Before going to the Crandall Printing Museum, I have to admit that my expectations weren't high--I'd never heard of or noticed the museum on Center Street before. I had no idea that the museum held a Gutenberg press, a Benjamin Franklin press, or a press like that of what the Book of Mormon was printed on. While traveling from room to room in the museum, my thoughts wandered to the evolution of printing. In just 700 years, the world has gone from hand printing, letter for letter, Bibles in Latin to today, where I can quickly type letters into my computer and print them out in seconds. The evolution of printing really is quite amazing--and the flow of history makes even more sense after learning what I did today at the museum.
It makes sense to me the way that the Bible came about--that men back in the 1200's were inspired to come up with a creation to print Bibles for the common man. Printing presses spread throughout Europe, making Bibles more easily attainable to common people. Columbus discovered America, America was colonized, and Benjamin Franklin came up with another genius printing press invention. Shortly after, the Erie Canal was created and a small press established just in time for the foundation of the church and the printing of the Book of Mormon in northern New York. I think what struck me most about the visit through the museum was when Brother Crandall bore his testimony as a printer of his knowledge that it was virtually impossible for the Book of Mormon to have been established without the Lord's help. This is just another witness to me of the divinity, reality, and truth of the Book of Mormon.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Week 3: September 12, 2012
Last week, we talked about what journalism's role is in society--where it fits in among all the different practices, business, and politics of our world.
Like what our book says, I think that a main function of journalism is to provide common people with the information they need to be completely self-governing, and this means to report the truth in the best way possible. Journalists also act like teachers, sifting through information and extracting what is most important and presenting it in the clearest way possible.
I think that people rely on the press to act like "gatekeepers"or "watchdogs" on government. If there were no journalists assigned to report on politicians, political organizations, and government overall, the people would have no idea what their elected officials were doing.
I think that we, as a society, should be thankful to the founding fathers who established a Bill of Rights that allows for freedom of our press--for if we didn't have a free press, we would have an ill informed, confused society of people.
In short, I think that journalism sits in a key and vital spot in society--we do our best to clearly convey information to the public so that they can be free and self-governing--characteristics that are at the very core of what our nation was founded upon.
Like what our book says, I think that a main function of journalism is to provide common people with the information they need to be completely self-governing, and this means to report the truth in the best way possible. Journalists also act like teachers, sifting through information and extracting what is most important and presenting it in the clearest way possible.
I think that people rely on the press to act like "gatekeepers"or "watchdogs" on government. If there were no journalists assigned to report on politicians, political organizations, and government overall, the people would have no idea what their elected officials were doing.
I think that we, as a society, should be thankful to the founding fathers who established a Bill of Rights that allows for freedom of our press--for if we didn't have a free press, we would have an ill informed, confused society of people.
In short, I think that journalism sits in a key and vital spot in society--we do our best to clearly convey information to the public so that they can be free and self-governing--characteristics that are at the very core of what our nation was founded upon.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Second Day of Class: September 5, 2012. Is Journalism a Dying Field?
This last class period really got my mind running about my decision to pursue a career in journalism. In the past, I'd been hesitant to pursue this career path because it seemed like every time I'd tell someone (particularly people my parent's age) that's what I wanted to do, they'd say, "Oh. You know that journalism is a dying field, right?"
This always troubled me. Here I was, a struggling, wondering, confused teenager/young adult who had battled with the decision of what to major in for a very long time. I had finally found journalism--I had discovered a talent, a love, and a passion for it. So to have people tell me that I was entering a dying field, that my career decision was pointless, was rather upsetting to me. So I switched my major to psychology after one year of school at BYU, found that I didn't love it, and then rediscovered and recommitted to journalism. Which lead me, like most other aspiring journalism students, to this class.
Last Wednesday, we watched a media clip featuring a discussion between Tina Brown and Kent Paulsen about the future of news. They seemed to feel that journalism would survive, but in fewer numbers. They thought that news would become more weekly for print stories, and that it would appear daily online. The consensus seemed to be that journalism would survive, but barely.
