoir in a steel and concrete desert you see more from people than business and fast feet.  But, alas, we’re in New York.  Don’t mingle too long or a cute man with a nice smile will approach you and try to convince you to commit to a $200 haircut for $60. With every reservoir there’s always a snake in the grass.

Community and relationships as seen through Union Square

Whitworth is known for its ability to build community.  But Whitworth doesn’t set the standard for the rest of the world.  There is no Hello Walk in New York.  Lied Square does not exist in the nation’s capital.  But community does still exist.  Like many other industries and career paths, journalism comes down to who you know.  At Wiley and Sons, when they talked with us about their internship program, they mentioned that if we slipped in that we had visited the company before, it would help our chances of getting that internship.

At Saatchi & Saatchi, they mentioned that it’s all about the connections and relationships you make with others; you don’t know when they will come in handy. What they said was this: don’t burn the bridges that you make because you never know when you will need that contact.  Along with this you also need to realize you will not get along with every person you work with, but you must be able to interact with them on a professional level.  Everyone is not going to be your friend.  Even those who you seem to rub the wrong way may in turn become a contact for you later on down the road.

CAPITOL HILL

It’s what everyone sees as a mental image when they think of Washington.  The Hill.  Not the Hills, which is a trashy TV show, but the Hill.  It just screams importance.  And when you stand in the center of the Mall and face the Capitol with your back to the Washington Monument, you witness that importance.  Lawmakers walk those steps daily and dictate the future of our country.  I sure hope they at least do so sober, or else the nice Vietnamese couple visiting the States is going to get the drunk senator in the background of their family photo. Smile.

First impressions as seen through Capitol Hill

When finding a job it really comes down to that first impression.  Unfortunately it isn’t even a face-to-face first impression.  Instead it comes down to paper.  After talking with the head of HR at Ketchum PR, we learned that we really only have a few seconds to make an impression that either dictates whether we get a call for an interview or thrown in the recycling bin.  It’s daunting to think that the rest of your life can be dictated by a one page summary of your experiences.

But with that said, turning in a resume to HR divisions of companies you want to work for is like playing Russian roulette.  Ketchum said they preferred to have education first and experience second while the Associated Press said they want the resumes turned into them with experience first and education last.  While at the book publishing fair, the four panelists gave contradicting answers when asked whether a thank you note really helps their chance of getting a job.  Half said it showed initiative and it may help them in the long run, while some said they would likely throw away a potential candidate’s resume if they didn’t receive a thank you letter shortly after the interview.  I’ve decided that when I get a job it will likely be an act of God.  The planets will need to align with so many companies placing emphasis on what’s important and what isn’t.

ARLINGTON

I looked through the window as the metro surfaced.  Row upon row of headstones lined the green hills.  It’s a somber sight.  As the image of white and green slipped out of view, I wondered if those who take the blue line every day get that same feeling.  I wondered if after awhile it becomes commonplace.  Do they lose the ability to feel sadness over that much loss?  Does it take the form of a sad tourist trap rather than a memorial?  Do they just not look out the window?  The Capitol sits on the other side of the Potomac.  But here, the Capitol might as well not exist at all.

Set-backs and the death of an industry as seen through Arlington

When we visited WNET they were in the process of moving to another building.  But when we sat down with them, they informed us that the government is looking to cut the public spectrum in order to better accommodate the need for internet bandwidth.  With the use of internet skyrocketing, public television isn’t the only area feeling the strain.  So the question is, how do you begin to swallow the internet pill when it means revamping the way you send out information?  The internet isn’t new, but it is growing, which is where the problem begins.

WNET also pointed out that the issue facing newspapers is how will they begin to make money on it? At the same time organizations that originally started charging for content are now trying to figure out a way to make it free.  This is because of the large amount of free content online that rivals the information you would pay to get elsewhere.  It seems the new battle is over the importance of applications.  PBS as well as Wiley and Sons were in the process of creating apps or already had them up and running.  But is it worth the time and effort to fund that project?  The resounding voice was yes so long as the applications linked to paid content elsewhere.

PENTAGON

Here’s the disclaimer: I didn’t visit the Pentagon.  The view of the building was brought to me courtesy of the window seat I got leaving Washington.  I like to think it was my parting gift from D.C. for being so cold to me during our visit.  It was ominous; kind of like a castle but instead of knights wielding swords the place is filled with people with fake names.  There must be some form of security involved with having five sides, because its form definitely doesn’t meet function and I find that irritating.  In the center of it all stands a grove of trees.  Trees surrounded by walls of concrete.  Those are the safest trees ever.  Part of me would give anything to be one of those trees.  If the world ends in 2012, I would feel significantly safer in the center of that building.  And all I kept thinking was “I wonder how close I could get to that inner sanctum before I got tackled?”

Security and intelligence as seen through the Pentagon

The media, like everything else are businesses.  When visiting FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), program director Janine Jackson said that because news outlets are businesses it can often conflict with the goals of journalism.  The key is to be aware of who owns what.  Do your research.  Jackson said you can see elements of corporate ownership and sponsorship in many areas of the paper.  As a journalist it’s important to know who owns the news organization you work for.  For example, I doubt the local paper will run a front page article about the family who owns it if they unearth a major news story about them.  And therein lays the problem with media today.  Because of the state of the industry, newspapers are worried about loss of funding more than ever.

What I learned in theories of human communication and what was reiterated to me in a round-about way at FAIR was the idea that the media influences the policy which then affects the public.  What worries me is that if such a chain like this exists, then by allowing major funders of news outlets to play such a large role in what they publish, ultimately the will of a select few will affect the rest of the world, rather than news outlets listening to what their community wants.  In this field, you need to have the ability to do research on your own in order to succeed.  You need to develop the ability and desire to dig until you can’t dig anymore.

D.C. is cold.  That’s an understatement, but I’d rather not cuss on a class blog.  People who work in Washington during the winter months get to experience the frigid temperatures every time they head to work.  Five of the 7 days of the week are spent trying not to lose a limb due to frostbite.  Why on earth would you put your life on the line again for two days of night life?  In their defense I was done with walking outside after five days too.

2. ‘Closed for business’

Oddly enough very few places hold weekend hours in D.C.;  a sad realization when a good majority of us were wandering around looking for food Saturday morning.  I would leave too if sticking around meant starving.

3. They’re smarter than we all make them out to be?

As explained by the woman sitting next to us in Minneapolis: “people leave because they don’t want to be in that city.  They’re the smart ones. You’re the ones that are dumb for sticking around on the weekends.”

Touche, lady without a name.  Touche.

So, should I be worried that the nation’s capital is pretty much abandoned on the weekends?  Probably.  But rest assured there will be at least one place open when the world goes to hell: Krispy Kreme.

My first thought when reached New York was that New York is a Honda Element. That is to say, if New York was a car, it would be a sleek yet boxy machine, modern and cold, full of more people than you thought was possible, and roaring with power. But that’s not quite it. If New York was a vehicle, it would be your uncle’s second hand Pontiac Trans Am like the Hoff’s night riding vehicle, thirty years past its peak, smelling awful, scratched up and decaying, but still vintage and kind of cool. But that’s not it either. New York is a BWM pulling out of the underground valet lot in the Financial District.  It is a faded but iconic yellow taxi, blaring a horn loudly at no one in particular.

The machines we drive are all in some ways a shadow of ourselves, our cities. Blood pumps through my veins like the cars that clog Manhattan’s streets and the subways that race beneath the city’s skin. These little cells that keep me alive match the millions of lives, of words that drive New York. Last week we visited John Wiley and Sons and learned about the business of words. Publishing is fascinating; it is a village raising books from ideas to the adulthood of hardbacks, novelty products, subsidiary rights, or translations. Publishing is not all copy editing or slush piling. The role of publishers is changing to being content providers. Their goal is to have a seamless transition into electronic media. John Wiley and Sons began in 1807 and published the likes of Poe, Melville, Dickens, Anderson, Hugo, and the Bronte sisters. Then shifted from fiction to science, industry, religion, and women authors. They have always on the forefront of change. As they printed during the Second World War, “books cannot be killed … people die but books cannot.”

In more recent years, the company led the transition to online books or “eBooks”, but until Amazon jumped on board there was little success. However, today this is one of their biggest markets. As Vice President Director of Global Right Kris Kleangan noted, “it’s not print or electronics, but print and electronics.” I was interested to learn about subsidiary rights. Kleangan explained that her job is to exploit the right to material, enable permission and use of product. They work mostly in translation, audio books, digital products, large prints and promotional material. In regards to digital products, Brazil and China are huge markets for social networking and digital media. She believes technology is good.

