Journalism Still Serves Role

On Thursday night, Boston College students interested in journalism gathered to hear two professionals in the field speak of their experiences. Hosted by The Heights, the speakers, James Reynolds and Martha Bebinger, are spending a year as Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. The Nieman Foundation awards fellowships to mid-career journalists that allow them to take a year of reflection and study.
They said that journalism is in flux, but that the essentials of reporting stories well and accurately remain unchanged.

"The definition of what a journalist is is always changing," Bebinger, a correspondent for the National Public Radio (NPR), said. "One form of specific training is not always necessary to be successful in the field."

Bebinger, who began reporting for radio in the early 1990s, said that journalism is a "fascinating profession," and "a front row seat to what is happening in the world."
An art and semiotics double-major in college, she discovered her passion for reporting well after graduation. It wasn't until she began experimenting with film that she was reminded of her love for storytelling, she said.

Journalism, though it often involves serious matters, is "just another form of conveying a message to an audience, much like television and film," Bebinger said.
Reynolds, a foreign correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), encouraged students to go out and report on stories that they are passionate about, regardless of whether or not a pay check can be expected.

Reynolds insisted that aspiring journalists travel and search for stories even if they are not directly affiliated with a publication or a broadcast station.

"If you want to be a foreign correspondent, get up and go," Reynolds said. "You are the ones who create the new industry."

He recounted his many experiences abroad, explaining that his career began as a self-driven endeavor, with just a plane ticket and a hand-held camcorder. A video-diary he kept while covering the Olympic Torch relay in Tibet was only one example of the many independent reporting projects he has based his career on.

With regard to writing, Reynolds said there is a difference between reporting the facts and interpreting those facts within the context of the story.

"Being a journalist, you often see the way two people can interpret the same facts in entirely different ways," he said.

Bebinger said the availability of self-publication through online blogs and different Web sites, such as YouTube is important in considering the current state of journalism. She said that newspapers and magazines still appeal to readers, as they provide a "tangible connection" with the material, but that she believes most news will be Internet-based within 10 years.