People have asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" for as long as I can remember.
Children are asked this question from the moment they can understand words because people are curious, but more than that, children are encouraged to dream big and believe in the impossible. As a child, it's acceptable to give whatever answer you believe to be true. If you want to be an actor, you can do it. If you want to be a singer, no problem. If you want to be President of the United States, it's yours.
When I was a child, I wanted to be everything: an actor, a model, a doctor, a chef, an artist, a teacher, a lawyer, etc.
Looking back, I get a kick out of these because they are far from the truth, but I believed in them then, because I could.
As I grew up, people started looking for a legitimate answer. I'm not sure why there was such a strong interest over where I wanted to attend college or what I wanted to study, but people were curious and I couldn't go five minutes at a family dinner without someone mentioning college or my future. I never knew what answer to give them because I never had that answer.
I lacked talent in math and science and didn't enjoy either subject, therefore eliminating any medical profession from the mix. I wasn't tall so obviously modeling wasn't likely, and I had no connections to Hollywood, so I knew my childhood dream of becoming an actor wouldn’t come true. I couldn't draw and I had no cooking skills whatsoever (I still don't, who am I kidding), so being an artist or a chef were eliminated. I've never been very patient and I'm not a fan of politics, so I knew I wasn't going to be a teacher or a lawyer. However, I had always been passionate about writing, and I was pretty good at it too.
When I was a junior in high school, I took the initiative and started writing for my high school's newspaper. I was impressed with their work, I wanted to get more involved, and I wanted to put my passion for writing to good use.
When my first article was published and I saw my byline in bold, I knew I found my calling.
The late nights spent in my childhood bedroom typing fictional stories on a decade-old desktop computer wasn't wasted time. The stories taped to the walls of my childhood home to this day aren't wasted printer ink; they were the first of many bylines to come.
Now, this isn't just some cute story about how a future journalist found her calling or how her passion for writing is still true to this day. This article is meant to knock some sense into the people who have shamed me and other journalists, past and present, for choosing to pursue journalism as a career.
There’s nothing worse than getting an uninterested look and light head nod when I proudly share that I am studying journalism. I understand that I am not going to discover some groundbreaking cure or stop the ice caps from melting, but that doesn’t mean my major is any less important or useful than any other major.
I've heard it all. “You’re going to be unemployed,” and “You’re wasting your time; you should choose something more realistic," and the unimpressed, "Oh, that's nice" response.
You're not impressed that I am studying journalism? That's fine; you have the right to share your opinion. However, you should be impressed. Actually, you should be thankful.
Journalists risk their lives every day. They trudge into unmarked land with their camera in tow and notebook in hand so that they can get the facts and deliver them to people around the world. They risk getting killed for refusing to share their source(s), because it's an unnamed rule that a journalist never shares their source(s). They immerse themselves into dangerous territory so they can get that one photograph, or that groundbreaking interview.
Don't believe me?
Research Chauncey Bailey, Bill Biggart, the Maguindanao massacre, James Foley, and Steven Sotloff (to name a few).
Journalists expose pedophiles (literally).
Who do you think broke the Larry Nassar story? Or the Harvey Weinstein scandal?
Had the journalists at "The Indianapolis Star" not conducted an investigation into Larry Nassar and published its findings in 2016, Larry Nassar may still be a free man, adding to his list of women he sexually assaulted over the span of two decades.
Had the journalists at "The New York Times" not gained the trust of dozens of women and conducted an investigation about Harvey Weinstein, the voices of the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements may still be silenced.
But let's not forget the article published by “The Boston Globe” on January 6, 2002, titled, "Church allowed abuse by priest for years" that caused one of the biggest uproars the nation had ever seen.
Journalists do the dirty work - the work that no one else wants to do.
Journalists file through pages and pages of police reports to figure out if anyone had ever filed a claim on Larry Nassar. They keep their lips sealed for months, refusing to mention the fact that they are going to expose Harvey Weinstein of his heinous crimes. They get doors slammed in their face by people not willing to discuss whether or not they knew that the local priest was sexually abusing children.
Journalists are powerful because they give people a voice.
The journalists at "The Indianapolis Star" were the first people to give Brianne Randall-Gay a voice. It took 14 years for people to listen (after Meridian Township Police Department mishandled the 2004 Larry Nassar police report she filed), but once they listened, the facts never stopped coming. This publication was the beginning of a revolution - a revolution to stop pedophiles from preying on innocent children, the realization that we need to stop silencing sexual assault survivors, and the fact that we need to start holding people accountable for their actions.
The world would be a lot different had the journalists at "The Indianapolis Star," "The New York Times," and "The Boston Globe" (among other journalists) not pursued a career in journalism. How else do you expect to read the morning newspaper with your cup of coffee if a journalist isn’t working into the late hours of the night to get the story written and published by deadline?
Journalists work tirelessly to present the truth and to give people a voice.
The feature story about a local business? That means something to the people in that community. The feature story about a scholar student heading to Michigan State on a full-ride scholarship? People care about that. The breaking news story about one of the biggest scandals to ever occur at a university? The world won’t stop talking about it, and is forever changed by it. The entertainment story about how Kim Kardashian-West and Kanye West named their child Chicago West? Surprisingly, it’s all over the news.
Obviously uncovering some of the biggest scandals to rock the nation (Larry Nassar and Harvey Weinstein) is in thanks to the brave women who shared their stories, because without them, there would be no story. However, it’s the journalists who write about it and give people a voice on a global platform.
Stop shaming my major and stop shaming the career I have chosen for myself, for I am pursuing something much larger than myself. Journalism is never going away, because the news will never stop coming. If journalists don’t risk their lives and work tirelessly to present the facts, who else is going to get you your morning news?
I am majoring in journalism because I want to be a voice for people who don’t have one.
I want to write articles that bring joy to peoples’ lives, and articles that make your jaw drop and make you question everything you thought you knew. I want to be the journalist who exposes criminals like Larry Nassar and Harvey Weinstein. I want to be the journalist who won’t stop badgering the speaker at a press conference to get answers – the one who asks the difficult questions other people are too afraid to ask. I want to be the journalist who won’t sleep until she gets the story and shares it with the world.
To everyone who told me that I am wasting my time pursuing such a "useless" major, and that I need to choose something more "realistic," what's more useful and realistic than giving people a voice?
Knowledge is power, but so are words.