Anne Smith and Tiara Kelly focused on the post secondary market. Products should “help teachers teach and students learn”. There is a struggle between viewing the clients as consumers versus academics. Smith chided, “we don’t knowingly publish fiction.” In response to the growing use of varied technology in the classroom Smith noted that the use of applications on smart phones and digital media is being tested. As publishers, they actually prefer electronic publications where the overhead cost is greatly smaller.  Unlike magazines and newspapers that went straight to free material, the book publishing world delayed actions to put material on the web, due to financial concerns. Yet then came eBooks. This method of publishing has been vastly popular, and now they are investigating other options, specifically with higher academics in mind. A possible option for academic books is coding in an expiration date or a single desktop usage.  Another goal is to work seamlessly with Blackboard. Currently they are developing tagged content, new digital covers, even more collaboration with MoAC, and concept testing of concept caching, (which designed to mimic geocaching).

We then went to a Publishing Panel. However, they did provide a number of online resources. The first was the American Association of Publisher. The AAP says eBook sales were up 9% this past year. This panel also brought up the muddle mess of Internet law. In 2005 Google had issues to the say the least. Google published a large amount of text for free without permission. However the nature and boundaries of “previewing material” had not been set, and therefore it was unclear and uncharted legal territory. Yet the consensus was once again that eBooks are good, they created jobs. Also repeated from Wiley was the message that in order to get hired, internships and industry knowledge is a huge must. Website literacy must include: Publisher’s Lunch, Digital Book World, Media Bistro, Book Square, and The Publishing Point.

At The Smoking Gun, we learned how print media, if done with integrity, accuracy, and quality, can still push boundaries in a good way. Reporting can be a civil service. Bill Bastone told us “journalism is a public service, not a job or a cash thing or something to be regulated.” He also reiterated that he believes the stigma that accompanies online publications is gone. He argued that their organization was quite different from a TMZ or Perez Hilton, which was a positive difference he believed. When I reflected upon this though, I wondered about the shifting interest in personal authorities. Although popular culture icons are often counted as inconsequential, we are turning more and more to our peers for advice, so perhaps this distinction is not necessary.

We learned from Ketchum, a Public Relations firm, that by connecting people, technology, media, companies and products, that profits can be improved while also improving companies, reputations, and the lives of the consumer and the client.

With so many machines, so many different veins, it has been a little overwhelming thinking about where this might lead us all, but who knows. There are many different cars in our group, and our futures might lead back to this beating, driving, city of words.

Ketchum has five global practice areas: Branding, Corporate, Health Care, Technology and Food and Nutrition.  Other facets of the business include that multiple public relations companies share clients as well as the existence of internal public relations at the company. There are four to ten people on a campaign. Ketchum said the difference between advertising and public relations is that they can do ads, but they focus more on communications and branding. Advertising will use a poster child for a specific product, where as pubic relations tries to connect a feeling or idea with a company. There are four pillars of crisis management: issue management, crisis prepared, crisis management, and litigation communication. Above all they noted, “we don’t spin.”

Bloomberg was a fascination place, not unlike Ketchum. Image was vital to both places. According to Bloomberg, they break 60% of all stories. The buzzword was transparency. However, this felt odd since it came across much more like Big Brother than honest. One of their big emphases was their continuous news. Twenty-four hour news is really four to five hours of news that repeats. Yet I did leave with some good tidbits. New York Bureau chief Karen believed that “you need to follow the sun around the world as far as news is concerned… for there isn’t good news or bad news, only news.”

The biggest issue facing Bloomberg today was one that goes hand in hand with the explosion of digital media. In days past, the issue used to be finding facts and information and stories in a vacuum.  Today it is more of a struggle to shift through to find what matters. Research helps, however it still can take an army to track down the right name.

The combination of research and the digital market was clear at The New York Times Graphic’s department. They focus mostly on maps, graphs, and charts.  However, their graphics are a vital part of their online repertoire. My favorite thing they showed us was a fascinating interactive map of the 2010 Census.

The majority of the employees have master’s degrees, not usually in art, but that is part of their background. In order to work for the graphics department, hires usually need either programming ability to create illustrations like a three-dimensional bridge collapse in a period or twenty-four hours, or vast journalism skills and experience. The knowledge of html, subscript, and coding is a necessary to work there.

However the most interesting thing I left with was the article “Cyberspace when You’re Dead.” The article questions in detail the murky waters of the ownership and purpose of Internet identity and possessions after someone has passed away. Again, the leaning is towards physical property, and the inclination from the legal world is to categorize internet presence under estate laws. However LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo are all considering not allowing a transfer of authority but instead creating a new mode, “memorial status” that would auto-set account settings and preferences to allow friends and family to continue to post but to block hackers and spammers from interacting with the account. The matter is currently in court and under discussion.

On January 11^th, we went to Propublica, and then met with Dr. Sreenivasanvison.

This was my favorite visit of the trip, as well the most relevant to this paper. We learned the history of Columbia’s Journalism school, about New York, and then delved into the world of social networking. Dr. Sreenivasan noted “the ability to synthesize and communicate information to a wide audience will employ you for the rest of your life.”  The first blog we learned about was Tehran Bureau, where the writer capitalized a unique blog market and went onto to receive a large sum of money. It was a testament to the fact that technology keeps getting better, faster, and cheaper. Technology helps, but it is important to remain skeptical. Dr. Sreenivasan said, “we should all be early testers [of technology] and late adapters.”

Technology has shifted our idea of authority. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter allowed people to turn to their friends instead of pillars of advice. We no longer look to Robert and Ebert to choose movies; instead we check our Twitter or RSS feeds. This inclusion in relevancy has made users part of the story. Dr. Sreenivasan noted, “crisis are the same today as yesteryear.” However, before the story was reported and printed, there was a wall of isolation between reader and text. Now, we expect to be part of the story, to comment, to drive up search engine hits, to click “like” on statuses or stories we react to.

With this narrative in place, Dr. Sreenivasan then went on to share a number of websites that offer a valuable contribution to the networking discussion. Mashable was started out of a basement in Scotland. It now is one of the largest social networking news, commentary, and research sites. It collects news and business articles and press releases as well as more entertaining and extracurricular focused articles. The material helps recreational and business-minded users alike. Paid Content is a little different. It focuses on economic study of social media, but instead of the news layout of Mashable, it is designed like both a blog and a twitter feed. What both of these sites have in common is the fulfillment of niche. Dr. Sreenivasan suggested that for cyber success, the first step is to specialize in an area, followed by delivering that content in an accessible digital form.

All of this assumes the value in social networking and digital presence. However, if that is debated, there are at least four values that are difficult to discount. The first benefit is the ability to post and access new ideas, trends, and news. The second is an extreme expansion in audiences. Social media allows for not only a growth in a single large audience, but also a growth in the number of different audiences.  Thirdly, social media grants attention. It gives eyeballs and high traffic to topics previously censored or ignored. Finally, social media and networking allows for personal branding. Facebook, Flikr, and so many other sites are turning individuals into ideas and assumptions. As Dr. Sreenivasan reminded us, “you are your Google results.”

Another branch of digital media I learned about was the more artistic side of social media sites included Klout, Viddyjam, and the YouTube Lean back. Klout is the most general of the three; it is a site that measures influence on the internet. Now while they include all types of individuals and organizations, it seemed to be mostly driven by entertainment people and artists. However, their research and measurements could be hugely valuable to businesses and other organizations for monitoring their own influence as well as their competitors. Viddyjam on the other hand was similar to the popular and well known, internet radio site Pandora. It creates custom music video playlists while also allowing users to select already prepared stations. Reflecting on both Viddyjam and Pandora against what we learned on January 20^th at PEW at the future of radio, I am interested to see the impact of internet radio in cars. XM options have been pricey and at times restricted to one affluent audience. Yet internet access on phones and laptops as well as things like Blue Ray players has been available and utilized by a much wider audience. Internet radio stations right now compete against each other while also fighting different mediums. Should they be all audio, or is video vital to their progression? Viddyjam seems to directly compete with YouTube’s Leanback. Leanback however is slimmer, simpler, but also takes longer to personalize. I am curious to see if individualization or simplicity triumphs.

The final site Dr. Sreenivasan left us with was Poynter. He encouraged us all to seek out people in our lives and on the web to point to great things. For him, this media blog was his own pointer.

