essay about journalism

Free Journalism Essay Examples & Topics

A journalism essay is a type of paper that combines personal records and reports. Besides news and facts, it should contain a story. An angle that creates a unique narrative of the events you are describing is crucial. However, let’s start with the definition.

No matter how often people hear about journalism, they still might get confused about what it is. It is an act of informative writing about news stories. It can be digital and non-digital, print and non-print. Journalists strive to present information in an interesting way while staying true to the source.

If you have seen journalistic article examples, you know there are two types. News can cover “hard stories”, meaning world events and politics, and “softer stories” about celebrities, science, etc. Journalism as a profession is multidimensional in nature. It can include texts, photography, interviews, and more. Content varies between different categories, such as literary reportage and yellow journalism.

Here, our experts have combined tips about how to write a good journalistic essay. We gathered information that will be useful for starting research and completing it. Moreover, you will find journalism topic ideas. You can use them for inspiration or to practice. Finally, underneath the article you will discover some stellar journalistic essay examples written by other students.

How to Write a Journalistic Essay

In this section, you’ll find tips that can help you start writing. However, nothing is more vital than choosing an appropriate journalism essay topic beforehand.

Before picking the subject, ask yourself several questions:

• What themes do I want to explore?
• What will my story be about?
• What points do I want to make?
• What is my attitude towards the topic?

Answering these questions can allow you to improve your storytelling. What’s more, look for one that can allow you to write intimately. Personal touches and views will influence your paper immensely. With all that in mind, try our free topic generator to get more ideas.

To write an outstanding journalistic essay, you should try these tips:

• Gather facts and references first.

Collect all the information you may need for your paper. For a story in journalism, you may be required to interview people or visit a location. Most importantly, you’ll have to research online. Also, you can read stories written by other people on the Internet to gain a better perspective.

• Organize your ideas and arguments before writing.

A good story is always organized. The structure of a journalistic should represent an inverted pyramid. The most crucial facts appear on the top, less important details go further, and extra information stays on the bottom. You can reflect in your writing. Organize all your arguments before writing, sticking to a logical structure.

• Rely on storytelling.

The story should become the main focus of your work. The writing should serve it and grab the reader’s attention from the start. Think about storytelling techniques that can keep your reader interested till the very end.

• Work on your style and language.

Another essential technique to keep your work both logical and engaging is to write in short sentences. If you search for any journalistic writing examples, you’ll see that’s how journalists write. The main goal of your paper is to deliver a clear and strong message. So, working on your style is going to help you further this agenda.

21 Journalism Essay Topics

There are so many journalism topics you can write about, and it can sometimes be challenging to stick to one. If you are still unsure what to describe and explore in your paper, this section can help you make this choice.

Here are some original journalism topic ideas:

• The way race impacts the news in different states in the US.
• Super Bowl as a phenomenon is more important than the game.
• Why people refuse to believe in climate change.
• How have sports changed international politics?
• Is creative writing in high school an essential subject?
• How vital is transparency in broadcast journalism?
• Is media responsible for the Covid-19 crisis in the US?
• Journalism as a profession can help change the world.
• A privacy issue between British journalism and the royal family.
• Are social media and blogging the future of journalism?
• The role of religion and race in Hollywood.
• Why has the Chinese economy risen so much over the past decade?
• How can media help in battling poverty in developing countries?
• Can music be used as political propaganda?
• Connections between social media and depression.
• Should mobile phones be allowed in educational institutions?
• Has the Internet impacted the way how newspapers and articles are written?
• Should fake news be banned on social media?
• What are the biggest challenges of investigative journalism?
• Can reality television be viewed as a type of journalism?
• How can athletes impact social awareness?

Thank you for reading the article! We hope you will find it helpful. Do not hesitate to share this article or a list of journalism essay examples with others. Good luck with your assignment!

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Journalism - List of Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Journalism is the activity or profession of reporting about, photographing, or editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, or online platforms. Essays on journalism could explore its history, ethical standards, and the evolving landscape in the digital age. Discussions might delve into the roles and responsibilities of journalists, the challenges posed by political biases, censorship, and the rapid spread of misinformation. Moreover, analyzing the impact of social media on journalism, the future of investigative journalism, and the interaction between journalism and democracy can provide a nuanced understanding of the vital role journalism plays in a functioning society. A vast selection of complimentary essay illustrations pertaining to Journalism you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Gender Inequality in Broadcast Journalism

The news media is one of thea most powerful institution whichs that exerts a tremendous amount of influence on society. Although more women females are entering the male dominated newsroom, women are still underrepresented and excluded in many differentmultiple ways. It is evident that females hold a strong interest in journalism; in fact, sixty- five percent of journalism school graduates are female However, women only represent thirty percent of jobs in journalism. , Tand this gender disparity is evident in […]

Yellow Journalism Today

The word 'Yellow Journalism' was first heard in the 1890s to describe the methods and styles used by Joseph Pulitzer concerning the New York City newspaper. His competitor in the field of print media was William Randolph Hearst. Both authors were covering the exclamations of the war that created a lot of alarm among the people. They used powerful words on their headlines such as glory, slaughter, and death on the front page whenever possible to create curiosity and interest. […]

I Want to be a Journalist

The vocation of journalist is exceptionally fascinating and loaded with tremendous freedoms and degree. It is acquiring a lot of significance and renown in the cutting edge society. With the complex expansion in the course of papers and magazines just as beginning of papers and journals, there is an incredible breadth for the young fellows and ladies who need to join this calling. There are many openings every year for the new contestants. The expansion in the flow of papers […]

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How Yellow Journalism Resulted to the Spanish-American War

How yellow journalism resulted to the Spanish-American war. The yellow journalism was started by Joseph Pulitzer in 1896 with a carton of yellow kid and sold many paper. It was characterized with emotional words, dramatic sympathy, false information and misleading headlines which had huge print to attract the attention of people. I had a lot of drawing, pictures and images. Now William Hearst the owner of New York stole the writers from Pulitzer to complete the yellow journalism (Wilkerson, 1932). […]

Analysis of the Watchdog Role in Journalism

Chapter 10 of The Press explores the definition, key elements, and importance of Watchdog Journalism. Watchdog Journalism is a concept that has been and currently still is used in public journalism. It is an important foundation for bringing forth news to the public that may otherwise stay hidden. To begin, journalism has due-diligence to the public to report news that not only matters but affects them either emotionally or physically. Journalists implement the watchdog role in order to bring forth […]

News and Democracy in Different Media Systems

Many decades ago, Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm (1959) posed a question related to the concepts of the press and its role in society, “Why is the press as it is? Why does it apparently serve different purposes and appear in widely different forms in different countries?” The answers to these questions led the authors to present the Authoritarian, the Soviet communist, the Libertarian, and the Social Responsibility models, which explain what the press should be and do in different countries. […]

The Yellow Kid and the Birth of Yellow Journalism

In 1895, the first comic strip was printed in an American newspaper. Called "Hogan's Alley, this popular cartoon made by Richard Outcault featured a buck-toothed, beady-eyed and big-eared boy wearing a yellow nightdress. Fittingly called The Yellow Kid, this loveable character began to gain popularity in an era full of consumerism, commercialization, urbanization and social reform. Newspapers in the late 1800s started to engage heavily in sensationalism and the reporting of exciting stories without full regard to objectivity and truth. […]

How Journalism has Affected our National Narrative

In this age of journalism there are numerous factors that play into the production and reliability of the information we receive. Taking into account a time where our country was less technologically advanced, "current news was primarily accessible to those who had seen it first hand or lived within a proximal distance. The evolution of technology has allowed a secondary source on one side of the world to present news and information to a consumer on another side of the […]

Rebecca Skloot: Unearthing Truths and Giving Voice to the Voiceless

When one thinks of the contemporary literary world, few authors resonate with the powerful interplay of science, ethics, and humanity quite like Rebecca Skloot. With a keen journalist's eye and an empathetic storyteller's heart, Skloot navigates intricate realms, shedding light on tales that might have otherwise remained in obscurity. Skloot's magnum opus, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," is a prime exemplification of her dedication to in-depth research and commitment to telling stories that matter. The narrative centers around Henrietta […]

The Future that Journalism Holds

Journalism continues to evolve at the same rate as the country's interpretations of the First Amendment. Because of the continual advances in technology around the world, society must question the state of journalism, and whether or not its older principles are still applicable to modern standards. As Stephen J.A. Ward highlights in his article Digital Media Ethics: "Most of the principles were developed over the past century, originating in the construction of professional, objective ethics for mass commercial newspapers in […]