My response to that video clip is this: I believe journalism will survive. There will always be news. There will always be events happening left and right, down the street, in the White House, all over the world. And people will always need and want to know what's going on in each of these places. Because of this, I believe that journalism will survive. It is up to our generation--the digitally minded generation--to figure out the best mediums for news to be transported. I don't mean to sound cynical of past generations, but do they really think that our digitally minded generation won't come up with better ways for news to be distributed? Where there are demands, there are solutions. And the solutions are in the hands of aspiring journalists just now entering the field.
So no, I don't think that journalism is dead. I think that it is transforming--in the hands of people, just like me with a passion for writing and news. It is this idea that pumps hope and excitement into me that I haven't made a bad career choice, but rather, I have made one in a promising field calling my name for help in its transformation.
This always troubled me. Here I was, a struggling, wondering, confused teenager/young adult who had battled with the decision of what to major in for a very long time. I had finally found journalism--I had discovered a talent, a love, and a passion for it. So to have people tell me that I was entering a dying field, that my career decision was pointless, was rather upsetting to me. So I switched my major to psychology after one year of school at BYU, found that I didn't love it, and then rediscovered and recommitted to journalism. Which lead me, like most other aspiring journalism students, to this class.
Last Wednesday, we watched a media clip featuring a discussion between Tina Brown and Kent Paulsen about the future of news. They seemed to feel that journalism would survive, but in fewer numbers. They thought that news would become more weekly for print stories, and that it would appear daily online. The consensus seemed to be that journalism would survive, but barely.
My response to that video clip is this: I believe journalism will survive. There will always be news. There will always be events happening left and right, down the street, in the White House, all over the world. And people will always need and want to know what's going on in each of these places. Because of this, I believe that journalism will survive. It is up to our generation--the digitally minded generation--to figure out the best mediums for news to be transported. I don't mean to sound cynical of past generations, but do they really think that our digitally minded generation won't come up with better ways for news to be distributed? Where there are demands, there are solutions. And the solutions are in the hands of aspiring journalists just now entering the field.
So no, I don't think that journalism is dead. I think that it is transforming--in the hands of people, just like me with a passion for writing and news. It is this idea that pumps hope and excitement into me that I haven't made a bad career choice, but rather, I have made one in a promising field calling my name for help in its transformation.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
First Day of Class: August 28, 2012
I actually happened to find the first day of Communications 239: Principles of Journalism to be very interesting and informative. A lot of what was discussed in class pertained to the class schedule, how the class works, and what we would learn from the class. The class consists of primarily broadcast and print journalism-oriented people, as well as a few political science majors. I fall in the realm of print journalists, and I am very excited with how this class has already pointed me in the way I want to go for my career.
How might you ask, has one little class of "Principles of Journalism" helped me already know what I want to do? Well, Professor Campbell explained that Comms majors who have an editing minor have many more doors open to them than just regular Comms graduates. One of these doors is to have an "in" with LDS Church magazines (see here). I have always thought that I would love to work for or intern with the church magazines, and I have even considered declaring an editing minor previous to this. However, right after this class, I came home and signed up for the first class for the editing minor....so here it goes!
As far as current events go this week, Mitt Romney was officially named as the presidential nominee for the 2012 election. In Utah, our Cougar football team won it's first season football game against Washington State and the Brigham City temple opened it's doors for an open house. And as far as this class goes, I am excited to get to know my fellow students in the class, to learn more about the field of journalism, and to start on the path to my life as a journalist!
How might you ask, has one little class of "Principles of Journalism" helped me already know what I want to do? Well, Professor Campbell explained that Comms majors who have an editing minor have many more doors open to them than just regular Comms graduates. One of these doors is to have an "in" with LDS Church magazines (see here). I have always thought that I would love to work for or intern with the church magazines, and I have even considered declaring an editing minor previous to this. However, right after this class, I came home and signed up for the first class for the editing minor....so here it goes!
As far as current events go this week, Mitt Romney was officially named as the presidential nominee for the 2012 election. In Utah, our Cougar football team won it's first season football game against Washington State and the Brigham City temple opened it's doors for an open house. And as far as this class goes, I am excited to get to know my fellow students in the class, to learn more about the field of journalism, and to start on the path to my life as a journalist!
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