After this I met with my friend Ashley Harris who currently is a music agent for Sony Music. A large part of her job is social networking. She told us that even with vast knowledge of LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Foursquare, and a number of other sites, she still was not up to date with social media. She suggested we look at Pipl and Bit.ly. Pipl is a scary version of the White Pages. With only a last name it delivers a large number of personal details on the searched person. It reminded me of the Zaba search engine, only a little scarier. Bit.ly was far more interesting. It is a service that records web traffic. It can be used with most search engines, social networking sites, and home pages. I was amazed.

New York was filled with more places and experiences than I could possibly include in a fourteen page paper, especially one that also covers the days in Washington D.C. As I look at my subway map, I can now tick off all the different districts on Manhattan, plus a few others that live off this crazy island. As each day has passed we’ve also checked off things to do and see off our media list. Visit ProPublica. Check. Columbia University. Check. TV Guide and AP. Check check. Then there’s the touristy list; lines steadily cross off things like the Statue of Liberty, the UN building, Union Square, 30 Rock, see a show on Broadway, (we saw Avenue Q) and lots more. We’ve explored Manhattan but dined across the world, (Mia and I by ourselves have eaten South American, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, and American food as well as drank more weak East Coast coffee than we care to admit). It was lovely.

Of course, the lessons are as much experiential as academic; they are on the streets as well as in the numerous conference rooms we have now had the privilege of sitting in, (for the record, Wiley’s is still the best, great chairs, view, and free food).

So in honor of the New Yorker late night man, Mr. Letterman, I have compiled a top ten list of what we have learned so far:

10. Going to the end of a subway platform will grant you three extra inches of space. Which is necessary sometimes.

9. There is GOOD food in New York. And all it will cost is a lot of money and a reservation.

8. A liberal arts education, regardless of the major, is attractive to employers.

7. Research the personality and the current affairs of companies where you want to work. Each company, or branch of that company has a distinct flavor, and it is important to find one that matches both your goals and life. Additionally, knowing about the field and place where you are interviewing is essential to coming off well in a hiring situation.

6. Sometimes New York smells bad, and there’s not a lot you can do about it.

5. New Yorkers are giant babies when it comes to snow, ice, and cold. Come on people. Spokane dreams about having it this good.

4. The art world, whether it is books, museums, plays, or galleries, all compliment studies in communications.

3. Learning to write well is a big deal. It will get you hired.

2. Internships and experience are vital, vital, vital. Do them early and often in your college career.

1. Social media is the single largest force shaping all industries and the majority of lives in this country. Any company or person that is acting in a reactive way to its existence or power is already behind.

Washington D.C. brought new questions to my mind. While I was still focused on the role of digital media and social networking, the governmental environment allowed me to consider other questions about the media. New York was a series of dark canyons lined with garbage and dirty snow, where as the Federal City has been a shining beacon of excitement and sunshine. We spoke with the head of C-SPAN and the president of PBS, and I can soundly say that they were two of my favorite people and places we have visited. At PBS, Paula Kerger impressed me with her knowledge of and ability to weave together politics, journalism, digital media, and presentation skills. However, C-SPAN made me think. Founder Brian Lamb not only came across as an extremely smart man, but he also put total faith in our government’s system while having a healthy view about the people who run it.

But today also continued a debate I have been struggling with for over a week now. The debate is over the role of media and journalism. It seems like many of the places acknowledge the existence of the three branches of government, (the President, the Supreme Court, and Congress), but they also insert themselves as the fourth branch, what I like to call “the watchdogs”. Again and again the people we have met with have rhetorically set up an us versus them, a press against the government fight, all in the name of representing the public and while also delivering us the things that the government and big companies are hiding. However, at the Newseum, there was a list of the first amendment’s liberties and freedoms. They were freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, freedom of (not from) religion, and freedom to petition.

I agree 100% that this amendment is vital to our government. I agree that freedom of speech and freedom of the press is vital for a democracy. However, I wonder if the proportion and role of the press against the rest of the Constitution and other amendments is at times exaggerated? Is it healthy to always approach the government and business in an aggressive way and align ourselves with the press, who may just be trying to sell more papers or sound bites? I think it depends what world view you approach the media from, but I think I will continue to brew over these questions.

In Washington, PEW Research was both my favorite stop as well as the most interesting.  Each year they publish The State of News report, which is often hundreds of pages long, although we each received an abridged version. I was fascinated. Director Tom Rosenstiel presented incredible statistics and numbers to us. Ninety percent of people use multiple platforms to read the news. Over sixty percent use more than four platforms. In regards to digital media, news is not dying. The New York Times has more than tripled its readership when online publication readers are included. It is more younger, broader, and diverse than ever before.

The problem is not an audience issue, but an advertisement issue. Over forty percent of print revenue used to come from classified. Profits have dropped by seventy percent now due to the popular (free) classified type website Craigslist. News providers must find new revenue.  Yet audiences are moving away from a lean back experience, that is a reading habit where the entire publication is part of the process, including vibrant advertisements. People are turning to lean forward experiences where instead of reading an entire text, then lean forward to seek out one particular piece of information. A huge amount of people never read past online headlines. Television is suffering loss of audience, but instead of amping their online presence, they instead are day shifting to more coverage, or even twenty-four hour coverage. Radio is not declining yet, but as I reflected earlier, internet radio in cars and home venues is stalking nearer.

We also visited both the Student Press Law Center as well as the Reporter’s Committee, both of which focus on legal advice to journalist. The internet seemed to both intimidate and frighten a number of establishments we visited, but both lawyers we met with seemed more intrigued with the emerging field. We learned that more and more courts are treating the web as physical property. Hacking is trespassing. Wikileak journalist will be tried as spies. Your social networks are like your living room, if you do something illegal with your windows open, for example keeping your profile accessible to the public and posting pictures of underage drinking, you are liable. There is little sympathy for privacy in the courts. Like mentioned in the article about cyberspace deceased, intellectual property is the phrase of the day.

All of these experiences are still tumbling through my mind. Social networking is a part of most people’s lives. While I remember the start of MySpace and Facebook, and even the growth of the internet to some extent, my children will grow up with these forces as pillars in their lives. There will not be a difference between existence of Coca Cola, Google, Facebook, or Wal-Mart. This makes me uncomfortable in many ways. I am terrified that privacy is going to die. I am nervous that my rights will be violated and censored. I am scared of anything that looks or acts like Big Brother. Yet I do believe technology is good, and the good far outweighs the bad. I am excited to watch the legal world incorporate digital law. I am excited to watch businesses utilize these forms of media. Most of all I am excited to watch individuals raise their voices and find a place of notoriety. Social networking is the platform from which to lift our thoughts and ourselves in the days to come.

Practical Lesson #1: Pack light.

I knew the wisdom of this lesson even before leaving for the trip, but I rarely apply it to myself.  I tend to pack in preparation for every occurrence, and generally end up not using most of the stuff I brought.  This trip was no different.  I realized this was not the wisest decision as I was traipsing through the New York subway system with a 50-pound suitcase and a God-only-knows-how-heavy duffel bag on my shoulder.  From now on, unless I have a car or a personal servant, I will be trying my hardest to bring less than 80 pounds of stuff with me, even if the trip is three weeks long.

Professional Lesson #1: Do internships.

This was one of the earliest and most drilled-into-our-heads lessons of the entire trip.  At least 75 percent of the places we visited made sure to tell us we didn’t have a chance at a job without internship experience.  Some of the places, like Ketchum Public Relations, even told us we couldn’t get an internship with them without previous internship experience, which I found a little extreme.  The point is, experience is not only valued; it’s necessary.  At one of the sights we were told bluntly that the fact we have a degree will be taken for granted.  That made me face the fact of how truly competitive the job market is now.

Practical Lesson #2: In New York City, the subway is probably safer than a car.

I’ve never heard so much honking or seen such a disregard for traffic laws as I did in New York City.  I felt nervous even during my five-minute taxi ride from Ground Zero to Battery Park.  As much as I love having a car, I would rather take my chances on an overstuffed train that zips around in tunnels underground on an electrified track than in a safety-tested vehicle that I am controlling up in open air.  Of course, when I phrase it like that, it’s not all that hard to make myself and most of the other people in New York City sound nuts.

Practical Lesson #3: The cars won’t stop, so get out of the way.