The Jayson Blair Scandal: a Cautionary Tale in Journalism

Journalism, often deemed the "fourth estate," is expected to be a watchdog of society, upholding standards of truth, objectivity, and accountability. However, when its very foundations are shaken by controversies like the Jayson Blair scandal, it forces the world to re-examine the integrity of the news we consume and the institutions that deliver it. Jayson Blair, a young and promising journalist, made headlines in 2003, not for his exemplary reporting but for the elaborate web of deception he spun while […]

The Philippine Government Protects Journalists

Journalists are responsible for shining light on all events that happen in the society. Their work is of great importance to the society who depend on them for news. However, the job becomes dangerous when a journalist comes across a piece of a controversial story. The stories usually are characterized by powerful individuals who want to protect themselves from the government and wrath of the society. These individuals and organizations will go to great lengths to protect themselves from being […]

Journalism in the Digital Age: the Rise of Online Newspapers in Nigeria

Nigeria has experienced a notable paradigm shift in the domain of journalism and media in recent times, primarily attributed to the proliferation of online newspapers. The transition from conventional print media to digital platforms has brought about a significant transformation in both the consumption and distribution of news. This essay delves into the progression of online newspapers in Nigeria, examining their ramifications on journalism, society, and politics, in addition to the obstacles and prospects they introduce. The proliferation of online […]

Ethics in Public Relations and Journalism: the Imperative for Truth-Telling

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Objectivity the Core to Professional Journalism

No matter your political views, gender or age, America loves to bash the news media. Once the nations most trusted initiation the news media have fallen from favor.The media has been around since 1927 people have trusted the media for news,and factual information on daily events.After reading about the topic of media it is clear that the change in media's objectivity has changed since it's upcoming According to Gallup, evan as recently as 200 a majority of America trusted the […]

Three Major Ways Social Media has Advanced Journalism

Since leaving Chapman University I have held three different positions in the field of Journalism. I have worked as a Production Assistant for Dateline News, I have worked as a writer for the local CBS News Station in Los Angeles, and currently I am working as a Broadcast Associate for 48 Hours. Though the job requirements for each of these positions and broadcast vary one the common thread they all share is the dominance of social media in order to […]

What do we Call Investigative Journalism?

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The Yellow Journalism of the Internet Age

Fake news is a terminology that erupted in popularity on social media during the 2016 United States presidential elections. Despite its apparently recent etymology, in an article on Huffington Post, Claire Fallon explains that "prior to the late 19th century, English speakers used an obvious alternative to refer to what we now call fake news: 'false news' (2017). Furthermore, the term originates from exploitative and sensational journalistic practices of yellow journalism that found its start in the late 1800s. These […]

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Nellie Bly, a pioneering journalist of the late 19th century, broke new ground with her sensational undercover investigation, "10 Days in a Madhouse." In 1887, under the guise of insanity, Bly checked herself into the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in New York City. Her groundbreaking exposé revealed systemic abuse, neglect, and corruption within the institution, ultimately leading to significant reforms in mental health care. Bly’s journey began with her feigned madness to be committed to the asylum, which […]

Press Freedom at a Crossroads: the Supreme Court Case that Shaped American Journalism

In the annals of American legal history, few cases have stirred the conscience of the nation and reshaped the landscape of journalism quite like the saga of New York Times Co. v. United States. This watershed moment, often referred to as the Pentagon Papers case, thrust the delicate balance between government secrecy and press freedom into the harsh glare of public scrutiny, leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of American democracy. Cast your mind back to the tumultuous year […]

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In the tumult of the early 20th century, a group of intrepid journalists emerged, wielding their pens like swords against the goliaths of corruption, poverty, and social injustice. These journalists, known as muckrakers, embarked on a crusade to expose the dark underbelly of American society, igniting the flames of reform that would shape the Progressive Era. Their stories, deeply rooted in investigative journalism, not only enlightened the public but also pressured lawmakers to enact significant changes. This discussion aims to […]

Journalism Unveiled: Muckrakers Pioneering Voices of American Reform

In the tumultuous landscape of the early 20th century, a group of fearless journalists emerged as the catalysts for social and political change – the muckrakers. This term, coined by President Theodore Roosevelt, aptly captured the essence of these investigative writers who delved into the metaphorical muck and mire of society, exposing corruption, inequality, and injustice. During the Progressive Era, muckrakers wielded their pens as powerful tools for reform, bringing to light the dark corners of American life that were […]

Unveiling the Hanford Sentinel: Navigating the Realm of Grassroots Journalism

Situated amid the sun-drenched expanses of California's Central Valley, the Hanford Sentinel emerges as a distinctive emblem of local journalism's endurance and adaptability. In this sprawling tapestry of community newspapers, the Hanford Sentinel proudly stands as a linchpin, meticulously weaving the stories that echo through the lives of Hanford's inhabitants. Far removed from the digital cacophony, the Hanford Sentinel serves as a quiet custodian of community bonds, delving into the minutiae of local life. From quirky events and poignant narratives […]

Yellow Journalism: Sensational News from Yesteryear to your Feed

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Introductory essay

Written by the educators who created Covering World News, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

At the newsstand, on our smartphones and while watching the evening news, we learn about faraway people and places from the journalists, stringers and correspondents who work for news agencies and other media outlets around the globe. Global news is everywhere — from the front page news read by a New Yorker on Madison Avenue to the government radio station broadcasting in Pyongyang.

However, it would be a mistake to consider this a completely new phenomenon or to overstate its pervasiveness. Many people tend to think that global news is both a recent phenomenon and one that we can credit to advances in technology. If we think of 'news' in terms of newspaper articles or television reporting, then news is only as old as the technologies of press and video, and dates back to the first newsletters that circulated in Europe in the 17th century.

But in reality, humans have shared information about current affairs within and across borders for thousands of years, starting with the news networks of the ancient Phoenicians. The historical record also describes merchants sharing political news along ancient trade routes, minstrels and other traveling artists whose fictional performances also carried information about social change, and criers in medieval town squares.

If news is not a product of modern technologies, it's nevertheless true that technological change has had a dramatic impact on how news is made and consumed: where once we had printed newsletters distributed twice a day, now we have Twitter feeds refreshed twice a minute, and carrying information from an ever-widening array of sources. We live, as media critics like Marshall McLuhan have argued, in a global village.

The trouble with this vision of 'global news' is that it's not nearly as complete as we imagine it to be. According to the World Bank, of the world's seven billion people, only 80% have access to electricity (or the gadgets like computer and televisions that depend on it), 75% have access to mobile phones, and a meager 35% to the Internet. Most people on the planet aren't connected to what we think of as the 'global media' at all. As Global Voices founder Ethan Zuckerman points out in his TED Talk, "There are parts of the world that are very, very well connected, [but] the world isn't even close to flat. It's extremely lumpy."

Just as critically, the content that makes up the 'global media' is still heavily focused on a few key centers of power. In her TED Talk, Public Radio International's Alisa Miller shares a powerful map of the news consumed by American audiences in 2008: most of it focused on the U.S., and to a lesser extent, on countries with which the U.S. has military ties. Ethan Zuckerman points out that this lack of global coverage is pervasive, whether it's at elite news outlets like The New York Times or on crowdsourced digital information platforms like Wikipedia.

Moreover, Zuckerman argues, it's not just about the stories that get made — it's about what stories we choose to listen to. Thirty years ago, Benedict Anderson made waves when he argued that political structures (like states) depend upon a set of shared values, the 'imagined community,' and that the media plays a key role in creating those values. Zuckerman, however, argues that in today's world the disconnect between what we imagine to be our community, and the community we actually live in, is a major source of global media inequality. We connect to the Internet, with its technological capacity to link up the whole world, and imagine that we live in a global village. But in practice, we spend most of our time reading news shared by our Facebook friends, whose lives and interests are close to our own. Zuckerman calls this 'imagined cosmopolitanism.'

Compounding the problem, the stories we do attend to can be heavily distorted, reducing whole countries or societies to a single stereotype or image. As author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains in her TED Talk about the 'single story,' when all the tales we hear about a country follow the same pattern, we begin to imagine that this pattern is all there is know. The 'single story' can affect all of us, rich and poor: Adichie talks of her own misconceptions about Nigeria's rural poor, of her surprise at encountering the diversity of life in Mexico, and of her college roommate's reductive vision of Africa as poor and underdeveloped. The difference, she argues, is that there are simply more stories out there about powerful countries than about less powerful ones, and that makes it harder for us to reduce those societies to 'single stories' in our minds.

What can we do?

First, we can tell different stories about the places that are prone to reduction. In her TED Talk, Yemeni newspaper editor Nadia Al-Sakkaf takes us to the Yemen she lives in — where terrorism and political upheaval are real problems, but far from the whole picture. Moreover, in her account, each image can tell many stories. A woman with a veiled face can represent the role of fundamentalist Islam in Yemeni society, but she argues that a look behind the veil shows us that many of these women are holding down jobs and earning income, and in so doing, changing their role within their own families and in Yemeni society more broadly.

