Journalism Interview

Lelia Burkhalter

Liba 102

Robin Street

February 16, 2006

Journalism Interview

Journalism is a very complex field in which to work. It involves much more than writing, such as photography, interviews, research, and much more. Through this interview, I learned both the good and bad sides of working in journalism.

I interviewed Jon Scott, the news editor of The Oxford Eagle. He decided to become a journalist because of his history with the news. Growing up, he was the youngest of five boys. The oldest three boys went to fight the war in Vietnam so their family was constantly keeping up with the news, either by reading newspapers or watching television. He was also inspired to become a journalist because of a writing award he won in the fifth grade. "It's the silliest thing, but it really encouraged me to stick with it," Jon said.

His career has been very satisfying to him. His favorite job in journalism was when he was a reporter. He would work with groups of people and they would have weeks to put the story together. His current job as news editor is very demanding. It consists of meeting with all the reporters and discussing what everyone is working on, determining what stories get into the paper, and also helping design the layout of the paper. As demanding as his job is, however, there are still more things he has to worry about. When asked what he enjoyed the least about journalism, he replied "I don't enjoy dealing with readers who call and will be upset about something. That can be a little bit nerve-racking." Although his job can be very difficult at times, he says that his job has been very rewarding. "There are some people who make more money than me and are just miserable at their jobs," Jon said, "I would rather love what I do and get paid a little less."

As years go on, however, we must question the future of journalism. Will there still be newspapers? Where will people get their source of information from? Jon, like myself, believes that journalism is going more towards the internet. "People are reading more about what they want to know about." They are doing this by picking and choosing what they want to read over the internet instead of buying a newspaper with articles that