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but reveals a lot about the mood of New York City.  Everyone is in a hurry.  Everyone has places to go, people to see, and money to make.  Pedestrians go when they can, including jay walking.  If you’re jay walking, you run the risk of getting hit because the cars will not stop, because the people driving the cars also have places to go, people to see, and money to make.  In fact, a lot of the cars don’t even slow down.

The same could be said of Washington D.C., but only as far as the practical lesson can be taken literally.  There is a decidedly different mood surrounding D.C.  Brian Lamb, president and CEO of C-SPAN, was our first official meeting in D.C., and in my opinion he was one of the first to treat us like actually human beings.  He had a real conversation with us that included this very subject.  His reasoning on the difference between New York and D.C. came down to one simple word: money.  In New York, people are driven to a more stressful pace because they are earning and spending their own money.  In D.C., people are spending others’ money.  There isn’t as much urgency because there isn’t as much personal connection.  The sad realization this revelation brings with it is that some aspect of everyone’s life will always be ruled by money, even if there are other things you would rather worry about.

Professional Lesson #2: Send thank you notes.

I knew this lesson before this trip, but everyone we visited confirmed it twice over.  The best way to make sure you stand out in a potential employer’s mind is to send a thank you note.  Some of the places we visited mentioned that if you don’t send a thank you note, you probably won’t be getting a job.  I find it interesting that so much courtesy has died in our society, yet this custom still lives.  We are expected to be courteous to the people that have power over us, like the person hiring us, even if that courtesy never reappears after getting hired.  In my eyes, our world has become a strange dichotomy of self-service and respect, with respect showing up in order to further self-service.  It makes me sad, but I have hope in the fact that not everyone is like this.  So maybe the real lesson is this: don’t send a thank you note to get hired; send a thank you note because it’s the respectful thing to do.  I think I like that lesson a lot better.

Professional Lesson #3: Many times, you end up in a career path you weren’t expecting.

I’m not sure how many of the people we met with said something along the lines of “My path to where I am now was strange.”  Mike Webb of ProPublica started off in the music business and is now in communications for a journalism organization.  While this lesson could be depressing, depending on how you spin it, I don’t think it has to be.  All you have to do is look at it in the right light.  Maybe the path you were intending was never right for you.  God could simply be steering you in the right direction through a lot of seemingly disastrous or devastating turns of events.  When you freak out or try to take control, things tend to go wrong.  Don’t sit back and get lazy, but don’t panic when things aren’t perfect.  If I don’t end up in radio or an ideal audio production job right away, that’s okay.  I’m not going to die, and I’m not going to disappoint anyone.  I just need to have faith.  (This particular lesson ended up being more of a pep talk for myself than anything else.  Sometimes pep talks to yourself are good things.)

Life Lesson #1: Sometimes you have to make compromises in order to take advantage of the best opportunities.

I knew after only a few days of being in New York City that I didn’t want to live there.  That same adversity wasn’t present in Washington D.C., but it’s still a city on the opposite side of the country I’ve always known.  However, as much as I would like to stay at home where I know life is safe, I can’t keep myself in a box forever.  Some of the best career opportunities in the world exist in New York City.  I should be able to handle three months living in a new place in order to do a once-in-a-lifetime internship.

Professional Lesson #4: Every company has it’s own personality.

I have to admit, I never thought about the fact each company has it’s own personality until I got into the work force.  My first job was in a privately owned store.  My current job is in a chain store owned by a massive company.  It seems to me that there are more blunt discussions and less beating around the bush in a small, private store.  The boss is present, and you take your problems directly to him or her.  In my current job, I feel like an ant.  The company has it’s own directives (primarily to make money), and I’m serving those directives without being known at all.

The same can be said about the places we visited.  Saatchi and Saatchi seemed like a very laid-back atmosphere, especially after Erin Lyons told us they have a keg every Friday.  Bloomberg News came across as the total opposite, the epitome of an anthill working environment.  We were told multiple times that everywhere you go, the mood will be different.  We need, and are expected, to have researched and know the company we are applying to.  We also need to be sure that company fits our personality.  The problem with this is that oftentimes, the personality a company projects on it’s website is not the true personality of the people that work there.  I see the value of this lesson, and I believe everyone should adhere to it as best as possible.  It could just be trickier than expected.

Practical Lesson #4: Even if you wear lots of layers, you’re still going to be cold.

I thought everyone was exaggerating about how cold it would be.  Everyone else must just be a baby; it can’t possibly be any colder than Spokane.  Well, I was wrong.  The first night, after we landed in New York, I sincerely thought it wouldn’t be bad.  It wasn’t any colder than it was in Spokane when we left.  In fact, it wasn’t that bad for the first few days.  I don’t remember when it got bad.  All I remember is not being able to feel my hands through my gloves and my ears burning when we walked into a building.  The worst day, however, was our last day in Washington D.C.  I was walking back to the hostel after dinner and realized that I couldn’t feel my feet.  Normally, my toes go numb; that’s nothing new.  This time, both of my feet were gone, all the way up to the ankle.  I learned an entirely new definition of the word cold.  I was even wearing at least two layers on every part of my body at any given time.  To think I scoffed at the wisdom of all those people who warned me.

Life Lesson #2: Don’t be afraid to take chances.

When the HR woman from Ketchum Public Relations told us how competitive their fellowship program is, the underlying message seemed to be “Why even try?”  I know that seems like a depressing and incorrect message to hear, but it was still there, in a whisper.  After some things in my personal life fell through and I realized where my future was headed, I decided not to listen to that little whisper.  That whisper is the reason that some truly talented people have never recognized their calling, and I don’t want that to happen to me.  So I’m going to try, and if I don’t succeed, then I’ll move on to the next challenge.  The competition had better back off and realize what they’re dealing with.

Professional Lesson #5: Know your craft.

As we visited more and varied media outlets, it became clear that a working knowledge of the field and the specific company were necessities for even a hope of getting hired.  Going into an interview blind to these topics is like shooting yourself in the foot.  Do research, read the trades, and get as much exposure to your prospective career as possible.  Brian Lamb of C-SPAN told us to go behind the obvious.  Learn the history and research who owns which companies, because it may affect your view of the media and change who you want to work for.  It will also help you understand why some companies function the way they do and where the market is headed.  Knowing where the market is headed in your field may be the highest valued knowledge you can possess when entering the job market.

Professional Lesson #6: Know others’ crafts.

Once you understand the ins and outs of your aspired career, you need to understand the ins and outs, or at least the general gist, of the rest of the media field.  Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism knows so many facts about media that it made my head spin.  Granted, he is the head of a project that spends it’s days researching the subject of media, but every single statistic he told us affects our lives in some way, even indirectly.  He was also one of the few professionals that we met with that had some solid career advice concerning radio for me.  Even though it basically came down to “Get out now,” I still appreciated that he had some concrete knowledge about the future of radio.

Sree Sreenivasan of Columbia University was an inspiration to me for the sheer fact that he was so knowledgeable about seemingly everything.  He was relaxed when speaking to us, and gave us advice about books, movies, new media, and New York City in the span of an hour.  While he teaches journalism and social media, he is an entrepreneur of the world around him as a whole, not just the limited areas he is specifically involved with.  I realized while talking to him how limited my scope of the world is, and how much more I want to know.  He, among others, inspired me to become a better-rounded person, which I think will help both in my understanding of the world and in my future professional life.

Practical Lesson #5: No matter where you live, the shopping will always be better in New York City.

I should probably include a disclaimer with the lesson: for rich people who can afford designer clothes, the shopping is probably better in Europe.  For modest-budgeted people like myself, the shopping isn’t better anywhere.  There are illegal street vendors, specialty shops, Chinatown, and heaven in the form of a store called Century 21.  I know this isn’t the ideal place for a list containing the half of Manhattan that I dragged home with me, but let me just say that I am very content.  It almost makes me depressed to be home, where fake pashmina silk scarves cost twenty bucks a piece, instead of the five I paid in Chinatown.

Life Lesson #3: Everybody is scared.

We talked to a few recent college graduates during our meetings.  One was at Wiley and Sons, one at Saatchi and Saatchi, and one at ProPublica.  They all had similar stories.  And the biggest message I got from those stories is this: everyone is scared, but you shouldn’t let it paralyze you.  You will get a job.  I’m on the brink of graduation, career, and an uncertain future, but I was encouraged to know that I wasn’t the only one.  Many of the people on the trip with me are going through the same things.  When my plans fell through for next year, I was a wreck, but everyone was supportive of me, reminding me that I’m not the only person whose future is in flux.  I don’t have to go through this alone.  I won’t get over being scared immediately, but it will pass and I will be okay.