Second, we can find ways to invest in journalism. As Alisa Miller argues, a major obstacle to a truly global news media is the cost of production, of keeping bureaus in every country and paying for journalists to produce deep, investigative stories. The great paradox of media economics in the digital age is that the Internet makes it possible for us to consume more content, but falling advertising revenues means that each piece of content must cost a little less to produce. That pushes news outlets, even wealthy ones, in the direction of gossip and regurgitated press releases that can be produced by a reporter who hasn't left her desk.

One way to break this cycle, Ethan Zuckerman argues, is to make small and targeted investments in local journalists in the developing world. He describes a blogger training program in Madagascar that became a newsroom overnight when world media outlets needed verified content from a country undergoing revolution. He highlights the critical work of professional curators like Amira Al Hussaini at Global Voices or Andy Carvin at the Associated Press.

At the heart of these recommendations is a shift in the way we understand the mission of journalists — or rather, a return to an old way of thinking about news.

Right up until the early 20th century, all journalists were assumed to be opinion writers. Reporters went places to report, made up their own minds about a topic, and wrote an account that included not only facts, but an argument for what position readers at home should take and what political actions might follow. George Orwell's colorful and opinionated essays from South East Asia, for example, were published as reportage.

Then the Cold War started, and in the democratic West, journalists began to strive for objective impartiality, to distinguish their work from the obvious, state-sponsored propaganda of the Soviet bloc. Many critics at the time questioned whether 'true' objectivity was possible, but no major western news organization disputed that it was the ideal.

Today, we're seeing a return to the older understanding of journalism, towards an acceptance that even independent reporting carries a viewpoint, shaped by the people who produce it. Moreover, contemporary journalists are increasingly coming to see this viewpoint as a strength rather than as a weakness, and using social media to be more transparent to readers about the values they bring to stories. New York University's Jay Rosen, for example, has argued powerfully that the 'view from nowhere' advocated by 20th century western reporters is dangerous because it can lead journalists to treat 'both sides' of a story equally even when one side is telling objective falsehoods or committing crimes.

Many of the speakers in Covering World News describe their journalism — whether it is Global Voices or the Yemen Times — as having an explicit moral and political mission to change our perceptions of under-covered regions of the world.

But no speaker is more passionate on this subject than TED speaker and photojournalist James Nachtwey, who credits the activist context of the 1960s for inspiring him to enter journalism, using photography to "channel anger" into a force for social change. Nachtwey's work has brought him, at times, into partnership with non-profit aid organizations, an alliance that is increasingly common in today's media world but would surely not have fit within the 'objective' media of a half-century ago. Nachtwey sees himself as a 'witness' whose place in the story is not to be invisible, but to channel his own humane outrage at war or social deprivation in order to drive social and political change: in one case, a story he produced prompted the creation of a non-profit organization to collect donations from readers.

This kind of work is a form of 'bridge building,' a theme that emerges in many of our talks. For while there may not be one 'global media' that includes all communities equally and reaches all parts of the globe, there are many individuals whose skills and backgrounds enable them to go between the connected and less connected pockets of the world, bridging gaps and contributing to mutual understanding. That, perhaps, is the way forward for international journalism.

Let's begin our study with Public Radio International CEO Alisa Miller, an ardent advocate for a global perspective in news programming. In her TEDTalk "The news about the news," Miller shares some eye-opening statistics about the quantity and quality of recent foreign reporting by American mainstream media organizations.

Alisa Miller

How the news distorts our worldview, relevant talks.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The danger of a single story.

James Nachtwey

My wish: let my photographs bear witness.

Nadia Al-Sakkaf

See yemen through my eyes.

Ethan Zuckerman

Listening to global voices.

Why Is Journalism Important? (40+ Reasons From Experts)

Journalism has been around for centuries and has always been about shining a light on the world around us. However, there is still a lot of debate surrounding its significance.

So, what makes journalism so crucial to people’s lives, society, and government?

According to experts, the following are the reasons why journalism is important.

Celeste Headlee

Journalist | Radio Host | Professional Speaker | Author, “ We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter “

It is the only industry that’s protected in the constitution in the First Amendment

In the United States, at least, journalism is the only industry that’s protected in the constitution in the First Amendment. Our industry is there. And the reason for that is a strong and independent journalistic industry is crucial to democracy. 

There’s  no  example in history of a democracy that can thrive without an independent news media. That’s because there have to be people asking questions. That’s how checks and balances work outside of the government buildings. 

The check and the balance are that people making these laws or deciding the constitutionality of laws will have blind spots, and if you have an independent news media, the news media will catch those mistakes. 

They will: 

• see the cracks 
• be asking questions 
• be digging out the information on people giving jobs to their family members or 
• diverting funds away from their intended purpose toward something else

Without a robust journalistic organization, you can’t make democracy work

That’s how important it is. We don’t always have a completely independent news industry throughout the United States history, but we know that when the news media has been on its own doing independent and credible, fact-checked work, it’s always been  better  for society.

Journalism is a skilled profession

I wish more people knew that journalism is a  skilled profession . Many people assume that if they just take a  recorder  or  notebook  and write up a story about an event, that’s journalism. 

In the very broad sense, it may count, but we go through a lot of training in terms of how to approach stories fairly, not objectively but fairly , and how to use language that is  not  biased. 

For example, if you say,  “The City Council finally passed legislation to deal with the trash problem,”   even though the word  “finally”  is a biased word, it implies that it’s taken a long time or taken too long. So we spent a lot of time training and how to be fair. And also how to find unexpected sources. 

It’s widespread for people to do citizen journalism in which they are going out there interviewing people and are generally the most likely suspects. They’re going to be the head of the corporations or the congressperson. 

You can learn who are the people involved in inconsequential decisions

But over the years, when you’re a journalist, you start learning:

• who are the other people behind the scenes involved in inconsequential decisions
• who are the other voices you can seek that will flesh out a story, give it context, and help people understand

I wish that more people realize that good journalists are  well trained  and experienced ,  follow a code of ethics , and it takes effort and discipline to become good at the job, just like any other job.

CEO and Founder, INK Inc Public Relations | Author, “ It’s the Media, Stupid! “

It’s about diligent research and skillful writing

Since the internet came to be, I think the perception of what journalism is has morphed into something that doesn’t speak to the realities. Journalism is  not  a manipulation tool, garnering clicks or feeding an agenda. 

Good journalism is about the truth . It’s about diligent research, skillful writing, and, much like scientists, not being as focused on the outcome as the process. 

Good journalists and editors work extremely hard to get their work right

This is why the phrase  “Fake News”  is one of the most disheartening components of today’s media landscape. It meant something  not  long ago. It was literally fake news stories written solely to  manipulate . 

Today, for way too many, it means anything that someone doesn’t agree with. It immediately negates the tough job of being a journalist and, more importantly, dismisses the truth. 

I strongly feel that we’re in a  “Golden Age”  of journalism in the recent past. Perhaps it’s driven by an even greater focus on fact-checking and truth, given that it’s battling the  “Fake News”  cries if people choose  not  to acknowledge the truth. 

That’s an individual and foolish choice. But it doesn’t mean that today’s real journalists, many of whom are battling tighter deadlines and fewer resources, aren’t putting out extraordinary work. 

It serves as an anchor in the sea while manipulative waves crash around us

Some may be fine with getting their  “news”  as a 280-character tweet. But for those with  curiosity ,  self-respect , and  desire  for truth, good journalism still exists and is thriving. It serves as an anchor in the sea while manipulative waves crash around us. 

Our job as media consumers is always to consider the source of what we  read and  see . And with that alone, we’re better able to move past the noise intended to confuse, anger, and manipulate and get to what real journalists are driven by — the  truth . 

Laura Herman

Consultant & Writer, Seniorstrong

It is the primary information source for the general population

Journalism is important because it is the primary information source for the general population. It holds the corrupt and the bad accountable by bringing attention to their  shady  activities. 

It feeds the public with  unbiased  information and  educates  them. It provides transparency to the  political scenario ,  society , and the  world . This entails collaboration among journalists in the pursuit of knowledge. 

Journalists bring out stories that had no chance of being heard

Journalists bring out stories around the world that had  no  chance of being heard. They are often the only ones who give those who might  not  otherwise have a voice an opportunity to express themselves. 

This can include those who have experienced  abuse  or  violence , those who are  poor , and others who have been subjected to  discrimination . They are the primary weapons against injustice or mistreatment when other officials or government bodies fail. 

They frequently influence how people see certain circumstances

Journalists contribute to the humanization of people who could otherwise be viewed as  statistics  or  faceless figures . The work of journalists has the potential to impact our society over time positively.

The media can revolutionize and motivate people to take action. 

