Knowledge and Crucial Skills for a Journalist - Essay Example

?TOPIC: Knowledge and Skills Core to Journalism XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX IntroductionA journalist in seek of employment in 2012 must acknowledge the trends and evolution in the 21st century. The modern age is characterized by increased usage of high-tech software applications that compliment content developed by a journalist. The internet is also a phenomenon which a job seeker in journalism should fully familiarize himself or herself to effectively adapt in working in the current and future years. Among the major skills that are highly demanded by employers in the journalism field include proficiency in InDesign, Photoshop, Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro. These programs are used for many purposes such as video editing, sound editing and photo editing. The paper also discusses need for a journalist to be; Entrepreneurial and Business Savvy, Multi-skilled, an Open-minded Experimenter and a Multimedia Storyteller. The paper also analyses journalism job market demand of Programming Skills, Fundamental Journalism Skills and Subediting Skills. The objective of this paper is to identify and evaluate the crucial skills needed by a journalist seeking to enter the Journalism and Communication industry. Logic Pro This is a must-have skill by any journalist who is actively seeking for an employment opportunity in this modern age. Sound is important in passing out messages from a journalist since it gives his / her work the correct sound track for improved quality and effectiveness is expression of the mood. Logic Pro is a MIDI sequencer application and hybrid 32/64 bit digital sound workstation for the Mac operating system X platform. This application was first created by Emagic, German software developer, but later became a property of Apple after Apple bought Emagic in the year 2002. Logic Pro is henceforth a segment of Apple's Logic Studio bundle which is important to works done by a journalist (Burns, 2007, p. 121). A journalist needs to understand the working of the major features of Logic Pro. With Logic Pro skills in hand, a journalist with Logic Pro skills is more marketable in 2012 since he / she is able to broadcast his / her message with high quality that enhances his message. Final Cut Pro X Final Cut Pro X is software that is of great use to journalists as it contains several unique features that enable them perform their duties more efficiently and time consciously. It was issued in 2012 and is the most recent version of Final Cut Pro that enables one to organize, import, edit, sweeten, add effects, rate and deliver. One will observe discovery characteristics in all components of the work flow (Keeble, 2009, p. 98). Final Cut Pro X does not merely represent a different cut but is a completely new product that is characterized by a great new timeline, wonderful functioning and an active media system that basically eases the work of getting clips. The Final Cut Pro X has several fundamental features. There are three major divisions of the features which include: powerful media organization, revolutionary video editing and incredible performance. Since organizational skills are fundamental in this line of work to ensure meeting of deadlines and quality final products, knowledge in this software is fundamental to a modern day journalist. This is because it ensures orderliness and therefore making an individual with skill in it a prompt and efficient worker which is a key requirement of every employer in the field of journalism. Given that journalism is a time-oriented profession, knowledge in Final Cut Pro X is a must have for an individual seeking employment in this modern times. This is because of the high speeds that are directly proportional to quality associated with the software. Individuals proficient in the operations of this software are therefore at an added advantage when it comes to employment opportunities (Chapman & Marie, 2009, p. 81). Employers have been known to give top priority to those who are equipped on matters concerning this software. Adobe Photoshop This program is normally referred to as Photoshop and is among the topping image-editing software available in the market today. It is software that is unique and has a major contribution to journalism as it provides a wide variety of solutions to image editing problems. Adobe Systems developed the software and it has become among the standard applications of most web designers, developers and advertising agencies world-wide (Chantler & Peter, 2009, p. 201). Photoshop basically stands out among every other available graphic software in the market due to its powerful features that give one inexhaustible possibilities in the world of image editing. It contains all requirement tools to be used to alter and enhance images. Image editing refers to an image altering method, either an illustration, analog or digital photographs. These features greatly aid a journalist in doing image editing tasks efficiently and at a higher speed giving professional looking results. Considering the array of exceptional features that Adobe Photoshop contains and offers, broad knowledge and skills on the software is a must-have for any professional journalist seeking employment in 2012. According to recent research professional journalists with the know how in Adobe Photoshop are highly preferred since they have been proven to be have increased functionality and dependability when it comes to image editing given that this software provides a variety of tools that can be used to improve a picture in a number of ways. The journalist has endless possibilities since with Photoshop there is no restriction to