Professional Lesson #7: Brand yourself.

Multiple times over the course of the trip, I heard people express how important a brand was.  Naturally, this occurred at Saatchi and Saatchi advertising and Ketchum Public Relations, because both companies work with what we think of as brands all day long.  I found it surprising and interesting when Paula Kerger of PBS told us that brand is more important than anything else, including the product.  This subject also came up at the AP, where their stories have a certain expectation of quality because they are associated with the AP.  The reality is, brands are everywhere.

One of the agencies we visited (I don’t remember which one) told us to brand ourselves.  I thought this a weird concept, but when you look at PBS and the AP, it makes more sense.  Both organizations carry weight simply because of their name and the qualities associated with their names.  One of the best ways to market yourself to HR personnel in any given company is to use words and behaviors that exemplify who you are and what you will bring to their organization; i.e. branding yourself.

I find this easier said than done.  How do you narrow yourself down to a few key words?  The reality of the situation is that this skill is essential in the job market today.  It goes hand-in-hand with having a resume that is limited to a page long.  No matter what area you want to go into or what job you’re looking for, everyone has to have marketing skills.  They will help more than you can predict.

Professional Lesson #8: You can be a professional dedicated to your job and still be a real person.

PBS, C-SPAN, and the Smoking Gun were some of my favorite meetings because the people we met were at the top of their organization.  They were some of the most important people for their respective companies or publications, but they treated us like real people.  All four staff members of the Smoking Gun were in our meeting, telling stories and relaying tips in a way that told me they enjoy their job and enjoy telling people about their job.  Brian Lamb of C-SPAN not only asked us questions and carried on a real conversation, but also was blunt with us about the knowledge we should have that we didn’t.  Even though Paula Kerger was sick, she still made our meeting, and made it enjoyable.  Her passion for PBS’s mission was clear.

I also appreciated all of the people that made an effort to ask us even a little about ourselves before diving into their presentation.  I might be crazy, but I thought this happened more often in Washington D.C. than in New York.  I noticed and appreciated when the person giving the presentation answered my questions while looking me in the eye, remembering that I was the one that asked, rather than addressing the whole group and not necessarily making the answer personal.  These were good reminders to me that the more personable you are, even with inconsequential college kids, the more people will respect your position.  Don’t try to be a perfect robot, accept your mistakes and don’t be shy about them, and you will go far.

The Biggest Lesson: Love what you do.

This lesson applies to all three categories.  A few years ago, a man I’d just babysat for was driving me home.  We got on the subject of college, and he advised me that if I wanted to go for a higher degree, I should do my undergrad in something I truly enjoyed.  The good grades would help me get into a master’s program more than the subject matter, and it would be easier to get good grade if I enjoyed the subject matter.  I didn’t realize how right he was until this trip.

The job market today is more competitive than ever.  It’s true that companies are firing people left and right, but many companies are also hiring new people.  When it is obvious you love your field, it will be easier to find a job.  Employers will be eager to hire you because they will trust you to do your job well.  But beyond all the practical aspects, there is the basic fact that you’ll actually enjoy your life.  It isn’t always possible to find or get hired for your dream job, but if you aim high and show your passion and heart on your sleeve, you’ll probably have more of a leg up on the competition than you realize.

This might be the most profound thing I’ve ever written.  Or it could be the disjointed ramblings of a jet-lagged college student.  Either way, this organization of my thoughts, feelings, and the copious amount of notes I took in meetings has helped me realize something.  I don’t want to live in my box anymore.  There’s a lot to life that I haven’t experienced yet, and if I try to be safe all the time, I never will.  So I’m going to try my hardest to take chances, go after the impossible dream, not get hit by cars, and send my thank you notes when it’s all over.

 I have learned to not take pictures in fancy buildings, hang on in the subway or you will fall, if someone gives you sarcasm…give it back and you will get your way, free books are awesome, the view from Hoboken New Jersey is beautiful, the empire state building is better at dusk, hostels aren’t full of murders, you CAN find places to work out and even make a project out of it, grand central station is worth sweating your ass off trying to get there speed walking for 20 minutes even though you started there in the first place and just didn’t know it,  AND if some random creeper starts talking….keep walking.

We get to the hostel and to my surprise it is fun and CLEAN! As clean as a hostel can be. I am pleased. On the way to eat dinner (mmm NYC pizza) a creepy man comes up to me and says “YOU!!!!!!!”. I was trying to come up with my first attack move because this man obviously wanted to kill me, but he soon walked away. Apparently I should stop watching TV too because I have mean world syndrome. According to cultivation theory the reason I believe everyone is out to get me is because I watch too much TV. I blame it on the fact that I am a realist and I know that last year there were 32 random murders in this city (according to Forrest Baird) and I have promised myself to not be one.

 January 6th.

 I was too excited to sleep. I would drift off for an hour or two and wake up hearing the night life just waiting for me outside my window! But I stayed in my warm bed and forced sleep until 7am NY time 4am Spokane time. First time on the subway in this city was an interesting one. All the subways were full and when 3 girls got on and the rest of the group realized we wouldn’t fit my mind decided in .5 seconds that if those three girls get lost i want to be a part of that adventure. .2 seconds later i was leaping across a gap and somewhat tackled a classmate to get on the subway as the door was closing. I waved goodbye to the rest of the class with some hope we would get lost and have an adventure. Unfortunately we were all smart girls and figured out where to go to catch the train to New Jersey.

New Jersey was similar to New York, especially considering they are just one hop across the water from each other. Our first media trip was to John Wiley & Sons which is a publishing company located in Hoboken. With name tags waiting for us we took a fancy elevator up to the 7th floor where we were taken into a conference room. THE VIEW!!!! As I go through my brain I can’t seem to find a word to describe it. The building was on the water and you could see the empire state building from the large windows. I guess a good word would be motivating. Motivating to get me out of Washington State and into a city with a fancy office and a view like that one! John Wiley & Sons provided coffee and bagels. That is enough to make sleep deprived jet lagged students happy. We learned a lot about the company and internship programs and publishing in general. They have been publishing for 204 years. Kris Kliemann the vice director of global rights talked with us about her job which has a lot to do with publishing rights. The most important thing that they taught me was to find a company that fits you. It’s funny because when the meeting first started I was thinking to myself the whole time that I could work here. But they taught me that when looking for a job don’t think whether or not you could work there but whether or not you want to work there.

Our next adventure was attempting to find a book publishing fair we were invited to. Once we found it we went into another conference room where a panel of publishers from penguin, Hachette, and random house filled us in on everything we need to know to be a publisher. Plus, FREE BOOKS! Hachette has published many well known books such as James Patterson novels, The Lovely Bones, and the famous or infamous, depends on who you are, the Twilight series. The discussion leaders stressed very heavily on internships and cover letters.

Jan 7^th

Today I have learned lessons to last me a lifetime. For instance, if I want to shorten that life time don’t try jumping off a building in NYC after a snowstorm. The amount of garbage bags that have not yet been picked up will break your fall and you will live to see another day of the life you apparently dislike. I have also learned that a C on a restaurant in China Town doesn’t stand for Chinese. It actually stands for seriously nasty, dirty and unsanitary restaurant. Look for restaurants with an A sticker on the windows. It’s much more promising.

Today seemed to be filled with near death incidents. While down in the subway I watched a rat run around looking for food and when the subway came racing towards the rat, he stood on his hind legs and watched it. I’m guessing he lived because he was in the middle so we will consider this NEAR death and not actual death.

Enough about death! Today was amazing. It snowed all over the city as we took the subway and walked to Columbus circle. We walked through the Time Warner building on 6^th avenue where we saw the offices of truTV and CNN.

So far I have learned quite a bit. Being A journalism major I often hear that I won’t ever get a job because this market is going downhill. This trip has told me differently. We went to The Smoking Gun which is a News website that posts legal documents, police mug shots and arrest records on a daily basis. However this does not even begin to cover what The Smoking Gun really does. With only 4 employees the reporters find something in these arrest or police stories that just don’t seem to add up. They find the missing link and research it until they have something interesting to report. When we were told that their fourth employee beat out 585 other applicants my fear of never being able to get a job swarmed in. We started talking about how to get hired and I couldn’t believe how over enthusiastic he was about being able to write a lead. I thought to myself, hey I can do that. I guess I never realized how many tools Whitworth has given me as a writer to find a career and get hired.