Journalists frequently influence how people see certain circumstances, whether it’s through drawing attention to a particular issue or opening the door for novel reporting and narrative techniques. This triggers significant change throughout communities or even entire nations.

Leonard A. Sipes, Jr.

Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention | Former Director of Information Services | Author, “ Success With The Media “

Journalists asked the right questions about the topic

I never lied and provided false information, but savvy journalists fed me information that didn’t fit well with (or contradicted) my pronouncements. That requires an extensive conversation where both parties lay their facts on the table for examination.

Experienced journalists asked the right questions and knew enough about the topic to understand that my version of the story needed follow-up. 

Most do  not  know that the spokespeople and reporters co-produce stories that correctly inform the public. When there is  trust  between spokespeople and reporters, the public gets the facts and context needed . 

We both were dedicated to the truth regardless of where the chips may fall. I never asked for favors and positive coverage. All I wanted was  fairness and context , and  accuracy . 

I remember inviting a reporter to my home for breakfast, where I proactively turned over a damaging report regarding our operations. I only asked that our statement be in the first four paragraphs, that he understood the context, and that we proactively offered the study.

They are dedicated to accuracy and context

There was a day years ago when experienced reporters and spokespeople were dedicated to  accuracy  and  context . It served my agencies and me well because reporters understood that we told the truth. 

We didn’t shy away from negative stories. But if I said that the event didn’t happen (regardless of their sources), they believed me (sometimes it took a quick site visit with the reporter to confirm). 

An AP reporter once told me that if I stated that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge fell into the bay, he wouldn’t ask for additional confirmation.

However, sadly, the days of experienced, savvy reporters co-producing stories with knowledgeable spokespeople seem to be at an end. 

We’ve lost a ton of great reporters, and spokespeople seem willing to hide behind an email exchange. The public deserves better. Journalism via truly good reporters is vital to the truth and our democracy.  Journalism keeps the rest of us honest .

AJ Silberman-Moffitt

Senior Editor,  Tandem

Journalists were around to record what was happening

In days past, when notable things occurred — such as  wars ,  assassinations , and  diseases  — disseminating this information across the globe took time. There was  no  internet to pass on information virtually in an instant. 

But even then, journalists were around to record what was happening. They put into their own words what they saw and heard and passed it on to others.

Not everyone can be like the title of the movie  “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”  That is the biggest reason that journalism is essential. Though people can’t be in the presence of things as they happen, they must know about what transpired. 

It is one way to ensure that notable occurrences are recorded for history and posterity

Not all news is bad news, and it’s also integral to record the good things. Having a journalistic accounting from multiple perspectives is a great way to understand what went on.

Though some journalists are prone to put their own spin on stories or interject their personal feelings, some with the highest integrity understand how important it is to be  impartial . And it’s these recounting and these stories that people will rely on for years to come.

James “Jimmy” Watts

Former Journalist | CEO, Own The Grill

Journalism is the shield that protects us from those who wish to divide us 

In a world of conflicting facts, where any ridiculous idea can find purchase and enter the mainstream consciousness via the information super way, the truth matters more than ever . 

Journalism is the last bastion of truth  that holds back the tide of alternative facts and half-baked conspiracies that the politics of hate want us to believe so that we all turn on and blame each other for the ills of modern society instead of holding the people who are responsible for accounting. 

It’s the voice of eternal truth that fights for the rights of every one of us

Journalism has been responsible for: 

• bringing down corrupt governments
• arming people with the knowledge that they need to be free
• keeping the dream that one day we can all be united under a common banner alive

It was, is, and always will be the voice of eternal truth that fights for the rights of every one of us to live the lives that we deserve to live. The truth might  hurt , but it’s a necessary pain that we need to collectively feel if we wish to move forward as a species, and that’s why journalism matters. 

Marc Shuman

Personal Injury Lawyer & Founder, Shuman Legal

It provides individuals with the knowledge they need to make decisions

Journalism’s function in modern society is multifaceted, covering various elements of people’s lives. 

As more sources sprout up throughout the world, many more stories might evolve in numerous venues, implying that journalism plays an increasingly vital part in modern society. 

It provides individuals with the knowledge they need to make the most significant possible decisions regarding their  lives ,  communities ,  societies , and governments . 

Most of the time, being a part of any community entails being aware of what is going on inside it and being prepared to act when something needs to change for the better. 

It is well-known that today’s new media seeks  clear  information and pluralism to achieve impartiality, whereas traditional media seeks it through objective means. 

It can have a variety of outcomes, but they are  all  predictable: either  excellent or bad  journalism. But it is important to note that one thing has stayed constant over the years.  

It provides society with the knowledge they need to conduct their lives

The goal and significance of journalism are to provide society with the knowledge they need to conduct their lives. They require information to make judgments on many issues. 

In many cases, journalists support this type of community idea by exposing issue areas and methods for citizens to become engaged. For example, credit reporting on the environmentally friendly impact of factory agriculture can help people reconsider their food choices.

Founder,  The Karate Blog

Human history would be lost without journalism

Journalism is a powerful tool; powerful because it is through journalism that the world knows what it knows. Through this  tool ,  knowledge , and  information  are logically organized and disseminated to the ends of the earth.

It can be said that human history would be lost without journalism. 

The coming generations will know what the world was like before through journalism

Journalists conduct research on various subjects, document their findings, and communicate these results to the public efficiently. 

It is through  research  and  journalism  that we are aware of our history, and it’ll also be through journalism and  proper documentation , that the coming generations will know what the world was like before their time. 

The content generated by journalists and communicated through various journalistic media ( print ,  television ,  radio ,  social media , and the  internet ) supplies relevant information and news to the public, uncovers truths, spreads awareness, and helps the population understand various complex issues. 

The world would be ignorant without journalism

The code of ethics guiding journalism compels journalists to report only truths, to act autonomously, and practice  honesty . Journalism brings  facts , findings ,  truths , information , and  knowledge  to the limelight; without it, the world would be ignorant.

Journalism is a building block of democracy in a society

A country’s commitment to democracy is reflected in the attitude of high regard for the media , print , or broadcast .

Political freedom and equality are the results of freedom of expression, and a well-conditioned democracy seeks fairness for its citizens and the protection of their rights.

Journalism plays a crucial role in a democratic society. By analyzing facts, setting up panels, and disseminating information that captures current events, people are informed to understand current situations, policies, and the government. 

This guides the people in their political choices and gives them the  full  right to participate in public processes that influence the decisions and actions of the leaders they elect.

Dan Farrant

CEO,  Hello Music Theory

It is a mirror of the society

Journalism could be dubbed as one of the pillars on which a society/country stands. Objective and accurate journalism lays a bed of strong foundation for a country and its people to thrive. 

Journalism exists to act as an eye-opener , information disseminator , and knowledge provider . It is a mirror of the society in which we live as what happens around us finds a place in the news, blogs in other forms of journalism.

Watchdog of the society

Journalism or journalists are often referred to as  watchdog(s) . One may have come across the term watchdog journalism more than once. 

It highlights the investigative and fact-checking capability of journalism with the sole motive of presenting the masses with  comprehensive  information about events occurring in the present along with a  detailed  analysis of past occurrences to draw parallels or understand the present better in light of the past.

Acts as whistleblower

They are entrusted to perceive and project the truth even if it means exposing authorities or authoritative persons engaged in immoral activities. Journalism exists to blow the whistle to draw all eyes to whatever  wrong  is happening around us. 

Unlawful ,  illegal , and  illegitimate  activities are put to justice in the court of law after empowered journalists risk their lives in scouting the truth against all odds.

It draws people around the globe closer

Journalism brings people together. People from one part of the globe might feel emotionally connected to the hardships of the people residing in another part of the world after their troubles are voiced using various  agents ,  modes , and  tools  of journalism. 

From a devastating natural disaster to turbulent political elections, the plight of the people is always best highlighted through objective journalism, enabling domestic and even foreign authorities to intervene to rescue suffering people.

Kirill Sajaev

Executive Director & Founder, AUQ.io

Journalists have access to critical information and figures

The fact that journalists have access to critical information and figures is one metric that may be used to measure the significance of journalism. The chance to articulate oneself is the primary viewpoint, even though it serves several other functions. 

The right to be evaluated is the basis of journalism. In the modern world, people rely on the media to keep them up to date on current events. Above that, there are more plausible reasons why journalism is important.

It gives a voice to those who do not have one

Journalism is often seen as an essential component in a society that operates under the principle of majority rule. It is the medium through which the opinions of  all  public members may be communicated.  It gives a voice to those who do not have one. 

Journalism provides citizens with several channels through which they may voice their opinions, such as: 

• printing letters to the management on paper or 
• displaying comments from internet readers following an article

It keeps tabs on the political process to ensure that elected officials act in accordance

It is journalism’s job to keep tabs on the political process to ensure that elected officials act in accordance with their constituents’ preferences. 

