Reflecting on “Inside the News Media”

So here i am, at the end of summer term 2016, reflecting on what has been the most interesting seminar of my entire english study. I know, it sounds kind of gunky, but it really was. Before this semester I didn’t know that Cultural studies can be that compelling, I always thought the main thing in CS was to learn dates by hard. Luckily, I was wrong.

But here’s the thing: Did the seminar change my view in any way? And the honest answer is: no. No, it did not. I always was sceptical about ‘one-source information’ and always will be. I didn’t read newspaper or watch the news on TV, but used the internet and multiple sources there. So, if a seminar was to be evaluated based on whether it has changed my view, i’d have to say it has failed.

But that isn’t the case, because what this seminar did instead was giving me the opportunity to write blog posts (granted, it was a forced ‘opportunity’). I have never done this before, and now that I started, I have to say that I like it. It gives me a chance to just write off my mind, not caring about format or correctness. Instead, I can just write what I feel like. And that is something that is missing during my study. Sure, I have to be creative for my term papers, I have to come up with research questions and hypoteses and thesis statements, but there are all these citation rules, formal parameters and so on. The actual creative writing is just a small part.

Thinking about this raises the question when I wrote something creative the last time. I believe it was during the 9th grade, when we had to write a short story in our english lesson. That is something i’d like to change. While speaking is probably the best way to learn a new language, writing is probably just as important. One can learn to create longer sentences, improve his active vocab and learn to distribute his message in a short manner. If you ask me, there’s way too less creative writing in english classes. And, becoming a teacher, I have decided to change that (at least in my lessons).

Medium.com might even be a great platform to start, and just like ‘Inside the News Media’, there could be a publication called ‘class 11e’ or something. Students could post their homework or other texts and the teacher (me) can comment on the posts.

So in the end, while the seminar did not change my view on news media, it did change my view on becoming a teacher, which is an even better outcome if you keep in mind that my study program is called Master of Education.