We have also gone to publishing companies and a public relations company. One woman we talked to at Ketchum PR made me excited to be in the major I am in. I realized that even though I have a lot of work left to do before finding a career, I have also done many things in my life to prepare me for a career that I will be happy in. It seems to be a very common agreement between all the companies we have visited that internships are more than important but necessary to get anywhere. The scary thing is that they all seem to say when they are looking over internship applications they look for other internships on resumes. This seems to cause a problem. How do I get an internship if I need a previous internship to be even considered qualified?

While in NYC my mean world syndrome is at its max and I was terrified to give my camera to someone to take our pictures in fear he would just start running with it. To my fortune the man I finally asked didn’t run. Maybe NYC isn’t so scary. However to this man’s misfortune every other person decided to trust him to and he ended up taking everyone’s picture. 30 Rockefeller center was just what I imagined, except the part where Tina Fey walks out of the building and asks me to be her friend. Maybe tomorrow.

Jan 10

Monday morning we woke up and went to Bloomberg News. This was a strange place. The offices were see through. EVERYTHING was see through. The company’s mission is to create a working environment that feels integrated no matter what level you are at. No one actually has offices. There are big rooms with many desks and conference rooms. They often change desks. CEO’s desks are next to bottom of the barrel employees. As interesting as it sounds it is actually somewhat creepy. I think they are creating an environment where you become an ant…they have cameras everywhere. You’re only privacy is in the bathroom, if that. However, there is free food!!! I also found it interesting that a company that tries so hard to be “united as one” is named after one man a very rich man. The hierarchy here cannot be hidden!

After Bloomberg we went to the NY times. We talked to a man that was head of the graphics department. He explained to us that there are 30 members in the graphics department and their work consists of maps, graphs, and diagrams. While this visit confirmed my want to never work for a newspaper I realized the important role graphics play in a newspaper. The focus of the graphics is to clarify story and it really does help.

Jan 11

This morning (Tuesday) we went to ProPublica which is a non-profit organization that hires investigative journalism. It was a fascinating org. because even though they are privately funded by the Handlers the deal made with the Handlers is for them to have no part of the organization so that it is independent and isn’t persuaded to report on one side of the political pendulum. Therefore this leads to straight and trustworthy reporting no matter what your political stance is. This company has made me realize I don’t want to work for a PR firm but rather in a PR department of a company or organization I am passionate about. The director of communications for ProPublica really believed what they organization stood for and I believe that is why he is successful in his career.

Jan 12

Today was the first time I have been legitimately frustrated with a New Yorker.  I went to starbucks for my favorite passion iced shaken tea unsweetened. When I ordered the drink the lady looked at me like I was crazy when I said unsweetened. She thought I didn’t want the lemonade in it but that is half the drink. After a long 4 minutes of arguing and me trying to hold myself back from jumping the counter and making the drink myself an employee finally told her that there is such thing as ordering the drink unsweetened. There is a point to this story, the more I am in the city the more I believe I could handle living here. I don’t mind arguing with anyone to get what I want. I can get used to this push and shove environment.

            Today we went to Saatchi and Saatchi which is one of the world’s leading advertisement agencies. This is the kind of company I want to work for. They believe in making their clients advertise their products as something for people to fall in love with, something they can’t live without. The Erin Lyons, the lady who gave us the tour, not only cussed but she told us about the company’s Keggers on Fridays. Hello awesome working environment. On the more serious note one of the Associate Executives told us all about the work life and for some people working long hours, sleeping, eating and breathing your job may not be ideal but it is exactly what I am looking for. I really appreciated the honesty of the two people we spoke with at Saatchi & Saatchi. Most of the companies we have visited have been promoting themselves almost more than giving it to us straight forward. However, this company explained the good, the bad and they ugly. This made me realize how awesome the company is but also to pull out my media criticism skills while on this trip. I need to realize that even though places we visit are being very helpful they are also pushing their missions on us and selling their business so we write good things.

Jan 13^th

Some say patience is a virtue. I say patience is for the west coast. When I was younger my dad would always tell me about how I need to have gain more tolerance for the awful task of waiting. It didn’t matter whether I was waiting for the microwave to finish warming up my hot chocolate on a winter night, waiting for a fish to take my bait, or waiting leave my small town of solitude, patience was never my forte. 

Some people think certain traits of a personality are negative. Through my time in New York City I have realized that no personality is wrong, it just might not be living in the right place. Who knew that my impatience would help me fit in with this metropolitan area? I don’t wait for the little white man walking signal before crossing the street. I don’t wait for the next subway because that one might be too full. I don’t wait for check at the dinner table and I sure as hell don’t wait while assholes cut me in line. To survive in NYC you become one of those assholes and you enjoy it. Which I did.

The more places we go the more I realized how I am drawn to the entertainment and broadcasting side of journalism more than anything else. TV Guide was an interesting visit. Never in my life have I picked up a TV Guide and thought how awesome would it be if I worked there. Yet when we left TV Guide it was all I could think about. I mean if this is my chance to meet the one and only Leonardo Dicaprio I should take it. Right? The Journalism aspect of a place like TV Guide would be a fun starting job to gain some experience. However it did seem to me that I found their jobs more interesting than they did.

We also we went to Associated Press today. It wasn’t as interesting as I was expecting but I did learn some useful things. They really stressed on diversity throughout a company. They believe that the more diverse the company the more people they can reach. I believe I should apply this to my writing. The more diverse I become the more people I will be able to reach.

Jan 14th

Today we went to WNET which is a public TV station that is affiliated with PBS. It was interesting to learn how PBS affiliation works.  They are so focused on culture and learning. At one point that brought up the kid show Arthur, which I still watch. I realized how important different parts of media are and how they all play a part in one big media world. Some media informs us of the news, some is for entertainment but PBS is a type of media that helps us learn.

We also went to FAIR which is an action alert network.  FAIR stands for fairness and accuracy in reporting. They try to call attention to non-journalistic factors that affect media. They produce a magazine, website, blog, and have a radio show. Janine, the program director we talked to, really stressed how we need to be aware of the fact that journalists work within institutions and we need to know those institutions to be aware of biased opinion. When we first walked in the lady told us that FAIR would be the ugliest office we visit, which was true. It may have been the ugly office or the fact that the coffee I was drinking from starbucks reeked of rotten milk but I definitely wouldn’t ever want to work at FAIR.

Jan 17

10 years later I have finally felt a real impact of 9/11. Yeah I watched it on the news for a week straight in class and I wrote a 10 page paper about 9/11 and media last spring but never have I truly felt the pain these terrorists brought our country. While at the newseum there were exhibits on a lot of different important parts of media but the best were the 9/11, Katrina, and Pulitzer Prize exhibits. All three of these exhibits brought so many emotions out in me. I would say that growing up I have been sheltered. The only part of my life these events affected in my life were the front pages of local newspapers and the seldom moments I watched the news. I can honestly say I had no idea the impact and danger the people of New Orleans went through. It made me sick to my stomach to think of children on rooftops for days waiting for rescue while I was living my life without consequences. Even though senses of guilt rushed through me as I walked through these exhibits it made me realize how important the news is. If I would have actually read these stories instead of skipping to the sports page I would have known the true struggles New Orleans residents were dealing with and the same with 9/11.

Another exhibit that brought the insides of my stomach to twist and turn was the Pulitzer Prize exhibit.  This exhibit displays all the Pulitzer Prize photos, as you can imagine it is a room full of love, passion, courage, hope, fear, and so many other emotions. One picture grabbed my attention right away. At first glance you see a setting of dead grass and two big black birds. When I looked closer I realized that the second bird wasn’t a bird at all but a child, a tiny, crouching, starving, black boy. I felt my tear ducts burning and all of a sudden my cheek was wet with a tear. Always bragging about how I am not much a crier I wanted to look away, wipe my tear, and forget about what I saw but I just couldn’t. I have no idea what story lies behind this picture. I didn’t need to know. The picture itself said enough.

This is the impact of media. I can only hope that I can someday reach out to someone with my own work in the media. Whether that it telling someone about a surviving cancer patient, the Seahawks winning the super bowl (in my dreams right?) or tell the story of a courageous man who gave his life for another, I want to let the world know what is happening outside of their own life.  

Jan 18

            Today we went to C-Span which stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network and it is an American cable television network owned and operated by the cable industry. C-SPAN airs non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming.