A free press is essential because, in the absence of its ability to report on recent happenings accurately, the public could be  deprived  of access to critical information while being prevented from making informed decisions about who should represent their interests in government.

Shawn Plummer

Chief Executive Officer,  The Annuity Expert

It provides people with information about the world outside their own experiences

We need journalists to report on our world so that we do  not  rely on biased opinions and misinformation spread by politicians, advertisers, and other interested parties.

Journalists who report honestly and accurately and use sources that present a range of views and ideas allow readers to make up their minds about things they might not have experienced. 

Ethical journalism ensures that readers can have better information to make wise decisions. 

Journalists report stories that might otherwise not see the light of day

For example, journalists expose  corrupt  government officials who have committed crimes. They investigate corporations and organizations that put profits ahead of people’s welfare. They document human rights abuses so governments will act to  stop  such abuses. 

Journalism is far-reaching

Journalism is a way to reach many people at once with the important issues that affect them daily. It is a great way to report on topics that people rarely read. Journalism helps people form opinions on issues they may  not  have thought about otherwise.

Mary Hunderson

Professional Lifestyle Writer, Themeple

Journalism is essential because it is one of the few ways we learn about what is happening worldwide. It can be an important tool for holding governments and other powerful institutions  accountable . 

It can also be a way for people to share their stories and experiences and to raise awareness about important issues. Journalism can play an important role in shaping public opinion  and  helping to create a  more  informed and engaged citizenry . 

In a democracy, people must have access to  accurate  and  reliable  information to make informed decisions about the issues that affect their lives.  Journalism can be a force for good in the world, and we must support it .

Benefits of journalism

It helps to create an informed citizenry.

In a democracy, it is vital for people to have access to  accurate  and  reliable information so that they can make informed decisions about the issues that affect their lives. Journalism can provide this information and help to create a more informed citizenry.

It can be a force for good and helps to shape public opinion

By raising awareness about important issues and holding powerful institutions accountable, journalism can be a force for good in the world. It can play an important role in shaping public opinion and helping to create a more informed and engaged citizenry.

It can promote transparency and accountability

Journalism can help to promote transparency and accountability by holding powerful institutions and individuals accountable. It can be a way for people to share their stories and experiences and to raise awareness about important issues.

It can connect people and inspire change

Journalism can connect people from all over the world and help them  better understand each other. By bringing attention to social injustice and other problems, journalism can inspire change and make the world a  better place .

It can entertain and educate

Journalism can also  entertain  and  inform  people and provide them with an escape from the everyday grind. It can educate people about the world around them and help them to understand complex issues.

Ronald Williams

Founder,  BestPeopleFinder

It keeps the population able to analyze and form their own opinions

Journalism is an area that is often questioned. Journalists were persecuted during some historical periods; in others, they were exalted. At times, they are seen as essential sources; in others, as  problematic  and even  unnecessary . 

However, journalism plays a vital role in strengthening democracy, broadcasting news, and keeping the population able to analyze and form their own opinions.

Journalism brings facts among the fakes

Today, information is more accessible and free than ever before. We don’t need to open a newspaper to read the news: it arrives through various channels, such as  e-mails ,  social networks , and even  messaging apps  on our cell phones. 

In short, they can be read in seconds — unlike in the past. The problem is that we end up  not  checking its origins because of the speed of access to information. And likewise, we are  not  sure of the intentions of those who wrote them. 

Journalism enters the field, in this case, to name, look for sources, and establish what a fact is and what has  not  happened. By clarifying facts, journalists can help their readers and viewers develop their own opinions. 

But in general, journalism is vital to: 

• show the facts among fakes
• show evidence 
• do interviews
• not let any critical information slip

Robert Walden

Founder, VehicleFreak

Journalism helps to advance democracy and human rights

Human rights and freedom of the press are supported by journalism as a democratic foundation. In this way, people can  better  understand their government and make more educated choices concerning their neighborhood. 

Journalism fosters democracy by giving a forum for individuals to voice their opinions. There are several social media platforms that citizens use to share news articles, frequently with links to the original news sources. 

It’s possible to swiftly communicate information with readers who may  not usually have access to more traditional forms of journalism, such as  newspapers or  blogs  written by professional journalists, owing to factors like slow internet or difficulty reading and writing.

Gerald Lombardo

Co-Founder,  The Word Counter

It empowers individuals on a global scale

Journalism plays an integral role in contemporary society because it informs us of changing  issues ,  events , and  individuals  who shape the course of history. 

News is essential because it can be used as a tool for humanity to decide how to live on a daily basis. The process of sharing the news, or the act of producing journalism, empowers individuals on a global scale. 

Today, we live in an era where accurate journalism is more important than ever. This is due to  inaccurate  information that can be easily spread through social media channels worldwide. 

True journalism will always survive because passionate individuals share what is true   and just.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does journalism impact our lives.

Journalism plays a crucial role in shaping our understanding of the world and how we engage with it. Whether we are reading a local newspaper or scrolling through our social media feeds, journalism is all around us, and its impact on our lives is undeniable.

Firstly, journalism provides us with the information we need to make informed decisions. From politics and economics to science and technology, journalism covers a wide range of topics that affect our daily lives. Without access to reliable and accurate information, we cannot fully participate in our communities or exercise our rights as citizens.

Moreover, journalism helps us understand the complexity of issues facing our society. It goes beyond simple headlines and soundbites, delving into the nuances of each topic and providing multiple perspectives. By doing so, it encourages critical thinking and enables us to form our own opinions based on facts and evidence.

Journalism also holds those in power accountable. By reporting on government officials, corporations, and other influential actors, journalists act as watchdogs, exposing wrongdoing and holding those responsible for their actions. This helps prevent abuse of power and ensures that our leaders are acting in the best interests of their constituents.

Finally, journalism plays a vital role in promoting social and cultural understanding. It brings attention to issues and events that might otherwise go unnoticed, helping to amplify diverse voices and perspectives. Through journalism, we can learn about different cultures, traditions, and ways of life, promoting empathy and understanding across borders and boundaries.

How can journalism change the world?

Journalism is a powerful tool that can bring about significant changes in the world we live in. The way journalists tell stories can shape our perceptions of events, issues, and people. The impact of journalism is not just limited to the news cycle but extends to social, political, and cultural realms.

Here are a few ways in which journalism can change the world:

• Holding the powerful accountable : Journalism can expose corruption, abuse of power, and wrongdoing by those in positions of authority. Investigative journalism can bring to light issues that would otherwise remain hidden, and thereby help to hold the powerful accountable.

• Creating public awareness : Journalism can raise public awareness about important issues that need attention. It can shed light on problems such as poverty, social inequality, and environmental degradation, and help people understand the consequences of their actions.

• Promoting dialogue : Journalism can promote dialogue by presenting diverse perspectives on issues and encouraging readers to engage in discussions. It can also provide a platform for marginalized communities to voice their concerns and perspectives.

• Fostering change : Journalism can inspire change by highlighting stories of people who have made a positive impact on society. These stories can motivate others to take action and make a difference in their own communities.

• Challenging stereotypes : Journalism can challenge stereotypes and promote understanding by presenting stories of people from diverse backgrounds. This can help to break down barriers and build bridges between different communities.

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Home » Blog » What Is Journalism And Why Does It Matter In Today’s World?

What Is Journalism And Why Does It Matter In Today’s World?

Understanding the benefits of journalism [updated dec 16, 2023].

Rebekah Carter

Journalism is a concept most of us are relatively familiar with.

In fact, according to some reports, the first instance of “journalism” as a concept dates  back to 1476 , when a rudimentary printing press emerged.

We’ve grown up constantly exposed to different kinds of journalism, from the news stories reported on our television sets and radios to the information published in newspapers and magazines. Today, we’re also seeing an increase in new forms of journalism delivered through social media, podcasts, and online streams. 

However, even in a world where journalistic content is pervasive, many still find it challenging to define what journalism means. 

Here’s your guide to journalism and why it’s essential in today’s world. 

What is Journalism: The Foundations of Journalism

Journalism is the art and science of gathering, compiling, and presenting news via various forms of mass media. Essentially, it’s a form of sharing information and facts, often from an objective perspective, with a commitment to accuracy and education. 

According to Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach in “The Elements of Journalism”, the purpose of journalism isn’t defined by a specific set of techniques or the use of a particular technology. Instead, the goal of journalism is defined by the importance “news” plays in any person’s life. 

After all, knowledge is power, and we rely on access to a constant stream of updated and consistent information to survive in any landscape. News keeps us informed of what’s happening in the world around us, draws attention to the matters we need to be aware of, and inspires us to action. Though it may be exciting and entertaining, journalism is essentially a tool for empowerment. 