the extent to which one can improve a photo hence a higher quality product is the outcome. Adobe InDesign For all desktop publishing needs, Adobe InDesign CS4 is one of the best software. It contains lots of features that grant great creativity and flexibility and technical elements that are useful for increased productivity. Since increased productivity is the key goal of all media companies, this software is a key development in the journalism world. There are evident resemblances and major differences and upgrades between InDesign CS3 and InDesign CS4 (Cleam & Linda, 2004, p. 167). For instance, palettes are now known as panels and are now situated in the new adjustment panel area. The Adobe InDesign features have proven to be very useful to journalists since they enable instantaneous corrections of any errors that might have been made. Individuals with the skills and knowledge in Adobe InDesign have in recent times proven to be more efficient, save time and produce high quality work since this software has features that enable one to make instantaneous corrections of any errors that they might have made. Journalists with these skills are therefore more marketable as compared to their counterparts who lack them. Other skills need by journalists include: Entrepreneurial and Business Savvy Due to crumbling of the foundation of the longstanding business model, the 21st century journalists are evolving to become entrepreneurial. They are forming their own publications and hence create the future of journalism by forming new publications such as the online-only NYULocal started by Cody Brown. This publication covers New York University. It interestingly received more web traffic than a majority of the school newspaper web site. A similar evidence of transformation of modern day journalism is David Cohn’s Spot.Us. This is a community-funded reporting site. A journalist seeking employment in 2012 should appreciate the value of content in addition to and the changing business model (Lavrusik, 2009). There is great need for a journalist to know how to take advantage of the many developing opportunities in content commercialization. Programming Skills Due to development of online journalism, popular news organizations seek journalists who double up as programmers. Such journalist can enhance their reporting and storytelling by combining usage of HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, ActionScript3 and Python skills. They are therefore in a better position to employ multimedia. They are also capable of managing and building platforms which present news stories (Rudin & Trevor, 2002, p. 106). Building interactives and creating flash visualizations that bets display data are vital requirements of online journalism. Multi-skilled Because of the everyday increasing competition in the journalism job market, Robert Quigley, who is a Social Media Editor, Austin American-Statesman, believes that the specialization of journalists in one skill is no longer popular. Journalists should possess several skills at hand so as they can be more independent. With such independence and skills, a journalist is able to be more productive even in instances when they are creating stories in absence of certain specialists. Therefore, a valuable journalist should understand how to use social media tools, write catchy headlines, edit and shoot video, use basic HTML or programming. In addition to the above, a journalist should understand the importance of writing SEO-friendly headline, sharp blog post and the value of interacting with the community (Lavrusik, 2009). Fundamental Journalism Skills Even with modernization and changing forms of journalism, fundamental skills of journalism are simply irreplaceable. A journalist should have excellent skills in writing, professional ethics, investigation, news judgment and verification processes (Rudin & Trevor, 2002, p. 76). Without this core values, new media skills cannot compliment modern day journalism needs. These fundamental skills are vital in today’s world where credibility is important to online content audiences. Subediting Skills The skills of subediting for magazines and newspapers are major boosters of journalist productivity. Subediting has progressively changed to the current era of computers and the internet from the days of printing. Techniques involved in subediting are vast and range from cutting copy to writing cover lines (Wynford, 2002, p. 65). A 21st century journalist looking for employment needs to understand techniques of ; correcting poor journalistic English including pronoun confusion and misused cliches, house style, subbing features and news for style and sense, editing readers' and letters quotes, copy projection through writing stand-firsts and headlines, writing captions and checking pictures, proofreading methods and principles, ensuring copy is legally safe, mastering production and utilizing software packages and website subbing among other (Rudin & Trevor, 2002, p. 76). Open-minded Experimenter According an Assistant Professor at the University Of British Columbia Graduate School Of Journalism- Alfred Hermida, a shift in outlook from content and control to connectivity and openness with audiences will be the challenge for new journalists. Hermida also states that though the importance of storytelling across multiple platforms still remains, discerning the weaknesses and strengths of a variety of media in order to use the best one for each story is key. According to Michele McLellan who is a media consultant and a blogger for the Knight Digital Media Center, this also entails being an avid learner that can understand the impact of new technology on news innovation and easily spot new trends (Lavrusik, 