 I thought it was pretty funny when we told Brian Lamb we went to FAIR and the first thing he said was, “Journalism is in the eye of the beholder, no matter how fair someone tries to be you still have a background that puts opinion in your reporting”. At that moment I realized that he was right. Even the lady at FAIR explained that they have a liberal background. For the most part I have always been pretty aware about the background of the media I read, watch, or listen to and I apply that knowledge to what I am learning from that form of media. However, I have never really thought how my own background applies to my writing. Even though I will never be able to fully avoid my own opinion I need to be aware of them and try for the most part to leave them out of my reporting.

            We also went to PBS today. PBS is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service. PBS has 354 member TV stations in the United States. PBS is partially funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. PBS’ shows include Masterpiece and Frontline which are two high rated series. To earn some extra revenue PBS also has a subsidiary called National Data cast which offers data casting services via member stations.

            While at PBS the President Paula Kerger visited with us. She was truly an incredible lady. She represented everything PBS stood for in every way possible. She was caring, intelligent, and powerful. One thing she told us really stood out to me as a communication major. “Communication is so much at the center piece of life”. When people hear that the word communications is in my degree I often feel that I am not taken as seriously. One person once told me that I was the typical NCAA athlete being a communication major. When Paula told us this it made me realize that my degree is worthwhile and it is important., I am learning skills to last me in a lifetime in a variety of career opportunities.

Jan 19

Today we went to Eagle Publishing and met with Harry Crocker the Regnery Press Editorial Director and Jason Mattara the Editor of Human Events magazine. Regnery Press is a publisher that specializes in conservative books. Harry said that they publish books that are contrary to those of mainstream publishers in New York. It was founded in 1947 by Henry Regnery and since 1993 they have been a division of Eagle Publishing.

Human Events is a weekly conservative magazine. It was founded in 1944 by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post editor Felix Morley, Frank Hanighen, and Henry Regnery.  The name comes from the first sentence of the United States Declaration of Independence. Jason told us that he is the youngest editor of any political publication. He continued to explain that DC is a place full of opportunities for young people. This would have excited me if I was the least bit interested in politics. However, I am not so hopefully there are other places out there that are excited about us younglings.

I really liked Harry Crocker, he was laughing at almost everything he said and was very passionate about his job. I laughed when he told us that republicans like to shoot the wounded. Like most comedy it’s funny because it is true. The right really does love to attack other people on the right especially the weak. I learned that if you’re going to be a republican you better be ready for survival of the fittest.

Later that day we visited with Marcellus Alexander the executive vice president of television and president of NAB which is the National Association of Broadcasting. I really enjoyed our time with Marcellus. He was funny and had a bright outlook on journalism majors, which is more than I can say for some others. The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association representing the interests   of for-profit, over the air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. They are also known as the NAB. They represent more than 8,300 terrestrial radio and television stations and also broadcast networks. /Since broadcasting is what I want to go into I really listened and appreciated the advice he gave us,. One of the best things that I think he told us was that the best broadcasters are the ones that are knowledgeable. I realized that I need to know what I am reporting so I can be an affective reporter.

Marcellus also showed us a blooper reel of reporting which made all of us laugh. After taking a TV broadcasting class I began to second guess my career choice. There were so many times I cursed, laughed, and or messed up when the camera was rolling. I now know I am not the only one.

Jan 23, home

            The rest of the trip was fun and I learned a lot more valuable things to last me a life time. The trip was so entertaining and I learned more than I ever thought I would. Going on this trip I planned on figuring out the kinds of jobs I would want to apply to and the ones I wouldn’t want to. There were so many awesome companies that we visited that I would want to work at. I love this major because it is diverse and can be applied to so many different parts of media. Some of the places we visited I realized I wouldn’t ever want to work there but for the most part I realized that to be successful and happy in a career I need to find a workplace I can be passionate about. This trip confirmed that I have chosen the right major for me and I am headed towards a career I will be with. I feel very fortunate to have had he experiences I did while in New York and Washington DC.

Just as the means of producing and accounting for news is changing, so is my perception of news. I want to change the world and serve as an inspiration for people. While some may think the easiest way of going about this would be to become a lawyer, politician or doctor, I’m taking a different route. I’d rather go to the far off reaches of the world and report on atrocities and heart-warming circumstances that would never be heard of otherwise. I have no issue (or, not at this time) with giving up everything I own and moving to Egypt or Africa, or going into a field that has extreme stigmas attached to it, such as suicidology or the non-profit To Write Love On Her Arms.

Ever since I was sixteen, these have been the only career paths I’ve ever thought of. There was that dreaming wistfulness of working as a photojournalist for National Geographic, and that’s still in the background, but the forefront is about making an impact. This idea of making an impact showed up in spurt all along this trip, in different ways than I was expecting. I never considered other possibilities as a journalist because I’ve been so set on my passions. I never knew there were so many different avenues in book publishing, or how advertising can be used to serve the world. I counted my eggs before they were hatched, and put on blinders to the rest of the world, something that, especially as a journalist, is never a good idea.

Perhaps the most surprising part of this trip is what I got out of the meetings. The meetings I discounted originally proved to be some of the most useful, whereas some of the meetings I was most looking forward to proved to be the most disappointing. Even the most dull, mundane conversation left an imprint or a new area of knowledge for me to explore. There were some meetings that left me so thrilled and excited that I instantly wanted to be back on my computer, looking up information and gaining knowledge. Then there were some meetings that did the opposite, and reinforced my, “I never want to work in this field” mentality.

The one common thread that ran through most of the meetings for me was the feeling of being overwhelmed, of needing to know so much initially and have so many connections to get a leg up. The thought of my looming future is always slightly terrifying, because how certain can one really be (especially at 20) about what they want to do with their life? I often hear the horror stories of the individuals who hate their job and, as I’ve never held a job I loathed going to every day, the fact that I may soon be one of that number makes me gulp in dread. If I want a leg up, to get myself in the door to a place that I don’t wake up and dread, the best I can do, as according to our meetings, is to have the desired skills, a willing to learn attitude and the ability to be flexible, especially early on in my career.

Now, this emphasis on desirable skills (of which there are many), rubs on me a bit. If I don’t have the time to read for fun during the school year, because I have so much going on with my course work, when am I going to find the time to become proficient in all these programs?? When we went to meetings and nearly everyone talked about how useful it is to know Final Cut Pro or HTML or another software program, I grimaced inside because becoming proficient in new software like that and being a full-time student does not mesh well. I’m fortunate to already know how to code websites with CSS and some Javascript, but using HTML 5 or Flash or Final Cut Pro are programs that are constantly evolving, and I don’t have the time to keep up with those. Granted, I don’t think I’m expected to know everything, especially right off the bat, but if I want a leg up and I don’t have the prestige of my last name or college to back me up, then I’m going to need some brilliance in my repertoire of skills.

I’ve heard for years that experience and the connections a person has are incredibly important, possibly ranking even with a tremendous skill set. Every executive we spoke with during our time in NYC and DC stressed the importance of an internship, putting the emphasis on real world experience over coursework. I found this thrilling, because I can already tell you that the skills I learned in class and were able to implement in The Whitworthian are the ones that have stuck with me. I feel comfortable utilizing that skill set in a way that I never did in class, and I’ve always thought that in the long run, applying skills to my real world life will be more beneficial for me than the grade I get in a certain subject.

This is especially true when examining the way investigative journalists use skills and knowledge to go about their business, which is particularly fascinating to me. We met with a number of groups that were brutally honest about investigative journalism and how disgruntled they were about the current trends many journalistic organizations take. Yet the ways these different journalism companies approach their jobs are much different. Some approach their work from a sensationalistic angle, where they essentially examine something just because they can. Granted, they try to pursue a new outlet and angle that hasn’t previously been covered, but sometimes I wondered if the content they publicized was really necessary and relevant. Then there are those who are funded by non-profits, and provide reports and content that really does seem objective. I’ve always loved investigative journalism, and meeting with these individuals allowed me to learn more about the inner-workings of investigative journalism, as well as giving me some tips and ideas about how to go about investigating an incident.

Another commonality between nearly all groups led me to critically examine social networking, both as a user and as a researcher. The Smoking Gun showed us an incredible use of social media for researching different people and different incidents; a demonstration that opened my mind to a whole new way of doing background research for stories. Every meeting also stressed the importance of keeping your online identity clean and secure, as once something is posted on the internet there is no getting rid of it and many of the Human Resource professionals said they would check a Facebook or Twitter account of a prospective employee.