With journalistic writing and reporting, experts provide citizens with the information they need to navigate their lives. The journalism we see in the world today informs our decisions regarding interacting with our communities, societies, businesses, and even governments.

Why is Journalism Important?

So why is journalism so crucial to our lives as human beings? 

The media is often referred to as the “ fourth pillar of the state ”. In other words, it’s a foundational part of any community or landscape. For people to work and live together effectively, they need to be informed, not just about current events, but about the changes in our world and the impact we each have on the landscapes around us. 

The task of a journalist is mainly to report on current events and share valuable information. However, journalists are also experts in contextualizing events and using them to drive action. The reports we read push us to think about different concepts uniquely, expand our imaginations, and develop a deeper understanding of our planet. 

At a basic level, journalism creates a universal “awareness” among human beings, ensuring we all have access to a stream of facts and data relevant to our lives. 

Why Does Journalism Matter to Today’s World?

Journalism today is a world away from the reports we used to see several decades ago. There are more ways to consume news than ever before, from social media channels to online websites. Moreover, the internet and the connectedness of our world means it’s much easier to report and share information en-masse. As such, we’ve seen the emergence of different strains of journalism. 

There are still journalists committed to reporting on general world events, but we also have specialists in our society dedicated to specific types of news. You can explore different environments to learn about the latest financial news or stay up to date on the technology landscape. 

While journalism as a concept has evolved significantly over the years, the core purpose of the practice remains the same. Modern society wants and expects access to a constant flow of information. We like to feel educated and up to date. 

Journalism is important because it:

• Facilitates crucial processes:  We use data and facts to make decisions in any environment. In the day-to-day world, the news we read and the reports we see also influence our choices and actions. Journalism helps to facilitate democratic processes, like inspiring people to vote for the next leader of a country. It also pushes us to respond to critical issues harming humanity, from injustice and equality to global warming. 
• Supports commerce:  To make important decisions about what we’re going to purchase, we need to know what’s available in the landscape and the benefits of each solution. Since the early days of newspapers, journalism has helped to lubricate commerce and strengthen the development of brands. It creates awareness for new products and solutions and asks people to consider their needs and demands. 
• Drives the transformation of culture:  Journalism helps us to grow as people. The news reports we read about other communities and people help to connect us to people outside of our social groups. Media serves as a way to make the world more visible and help us understand how other people live. It helps to bridge some of the common gaps between communities existing across the globe. 

More than just another form of entertainment, Journalism empowers us to make better choices about our own lives and contribute to the lives of others with our actions.

Technological Evolution in Journalism

The digital transformation of news gathering.

In the realm of journalism, the advent of cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, and digital platforms has revolutionized the way news is gathered, distributed, and consumed. This seismic shift has not only transformed traditional journalistic practices but also introduced novel opportunities and challenges.

AI and Automated Reporting: AI technologies, including natural language processing and machine learning, have given birth to automated reporting systems. These systems can quickly analyze data sets, from financial reports to sports statistics, and generate news articles. The Associated Press, for instance, has leveraged this technology to increase the volume and speed of its reporting. However, this raises questions about the role of human journalists and concerns about the potential for AI to perpetuate biases present in its training data.

Data Analytics in Investigative Journalism: Data journalism, driven by advanced analytics, allows journalists to uncover stories hidden in large data sets. Investigative journalism has been particularly transformed, with reporters now equipped to analyze complex data leaks like the Panama Papers. This shift towards data-driven journalism demands new skills from journalists but also enhances their ability to unearth stories that would have been impossible to discover previously.

Transforming Content Distribution and Consumption

The rise of digital platforms has dramatically altered how news is distributed and consumed. Social media, news aggregator apps, and online news portals have become primary news sources for many, overtaking traditional media like newspapers and television.

Social Media as a News Source: Platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become crucial for real-time news dissemination. They enable journalists to reach a global audience instantly. However, this also poses challenges in terms of verifying the authenticity of information and managing the spread of misinformation.

Personalization Through Algorithms: Digital platforms use sophisticated algorithms to personalize content for users. This means that two people could receive vastly different news feeds based on their past interactions, creating ‘filter bubbles’ that can limit exposure to diverse viewpoints and potentially reinforce biases.

Engaging the Audience in the Digital Age

Technology has not only changed how news is created and distributed but also how it is engaged with by audiences.

Interactive and Immersive Storytelling: Advancements in technology have given rise to new forms of storytelling in journalism. Interactive articles, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) offer immersive experiences, making complex stories more understandable and engaging.

Citizen Journalism and User-Generated Content: The democratization of news production, facilitated by technology, has given rise to citizen journalism. Platforms like YouTube and blogging sites allow anyone to report news. This democratization brings diverse voices into the media landscape but also challenges professional journalists to differentiate their work through the quality of reporting and analysis.

Challenges with Audience Engagement: While digital platforms offer new ways to engage audiences, they also present challenges. The fight for attention in a crowded digital space means journalists must balance the need to attract clicks with maintaining journalistic integrity.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Journalism in a Tech-Driven World

The technological evolution in journalism is an ongoing journey. As we look to the future, it’s clear that journalists must adapt to remain relevant and trustworthy in an increasingly digital world. The fusion of technology with traditional journalistic values of accuracy, fairness, and depth will be key to navigating the challenges and seizing the opportunities presented by this new era of journalism.

While technology has undoubtedly transformed journalism, the core essence of journalism — to inform, educate, and empower — remains unchanged. The task ahead is to harness these technological advancements to enhance these core values, ensuring journalism continues to play its vital role in society.

Long Live the Power of Journalism

It’s easy to see journalism as just another form of content creation, pushing more information and insights into the world. However, the reality is journalism plays a massive role in who we are as human beings. The ability to access and consume news in various formats helps us evolve as people and respond to the challenges we face as a species.

Journalism educates, informs, and inspires us, giving us the guidance we need to continue growing towards a brighter future. While the way journalism is delivered may change, the impact of this concept remains consistently strong.

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14 influential essays from Black writers on America's problems with race

• Business leaders are calling for people to reflect on civil rights this Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Black literary experts shared their top nonfiction essay and article picks on race. 
• The list includes "A Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin.

For many, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time of reflection on the life of one of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders. It's also an important time for people who support racial justice to educate themselves on the experiences of Black people in America. 

Business leaders like TIAA CEO Thasunda Duckett Brown and others are encouraging people to reflect on King's life's work, and one way to do that is to read his essays and the work of others dedicated to the same mission he had: racial equity. 

Insider asked Black literary and historical experts to share their favorite works of journalism on race by Black authors. Here are the top pieces they recommended everyone read to better understand the quest for Black liberation in America:

An earlier version of this article was published on June 14, 2020.

"Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" and "The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States" by Ida B. Wells

In 1892, investigative journalist, activist, and NAACP founding member Ida B. Wells began to publish her research on lynching in a pamphlet titled "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases." Three years later, she followed up with more research and detail in "The Red Record." 

Shirley Moody-Turner, associate Professor of English and African American Studies at Penn State University recommended everyone read these two texts, saying they hold "many parallels to our own moment."  

"In these two pamphlets, Wells exposes the pervasive use of lynching and white mob violence against African American men and women. She discredits the myths used by white mobs to justify the killing of African Americans and exposes Northern and international audiences to the growing racial violence and terror perpetrated against Black people in the South in the years following the Civil War," Moody-Turner told Business Insider. 

Read  "Southern Horrors" here and "The Red Record" here >>

"On Juneteenth" by Annette Gordon-Reed

In this collection of essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed combines memoir and history to help readers understand the complexities out of which Juneteenth was born. She also argues how racial and ethnic hierarchies remain in society today, said Moody-Turner. 

"Gordon-Reed invites readers to see Juneteenth as a time to grapple with the complexities of race and enslavement in the US, to re-think our origin stories about race and slavery's central role in the formation of both Texas and the US, and to consider how, as Gordon-Reed so eloquently puts it, 'echoes of the past remain, leaving their traces in the people and events of the present and future.'"

Purchase "On Juneteenth" here>>

"The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates, best-selling author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, made waves when he published his 2014 article "The Case for Reparations," in which he called for "collective introspection" on reparations for Black Americans subjected to centuries of racism and violence. 

"In his now famed essay for The Atlantic, journalist, author, and essayist, Ta-Nehisi Coates traces how slavery, segregation, and discriminatory racial policies underpin ongoing and systemic economic and racial disparities," Moody-Turner said. 

"Coates provides deep historical context punctuated by individual and collective stories that compel us to reconsider the case for reparations," she added.  

Read it here>>

"The Idea of America" by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the "1619 Project" by The New York Times

In "The Idea of America," Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones traces America's history from 1619 onward, the year slavery began in the US. She explores how the history of slavery is inseparable from the rise of America's democracy in her essay that's part of The New York Times' larger "1619 Project," which is the outlet's ongoing project created in 2019 to re-examine the impact of slavery in the US. 

