WHY?
Since I remember I’ve always questioned everything. I’m a curious and persistent problem solver. Getting to the bottom of a certain mystery is a very rewarding feeling to me. The event itself is only half of the information, the other half is the reasons behind it. My mother is a public prosecutor and I think that it made me more perceptive towards crime and transgression. For that reason, one day I hope to become the kind of journalist that deals with serious international problems. To achieve that I decided to pursue a career of an investigative journalist. Ideally, I would like to, one day, work for The Associated Press. To write pieces for the online outlet and sell them to other news platforms. The reasons behind my choice are simple – I was very impressed with the last years Pulitzer winners work. The team of four journalists from AP published a series of articles under a title “Seafood from slaves”, which led to the release of more than 2000 people, held captive in cages for free labour in the fishing industry in Southeast Asia. The combined work and research of those reporters made that possible. Forming the team of investigative journalists seems like a popular and reasonable solution. It’s very similar as in The Boston Globe’s case. The Spotlight Team’s work earned my utmost admiration. After seeing their story’s movie adaptation “Spotlight”, I found myself researching the case for days after. I share the passion these people have for finding out the truth in a world filled with liars. Michael Rezendes, Walter V. Robinson, Sacha Pfeiffer and Marty Baron are my role models ever since. I follow their work closely on Twitter and The Boston Globe (the ones who still work there). The scandal concerning the child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church they highlighted, was a story of the greatest importance. With so many obstacles on their way and such a powerful and influential opponent that is the Catholic Church they still managed to get to the bottom of the truth and find enough evidence to spark confidence in victims and get them to come forward and tell their story.This is exactly the kind of work I would like to do, with a purpose and the public interest in mind. I would consider becoming a freelance journalist later on in my career, since I know that I can achieve my best when I’m not told what to do. But until I have the experience and recognition necessary to succeed on my own, the best choice would be to work as a staff journalist for a certain publication. My ability to easily adapt to situations and tasks put in front of me gives me the idea of becoming a generalist, more than a specialist. It not only makes more sense, but I am also certain that it would give me more joy from the work I would be doing. That is because I can lose interest fairly quickly when my actions become repetitive, which I’m afraid would be the case if I were to significantly narrow my field of expertise.
According to Matt Thompson there are four types of journalists: the storyteller, the provocateur, the system analyst and the newshound. As part of this exercise, I considered which of those types I would fit in the best. Although it may seem like the best choice for any investigative journalist would be the provocateur/newshound, since their main task is to hunt down the story and spark a debate, I consider myself more of a storyteller/newshound. That realization helped me come to the conclusion that perhaps I should rethink the form I originally chose. At first it was supposed to be writing articles for a big publication (AP or The Guardian), but as part of my journalistic type is storytelling, maybe the more suiting form would be a book or series of reports published on a weekly basis. The thrill of hunting the story and sources is deeply rooted in my journalistic identity and I don’t think I could give it up easily. Yet there must be a way of combining these two into something that would eventually give me the satisfaction in a career I seek and desire.
HOW?
My professional development plan would be incomplete without the choices of classes I am going to make in the upcoming semesters. For the second semester I already chose Introduction to Consumer and Lifestyle Journalism, since out of all the options I had a feeling this one would have the most writing practice, which I need as much as I can get. The next two choices in the fourth semester would be Specialist Journalism with the pathway of International Journalism and one of two following: Multimedia Storytelling and Production with the Online pathway or Journalism, Politics and Media. The latter depending on whether my writing at this stage would make a bigger impact on print or online. In the third year the more suiting choice would be the 8000 words dissertation instead of an extended essay. With this length it could be something impressive enough for me to showcase whilst hunting for jobs or internships. The last optional slot I would choose is quite obvious one – Data (and Investigative Journalism), which is exactly the subject that would give me skills and knowledge for my dream career. Additional skills I want to acquire before leaving the University include photography, handling a professional camera, graphic design and certified Photoshop and Adobe courses. These are the skills either required or welcomed by the work placement providers. Ideally, I would like to find myself an internship of sorts as soon as it is possible. The ones I am most interested in include The Associated Press, CNN, BBC and The Guardian.
NEW MEDIA DIET
With my new career plan in mind, I had to reconstruct my media diet. I started with my Twitter account. As a prominent, future journalist I was already following most of the major media outlets and personalities. I studied the list of Pulitzer winners from the past years and found their accounts, in addition reading about their achievements in the journalistic field. I took some more time to study the case of Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald, since both of those gentlemen took a great risk while disclosing the sensitive information about the NSA. With one of them paying a heavy price of having to leave the country. I also followed the accounts of four AP reporters I mentioned before: Margie Mason, Martha Mendoza, Robin McDowell and Esther Htusan – authors of “Seafood from slaves”. Part of my new media diet was also the research I did on The Spotlight Team and their separate Twitter feeds, as well as their collective account. Moreover, I followed the groups of reporters doing more global, journalistic work. For example: The Global Investigative Journalism Network – association of 145 nonprofit journalists around the world, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – the group of 190 journalists responsible for disclosing the Panama Papers, Freedom of the Press Foundation, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism Review, Politico or ProPublica. To find out more about the character of the profession I chose, I turned to more domestic and familiar to me sources. One of the most accomplished and respected journalists in this specific field is the Polish reporter – Wojciech Sumlinski. In his books he describes the lives and scandals surrounding presidents, gangsters, politicians and bishops. He’s not afraid to get himself in trouble and make enemies out of the most powerful people in the country. I also conducted a thorough research regarding the legends of investigative journalism worldwide, such as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. To say I was impressed with the way they conducted their investigation of the Watergate scandal would be an understatement. They manage to hide the identity of their source, called Deep Throat, for 31 years after Nixon resigned. This is the kind of journalistic credibility I will be aiming to build. I especially liked the words of Bob Woodward I found while researching the story:
“A reporter’s ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government.”
There is one more reporter I consider a big inspiration for me. Currently a columnist for The Independent, Robert Fisk, holds more British and international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. He has reported on many wars and conflicts in Middle East and interviewed Osama Bin Laden three times. He is currently based in Beirut. His works are always thorough, insightful and well researched. Undoubtedly, the fact that he is fluent in Arabic is a huge factor in his line of work. Should I ever consider following his footsteps and becoming a foreign correspondent, I will add this language to the list of skills I want to acquire before graduating.
My Journalistic Identity 