The most rewarding part of the trip, relating to reinforcing an idea I already knew (or thought I did), was the emphasis on social media. Meeting with Sree Sreenivasan was enlightening, as his hour mostly focused on the importance of social media and following various news sites, specifically mentioning Mashable. Mashable is by far one of my favourite sites, and one of the reasons I find it most enjoyable is because I will often see tech stories posted on this site and occurring on the East coast, weeks before hearing word of it on the West coast. Monitoring it gives Jessica and I things to talk about, and gives me ideas about upcoming technologies that could increase my knowledge or be applicable for The Whitworthian.

On the other hand, it was interesting to see how many organisations were taking the “fake it ‘til you make it” approach to new media. We talked to some organisations that stated they had just begun, last year, to utilize Facebook or Twitter. Then there were others who didn’t push their content on Facebook or Twitter at all. At all. This blew my mind; as to me it’s always been common sense to meet the people where they are. Yes, there is still a market with the baby-boomers for pushing print content, but I can tell you that lately my dad has been reading on a computer screen instead of the print newspaper, because it’s easier to increase the type size. This alone shows me that, even for baby-boomers, online content is useful and beneficial.

For me personally, I only read hard copies of my local paper when I’m home, and USA Today and New York Times when I’m at school. The rest of the time, I read these publications (as well as three or four others) solely on my Tumblr and RSS feeds online. I’m 20, part of the college audience, and I know that there’s a growing number of us who use the Internet for news. So to me, saying that you don’t push your content out online is simply a bad business skill. With new media, you have to be quick to adapt, to stay on top of it, because no one knows where it’s going or the changes that will come. Stay in the old ruts for too long, and you won’t get out.

Besides this talk of social media and new media in the meetings, it was also fascinating to examine the differences between the East and West coast in how media is used. The East coast seems to be much more advanced in social media, as I noticed Microsoft Tag Reader emblems all over advertisements and publications, whereas on the West coast I’ve rarely seen them. Foursquare, Twitter and LinkedIn are also huge on the East coast, and while I have all three accounts and attempt to use them professionally, the majority of my friends use them for fun or personal use. Social media is much more corporately used on the East coast, at least it seems to be, but then again, I am a West coast college student, so I could be wrong on that assessment.

Speaking of West coast vs. East coast, I’ve learned that in order to thrive in NYC or DC, one must realise time is power and niceties aren’t always common. I rushed through a door being held by a 30 year-old gentlemen and hastily told him thanks as I scurried through. He looked at me like I was an alien and it made me wonder, have pleasantries gone by the wayside with the fast-paced culture that is NYC? On the West coast, saying nothing would have been more surprising than hearing a thank you. Something I did love about the East coast however, is what total autonomy feels like. Try walking down the street in Upper Manhattan or riding the subway down to Brooklyn and see if you run into anyone you know. You’re just another face in the crowd there, and for a woman like me who is from a small town where everyone knows everyone, that feeling of being anonymous was something I absolutely loved.

This feeling of time is power also played a role in learning to never take no for an answer. This is perhaps one of the more important lessons I learned, as I can get down when things don’t work out the way I want them to. At Ketchum, it was stressed how importance it is to look over your resume to find what area is the weakest after hearing “no”, and then going out and strengthening that area. Hopefully you know by now Jim, that I’m in love with the work of a non-profit in Florida. I applied for their internship program the first year they offered it, when I was 16, and was turned down. While this was because their interns needed to be 18, I was still quite upset, but having been told no gave me the boost to build up my resume and skill set so that hopefully, the next time I apply for an internship with them, I’ll be accepted as a crucial part of their team.

In every meeting we went to, the power of teamwork was apparent, whether showcased visibly before us in the meetings, or in the tours around the building with the many different individuals working towards a cohesive product. On the majority of the meetings we went to (TV Guide specifically stands out) I often had more interested in the people behind the scenes. At TV Guide, I thought the man who was in charge of editing the video had a much more fascinating job than the woman in charge of interviewing the celebrities. When we went to Ketchum and Saatchi and Saatchi, I was more interested in working in the creative divisions, that would allow me to work on a product from beginning to end, instead of sending it out for someone else to do the work. These fascinations with the behind the scenes activities are something I’ve always known to hold, but it was especially prevalent on this trip.

One of the greatest worries I hold about finding a job is that it will be something mundane and boring, something that doesn’t challenge my mind. This worry meant that the youthful attitude that many of the sites we visited held was quite a surprise to me. I’ve been fortunate to have worked in environments that included a variety of skills and individuals, and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to work at a stuffy corporation where there is no room to be creative. However, as seen at Ketchum and specifically, Saatchi and Saatchi, there is still a variety of work done in a 9 to 5 job, and there is definitely still a youthful vibe to many organisations.

While all the meetings we had put an emphasis on transparency, the way some go about applying this transparency can differ dramatically. Some corporations seemed to think that the “fish in a glass bowl” approach is the best way, when to me this seems like a total Orwellian approach. Monitoring the constant moves of a person as these types of corporations do infringes upon my belief in a basic need for personal privacy. On the other hand, knowing exactly where a publication stands because they blatantly tell me is transparency I like to see.

Even the organisations we visited that I didn’t agree with I enjoyed, such as Jason Mattara at Human Events. I think it’s important to be able to listen to the opinion of someone on the other side and acknowledge their point, but still be able to refute it with your own opinion and beliefs. One thing Whitworth has taught me is that asking the hard questions is okay, disagreeing is okay; that by arguing your point and hearing other’s is one of the few sure ways to refine your own argument and strengthen your core beliefs. This is much the same for Mattara’s publication because while I don’t agree with his political stance, there is still something to be learned and some common ground to be found.

The over-all theme of the trip had to do with examining media impact in media hubs and out across America. I’ve learned through my classes at Whitworth that this impact media has on society is prevalent and easy to spot. In fact, Jessica and I determined that agenda setting theory, or the idea that the media defines what the public thinks and therefore the policy that affects the public is swayed by the media’s agenda. The current idea of agenda setting theory takes into account traditional media sources. However, after meeting with so many executives that stressed the importance of digital media or social media, I’ve determined (jokingly, of course) that this theory should be edited. After meeting with Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, it was discussed that friends and acquaintances now determine what news is importance, thereby setting the public agenda. By utilizing social networking sites to dispatch this information (via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr feeds), it is easier for individuals to influence what others view. I personally often post news articles and Tumblr posts onto my Facebook, and utilize Twitter mainly for re-tweeting headlines of news articles I find particularly interesting. While many of my friends do not read the newspaper or have access to a television, I am influencing the media they consume with these postings.

Speaking of consuming media, another aspect that was discussed specifically at Regnery Publishing was the importance of having a variety of media outlets covering a variety of political stances. The Editorial Director, Harry Crocker, spoke of England and how the main newspaper publications in England are openly biased towards certain parties. However, a liberal publication (like The Guardian) and a conservative publication are both owned by the same corporation and the general audience in England reads both. This insures that these people will get a somewhat well-rounded news diet, as compared to the United States, where many people only choose to read publications that agree with their beliefs, such as conservatives reading Human Events or liberals reading San Francisco Chronicle. Hearing Crocker speak about England’s journalism system was fascinating, as I will hopefully have the opportunity to learn first hand next semester when I study in England.

Besides having the privilege to interact with such a number of influential media executives, I was also blessed with the opportunity to explore various museums throughout New York City and DC. Two of the most influential to me were the Holocaust Museum and Newseum. While the Holocaust Museum is a sobering and fascinating place, I couldn’t help but think of how media played a role in the Holocaust. In the Newseum, I fell in love with the Pulitzer Prize photography section. This section also led to heated debates between my classmates, as shown in previous blog posts. These debates proved fascinating to me, as they showed the differences in how my fellow comrades and I regard photojournalism.
They questioned how a photographer could shoot images of such atrocities without doing such a thing, such as helping war causalities or starving children. I, however, have the mentality that they are working for a broader picture by documenting events so that the world knows and with the hope that people would see those pictures and never let anything similar happen again. This showed different mentalities, with neither being truer than the other, and both being interesting to discuss.

This trip opened my eyes to new possibilities and new connections. I was given the opportunity to network and learn about career options during meetings, and learned more about myself in the process. While our pace was at time frantic and hectic, I was constantly engaging in the outside world and society. We were all pushed to make the most of the opportunity we had and I haven taken much that I’ve learned back to implement in my life and career.

(Now that I’ve talked about some of these experiences and how they relate to my life or a broader picture, I’m going to leave you with a word cloud of the most prevalent words we heard. The largest words were stressed the most, and the size varies on down.)

To be posted later…