"In her unflinching look at the legacy of slavery and the underside of American democracy and capitalism, Hannah-Jones asks, 'what if America understood, finally, in this 400th year, that we [Black Americans] have never been the problem but the solution,'" said Moody-Turner, who recommended readers read the whole "1619 Project" as well. 

Read "The Idea of America" here and the rest of the "1619 Project here>>

"Many Thousands Gone" by James Baldwin

In "Many Thousands Gone," James Arthur Baldwin, American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist lays out how white America is not ready to fully recognize Black people as people. It's a must read, according to Jimmy Worthy II, assistant professor of English at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

"Baldwin's essay reminds us that in America, the very idea of Black persons conjures an amalgamation of specters, fears, threats, anxieties, guilts, and memories that must be extinguished as part of the labor to forget histories deemed too uncomfortable to remember," Worthy said.

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 13 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights activists were arrested after peaceful protest in Birmingham, Alabama. In jail, King penned an open letter about how people have a moral obligation to break unjust laws rather than waiting patiently for legal change. In his essay, he expresses criticism and disappointment in white moderates and white churches, something that's not often focused on in history textbooks, Worthy said.

"King revises the perception of white racists devoted to a vehement status quo to include white moderates whose theories of inevitable racial equality and silence pertaining to racial injustice prolong discriminatory practices," Worthy said. 

"The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde, African American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist asks readers to not be silent on important issues. This short, rousing read is crucial for everyone according to Thomonique Moore, a 2016 graduate of Howard University, founder of Books&Shit book club, and an incoming Masters' candidate at Columbia University's Teacher's College. 

"In this essay, Lorde explains to readers the importance of overcoming our fears and speaking out about the injustices that are plaguing us and the people around us. She challenges us to not live our lives in silence, or we risk never changing the things around us," Moore said.  Read it here>>

"The First White President" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This essay from the award-winning journalist's book " We Were Eight Years in Power ," details how Trump, during his presidency, employed the notion of whiteness and white supremacy to pick apart the legacy of the nation's first Black president, Barack Obama.

Moore said it was crucial reading to understand the current political environment we're in. 

"Just Walk on By" by Brent Staples

In this essay, Brent Staples, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for The New York Times, hones in on the experience of racism against Black people in public spaces, especially on the role of white women in contributing to the view that Black men are threatening figures.  

For Crystal M. Fleming, associate professor of sociology and Africana Studies at SUNY Stony Brook, his essay is especially relevant right now. 

"We see the relevance of his critique in the recent incident in New York City, wherein a white woman named Amy Cooper infamously called the police and lied, claiming that a Black man — Christian Cooper — threatened her life in Central Park. Although the experience that Staples describes took place decades ago, the social dynamics have largely remained the same," Fleming told Insider. 

"I Was Pregnant and in Crisis. All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman" by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Tressie McMillan Cottom is an author, associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. In this essay, Cottom shares her gut-wrenching experience of racism within the healthcare system. 

Fleming called this piece an "excellent primer on intersectionality" between racism and sexism, calling Cottom one of the most influential sociologists and writers in the US today.  Read it here>>

"A Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin

Baldwin's "A Report from Occupied Territory" was originally published in The Nation in 1966. It takes a hard look at violence against Black people in the US, specifically police brutality. 

"Baldwin's work remains essential to understanding the depth and breadth of anti-black racism in our society. This essay — which touches on issues of racialized violence, policing and the role of the law in reproducing inequality — is an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to understand just how much has not changed with regard to police violence and anti-Black racism in our country," Fleming told Insider.  Read it here>>

"I'm From Philly. 30 Years Later, I'm Still Trying To Make Sense Of The MOVE Bombing" by Gene Demby

On May 13, 1985, a police helicopter dropped a bomb on the MOVE compound in Philadelphia, which housed members of the MOVE, a black liberation group founded in 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eleven people, including five children, died in the airstrike. In this essay, Gene Demby, co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team, tries to wrap his head around the shocking instance of police violence against Black people. 

"I would argue that the fact that police were authorized to literally bomb Black citizens in their own homes, in their own country, is directly relevant to current conversations about militarized police and the growing movement to defund and abolish policing," Fleming said.  Read it here>>

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Journalism Personal Essays

Cultural reporting and criticism.

The Cultural Reporting and Criticism (CRC) program in Journalism requires applicants to submit a personal essay that will be judged both as a piece of writing and as an indication of whether your aspirations, abilities, interests, and experience are suited to CRC.

The essay should be specific and detailed enough to give the admissions committee a concrete sense of who you are as a potential cultural reporter and critic. It should address the following questions: What do you expect to get from CRC? What do you think you can contribute to it? What aspects of your background and experience are most relevant to your interest in the program? What kind of writing have you done and what do you aspire to do? Which cultural issues and phenomena most engage you? What publications do you read regularly and why? Which cultural journalists do you admire, which do you dislike, and which have influenced you? Feel free to include any other ideas you consider relevant to your application.

CRC places most emphasis on letters of recommendation from professors or editors with whom you have worked directly and who can assess your intellectual abilities and the quality of your writing.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid. 

Global and Joint Programs

Africana studies | east asian studies | european and mediterranean studies | french studies | international relations | latin american and caribbean studies | near eastern studies | russian and slavic studies.

Journalism requires applicants to write a personal essay. The essay is an extremely important part of the application, so treat it accordingly. The essay should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. In addition, all applicants must submit at least three samples of their work, whether published or not.

The goal of the essay is to give the Admissions Committee a concrete sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career as a professional journalist, writing and reporting for print, online or broadcast media. It should address the following questions: What do you expect to get from the program? What aspects of your experience are most relevant to your interest in journalism? Tell us about your background--your academic degree, intellectual interests, work experience, life experience, and other sources of inspiration--and explain how this background informs what you want to do as a journalist.

Applicants should also describe their existing "body of work" as a journalist, critic or just someone who writes. We are mostly interested in published work, but if you have yet to break into print, then tell us what kind of writing you have done. What have been your major themes? What issues and phenomena most engage you? What publications do you read regularly and why? Which journalists do you admire, which do you dislike, and which have influenced you?

In addition, for the non-Journalism field of study  (Africana Studies, East Asian Studies, French Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Near Eastern Studies, or Russian and Slavic Studies), please briefly describe your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, and your reasons for choosing your field of study.

In addition, for International Relations : the program in International Relations (IR) trains individuals who wish to make a difference on international affairs either through continued academic study or via the actual practice of international affairs in government, the non-governmental or private sectors. Please explain, in a brief and concise manner, how your past studies and work experience relate to a course of study at the graduate level in international relations at NYU. You should include how your educational objectives will help you to achieve your future career goals, and should briefly outline where you see yourself 10 years after graduating from NYU. Please also explain why you chose to apply to study in the IR Program at NYU and how NYU specifically will help you to advance your personal and professional objectives.

European and Mediterranean Studies  does not not require an additional statement. Only the Journalism personal essay is required.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.

Journalism and Religion

Journalism requires applicants to write a personal essay. The essay is an extremely important part of the application, so treat it accordingly. The essay should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. In addition, applicants must submit at least two samples of their work, whether published or not.

As part of your personal essay, please include a discussion that provides the Admissions Committee with a sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career in journalism, writing and reporting about important matters in the news and analysis of religious issues.

Two different writing samples are required. One should be an example of your strongest academic writing, preferably a paper written for an undergraduate course that demonstrates your ability to construct a coherent argument. It should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages. The second should represent your aptitude for journalism. A clip from your college newspaper, a personal essay, and an academic research paper are all acceptable.

Literary Reportage

Literary Reportage requires applicants to answer the following questions. We will judge both the style and content of your writing.

• Describe the project you want to pursue. Tell us about the stories you want to write, in as much detail as possible. Big ideas, themes and questions are essential, but just as essential are specific stories—real names, real places—through which you explore them. We expect your work to evolve while at NYU, so you are not committing to your agenda now.
• Who/what have you read and been inspired by? What, to your mind, are the similarities and differences between creative writing and creative nonfiction? How can "literary technique" be applied to the practice of long-form journalism? What do reporters do? What do you envision “Literary Reportage” to be?
• Tell us about your academic degree(s), intellectual interests, work/life experiences, and explain how they inform your project. Describe your "body of work" as a journalist, blogger, or just someone who writes. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? What do you expect to get from Literary Reportage?
• Describe how you plan to use the city and the university’s vast resources. We welcome projects of national or international scope, but only if they can be reported effectively from the city and its environs (with the usual extensions of email and telephone) during the school term.
• You may answer the above questions separately, or in a single essay.