2009). A future-oriented journalist should in his/her capacity not be afraid of new tools and be willing to try them out. Multimedia Storyteller In today’s world, journalists are required to possess multimedia skills that enable them to tell stories through text graphics, video, photos and audio. Readers are being treated to a multimedia experience created by former reporters and photographers who are picking up audio recorders and video cameras. There has been growth in online video viewing and new start-ups like DNAinfo and FLYP Media are building up their newsrooms around multimedia journalists. There are numerous resources available out there for journalists to acquire these skills and a majority of them can be self-taught. Starting a video blog is one of the best ways to acquire experience through hands-on operations. One can try out various free multimedia apps like streaming live from your mobile using Qik or using free sites like BlogTalkRadio to podcast (Lavrusik, 2009). A journalist should invest in a good camera that shoots video with clarity and takes quality photos. Database journalism and Data-driven journalism Database journalism This is also called structured journalism. It is a principle in management of information whereby content in news is grouped around structured pieces of data, instead of news stories. Database journalism can also be said to be the supply of databases with raw material (such as photos, articles and other content) by use of medium-agnostic publishing systems. This is then made available to different devices. Database journalism allows for an increased efficiency in workflow. Structured journalism significantly increases the life (shelf-life) of news content in addition to extracting additional value from the content. Any professional journalists looking for employment in 2012 needs to profess database journalism skills in order to increase his or her competitiveness in job market in addition to efficiency at work (Rudin, 2012, p. 116). Data-driven journalism This is the process by which journalists create stories by use of databases or numerical data as a primary material. It is different from database journalism since the latter is an organizational structure for content. It concentrates on the maintenance and constitution of the database from which mobile or web applications can be designed, and from which a journalist can retrieve data to execute data-driven news reports. Data-driven journalism is a must have skill in the web-intensive form of modern day journalism (Terzis, 2010, p. 232). Blogging skills It has been argued that the new form of Journalism is blogging. Blogging is a more recent type of writing style. This is debatable but technically, journalism and blogging are not the same although they achieve the similar objectives. Bloggers writes out of extreme interest or passion for a particular topic unlike journalists who write professionally. Blogging skills are however important since a journalist is able to produce content that is available to both blog funs and follows of professional journalism content. Blogging presents new ways of broadcasting journalism in a flash and letting readers of content interact with the journalistic product. Since bogging receives less regulatory control, blogging enhances democracy in a society which is a prime goal of journalism (Burns, 2007, p. 121). Social networking revolution Social networks have great effects in the modern day journalism. During the inception of social networking, they were designed to be accessed by users of computers. However, the ever growing sophistication of mobile devices has led to an even higher growth of social networking. Therefore, journalists in 2012 need understand that social networking revolution plays a vital role in journalism’s future. Mobile devices, most especially cell phones, will become the basic social networking “hubs” due to their availability by a majority of population around the world. A journalist should subscribe to major social networks such as twitter, Facebook and MySpace amongst others to ensure that they stay updated in regards to occurrences documented, updated or posted on social networks by eyewitnesses (Calcutt & Philip, 2011, p. 152). Skills in acquiring a large pool of audiences on social networks are therefore vital since the number of connections a journalist has on social networks determines the amount of first-hand information he or she is able to stay in track with. Media organizations are well aware of this and therefore would expect a job seeker in the field of journalism to have social networking skills. Conclusion Journalism in the 21st century has evolved calling for journalist to align their skills to the changes in this industry. Some of the main skills needed to by a professional journalist seeking employment in 2012 include proficiency in programs such as InDesign (used for mostly sub-editorial purposes), Photoshop (a photo editing program), Logic (sound editing program) and Final Cut Pro (video editing program). A journalist should also intensely familiarize himself with skills in social networking, data journalism, blogging and general internet skills. In addition, a journalist should be; Entrepreneurial and Business Savvy, Multi-skilled, an Open-minded Experimenter and a Multimedia Storyteller. The 21st century journalism job market demands Programming Skills, Fundamental Journalism Skills and Subediting Skills. With this, a journalist is bound to succeed in acquiring employment in 2012. Reference Barney, D. & Jay, B. (2011), Social Journalism: A Special Issue of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Mahwah: Routledge, Print. Burns, J. 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