Originality

Where are we going to draw the line? When everyone today with the aid of technology can present themselves as information disseminator? When people online can present real-time information while “trained” journalists are still busy gathering beats to verify the information presented online?

Where do we draw the line, as student journalists, when our generation comes with easier means to gather information, while others not taking our course can also present the same things we know are worth posting and publishing?

What would we do when everyone who has access to the internet can post information about what is happening in their community, making them as our competitors?  

That is our edge. As student- journalists training for the profession, WE CAN VERIFY THE NEWS CONTENT BY TAKING BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY AND PRESENTING NEWS ANGLE S THAT COULD MAKE THE REPORTS WORTH READING BY THE PUBLIC.

The online community is always an avenue for competition on immediacy versus accuracy. But the essence of good journalism is a discipline of verification.

In school, we are trained to be competitive enough so when we go on field, we know what to do with the gathered information and how to present it guided by the principles of good journalism.  Because as our journalism instructors and professors always tell us, “Journalists have the duty and privilege to seek and report the truth.”  

With the tight competition online, journalists can still be original by:

1.       Providing news stories that are subjected to public’s criticism and compromise. The members of the news media already established their identities as carriers of public [online or not] discussions about the community, if not the country. And it is their sole responsibility to represent the different viewpoints and opinion of the mass for them to have a balance ground of presenting the news context.

2.       Making the news stories comprehensive. For different people in different culture to fully understand what people from news organization are trying to present. That they present it with such confident that people can rely on the information for them not to lag behind about the current events in the society.

3.       Adapting to changes. By changes I meant are changes in the media ecology; that everything is fleeting online. The technological advancements are so fast-changing and fast- improving that journalists must be flexible enough to go with the flow without the pressure of changing their original writing styles.

4.       Upholding the profession asked of them. That they have accepted the obligation of presenting the truth, guided by journalism standards and ethics, the time they stepped out of their personal lives creating someone out of themselves that know how to balance their interests.

5.       Knowing how to sensitive. That not everything is worth publishing. That they should be cautious about the information from their sources. That they should know what to do in times of disasters and other dilemmas. That they are sensitive about the feelings of the people around and the public at large.

There are many ways to be original. As our instructor said in our online journalism class: “ADMIT MISTAKES AND CORRECT THEM PROMPTLY.” Because journalists can show their originality by knowing when to use their pride and, of course, their accountability.

For the last note and from the eyes of a student-journalist: Trained, professional and even amateur journalists can be original by presenting their own writing styles and original works without sacrificing their credibility and by presenting balance news stories.