Why Not Be a Journalist?

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So many people hate journalists. Period.

So many people love tabloids. So many people hate opinions that aren’t their own. So many people love to be affirmed. So many people hate to be disagreed with.

Why not be a journalist? It’s the best of both worlds.

If you hate journalists so much, be one!

Tell me how to do the job I am trained to do, how to tell the stories I tell. Tell me how to write.

Interestingly enough, so many people hate journalists, but I would bet money they are a journalist of some sort.

With social media as prevalent as it is, now everyone is a journalist.

Out at the grocery store and see a Karen fighting and yelling racial slurs so you post a video of it? Boom. Journalism.

At a protest and posting videos? Boom. Journalism.

Scandal at your job so you take to Facebook or Twitter? Boom. Journalism.

Citizen journalism is here and it is here to stay.

However, if citizen journalism is here to stay, I have a few requests of everyone as a journalist.

1. When you post a video, tell me where it is. Yes, I have no problem asking. Yes, I probably am still going to fact check what you say. But come on, at least give me a starting point!
2. Did you record the entire event? Don’t make me guess what happened before the event. Honestly, if you send me an edited video, I probably won’t even do a story on it.
3. Be honest. Don’t lie to me because when you lie, I am the one who gets in trouble and I will never believe you again.
4. I have heard it all. Trust me, if you think you have the best story, you probably don’t. I have heard just about anything you could think of.
5. Before you tell me to “get a real job”, you better cancel your subscription to my paper. If I don’t have a real job, why are you paying me?
6. Don’t tell me I missed a comma. I can assure you, my editors wouldn’t let me. Oh, and if you mean the Oxford comma, that doesn’t exist in journalism. Yes, we mess up, but check AP Style before you try to correct me.
7. If you tell me that “this isn’t news” one more time, I am going to just cancel your account for you. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t news.

Citizen journalists are important. Citizen journalists are how news rooms learn about things many times.

With that said, citizen journalists have an important role in making sure what is reported is accurate.

Far too often, misinformation is spread on social media because people want to be first.

Breathe. Confirm. Then post.

“Twitter journalists” often are the cause of misinformation.

Just think about Kobe Bryant. TMZ and Twitter said his entire family died.

Your tweet has an impact.

I would rather be last and right than first and wrong.