News and Documentary

The News and Documentary Program in Journalism requires applicants to write a personal essay. The essay is an extremely important part of the application, so treat it accordingly. The essay should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. In addition, all applicants must submit at least three samples of their work. This can be print or video clips or scripts.

The goal of the essay is to give the Admissions Committee a sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career as a professional journalist/documentary filmmaker. It should address the following questions: What aspects of your experience are most relevant to your interest in journalism? Tell us about your background—your academic degree, intellectual interests, work experience, life experience, and other sources of inspiration—and explain how this background informs what you want to do as a journalist. What do you expect to get from the program?

Applicants should also describe their existing "body of work." This can be print, video, radio or documentary work you’ve already done. Video experience is not a prerequisite at all so if this is the case, your body of work might be volunteering somewhere, working with an NGO, teaching etc. We’d also like to know what publications you read and news or documentary programming you like, and why. Which journalists do you admire, and which have influenced you?

Please also address what motivates you to pursue the documentary long form in particular. In your third semester, you will be creating a capstone piece of journalism--a half-hour documentary. What might this project be about and how would you approach it? Although experience in documentary is not required, your ideas are.

Podcasting and Audio Reportage

Your personal essay is an opportunity for you to reveal more about who you are and for you to connect your goals for attending this program with your background and qualifications. The Admissions Committee will be looking for your voice in your writing style, as well as paying close attention to the evidence you provide in the case you are making for why you should be selected. While many students aim for 1,000-1500 words in length, writing for audio requires efficiency and clarity, therefore shorter essays may also be effective. In addition, applicants are asked to submit 3 work samples, which can be links to audio or multimedia work. Work samples do not need to be published work, but we suggest choosing work which demonstrates your journalism, narrative storytelling or audio production skills. 

In your essay, please address the following questions:

• Why are you applying to this program and what do you hope to gain from your graduate studies?
• Why audio? What is it about this medium and what in your background or experience has motivated you to pursue this field of study? What is your experience with audio production? What experience do you have in journalism?
• Audio Journalism is a medium that values voice. Whose voices have you been inspired by and whose voices do you imagine we would hear in your work?
• Tell us about your interests and background. What life experiences, intellectual pursuits, educational or creative pursuits or other sources of inspiration inform your desire to create audio journalism?    

Please append to your essay a statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, regardless of any request for financial assistance.

All Other Programs

American journalism | magazine and digital storytelling | reporting new york | reporting the nation | business and economic reporting | science, health and environmental reporting .

The goal of the essay is to give the Admissions Committee a concrete sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career as a professional journalist, writing and reporting for print, online or broadcast media. It should address the following questions: What do you expect to get from the program and the specific concentration to which you are applying? What aspects of your experience are most relevant to your interest in journalism? Tell us about your background--your academic degree, intellectual interests, work experience, life experience, and other sources of inspiration--and explain how this background informs what you want to do as a journalist.

Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Journalism — Why I Want to Be a Journalist

Why I Want to Be a Journalist

• Categories: Community Job Journalism

About this sample

Words: 613 |

Published: Jun 20, 2019

Words: 613 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Castells, M. (2009). Communication power. Oxford University Press.
• Chomsky, N., & Herman, E. S. (2010). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Vintage.
• Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2014). The elements of journalism: What newspeople should know and the public should expect. Three Rivers Press.
• McChesney, R. W. (2013). Digital disconnect: How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy. The New Press.
• Merritt, D. (2012). Public journalism and public life: Why telling the news is not enough. Routledge.
• Schudson, M. (2013). The sociology of news. WW Norton & Company.
• Sigal, L. V. (2014). Reporters and officials: The organization and politics of newsmaking. Transaction Publishers.
• Soloski, J. (2020, August 21). Media Bias: Definition, Types, Examples, and Solutions. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/media-bias.asp
• Stonbely, S. (2015). Journalism and truth: Strange bedfellows. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 30(2), 87-98.
• Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of reality. Free Press.

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Journalism Essay Examples

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By Joseph Kahn

Executive editor of The New York Times

When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, it ignited not only one of the worst conflicts in recent Middle East history, but also an ideological firestorm around the world. Some viewed the war through the prism of the Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took an estimated 240 hostages. On the other side, Israel’s retaliatory bombing and occupation of Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, galvanized a global movement against the actions of the Jewish state.

The intensity of the conflict and the emotions it set off has made this an especially challenging war to cover. Our commitment is to provide probing, independent journalism about the biggest stories, however strong the partisan feelings about them may be. This has been the most divisive story I’ve experienced in my more than three decades in journalism.

So it was especially gratifying that our team of reporters, photographers and video journalists on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their coverage of the war. We had earlier won similar honors from the George Polk Awards and the Overseas Press Club, which are among the most prestigious prizes in journalism.

Our team is living through this conflict as well as covering it. Some of those reporting on it are Muslim, others Jewish. Some speak Arabic, others Hebrew. Some know people killed or captured on Oct. 7. Others were born and raised in Gaza, with relatives killed and scattered by the bombardment. We worked together to use our best visual storytelling tools to capture the horrors Hamas inflicted on Israel and the devastating toll of Israel’s assault on Gaza . We also revealed astounding Israeli intelligence failures and deadly miscalculations that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to happen.

This is what we really mean when we talk about independent journalism: Coverage that commands attention, whatever your background, experience or perspective.

Prize-winning work

I wanted to use today’s Morning newsletter to highlight not only our coverage of this war, but also some other recent Times journalism that has received recognition. The Pulitzer juries awarded The Times with two other prizes, for investigative reporting and feature writing. We had six finalists as well, showcasing the breadth and depth of the journalism we bring to you every day.

No series we published last year had more impact than Hannah Dreier’s “Alone and Exploited .” Hannah won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for her unflinching look into how child migrants are being exploited for their labor in all 50 states, often working illegally for big name brands. She spent two years reporting the series and worked with a team to assemble a definitive database of child labor injuries and deaths that we made easily accessible to the public.

Our third winner was a story that appeared in our Sunday Magazine called “The Mother Who Changed.” The writer, Katie Engelhart, tells the story of Diane Norelius, a woman with dementia whose daughters worried the man she fell in love with was exploiting her disease and her money. The piece, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, explores how we respect the desires of people when they experience cognitive decline. Katie navigates the many perspectives with empathy and nuance and skillfully guides readers through the ethical and medical complications.

Our six Pulitzer finalists ranged from the revelatory work on the mysterious symptoms experienced by U.S. soldiers sustained from firing their own weapons to the stories of migrants who journey through the dangerous Darién Gap . Photos of youth in Africa and inside Vladimir Putin’s Russia were finalists in feature photography. An intriguing story on the popularity of the game Dungeons & Dragons among inmates on death row and a deep look at decades of wrongdoing by a Mississippi sheriff’s department were also cited.

And in audio, we are thrilled that a series from Serial Productions, “The Retrievals,” won a Peabody Award. “The Retrievals” told the story of the Yale Fertility Center nurse who replaced painkilling solution for saline, and the women who had their procedures without this medication.

If you haven’t already, I urge you to take time to experience this journalism. I am deeply proud of this prizewinning work, and of the journalism we produce every day.

I also want to say thank you. We are able to do this work because of our subscribers. These prizes are yours to celebrate, too.

THE LATEST NEWS

Israel-hamas war.

About 300,000 people have fled Rafah, in southern Gaza, over the past week, the U.N. said. International officials have expressed alarm, saying there is nowhere safe for Gazans to go.

The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of Jabaliya , in northern Gaza, as it increased its attacks there. The military said that Hamas was trying to reassemble in the area.

For Israeli and Western officials, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, has emerged as an adversary and a deft political operator in cease-fire negotiations .

Republicans accused President Biden of criticizing Israel more harshly than Hamas, Politico noted. Senator Jim Risch of Idaho said Biden was “ attempting to placate voters on the far left at the expense of a close ally.”

More International News

Elon Musk has fostered relationships with right-wing heads of state — including Javier Milei of Argentina — to push his own politics and expand his business empire .

Flash floods in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people in one province and destroyed thousands of homes, U.N. officials said.

Switzerland won Eurovision , its first victory since Celine Dion represented the country in 1988.

Donald Trump used an accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks from his Chicago tower and may owe more than $100 million, according to an I.R.S. inquiry uncovered by The Times and ProPublica.

Senator Robert Menendez will go on trial in Manhattan tomorrow. He is charged with taking part in an elaborate bribery scheme. Here is what to know .

Other Big Stories

Over the weekend, residents in several European countries and parts of the U.S. reported unusual sightings of the northern lights. See photos .

Ahead of the Paris Olympics, concerns are growing that the World Anti-Doping Agency is failing at its mission to keep sports free of illegal drugs.

THE SUNDAY DEBATE

Does the U.S. decision to pause some weapons shipments betray Israel?

Yes. The U.S. claims “ironclad” support of Israel, but it halted certain weapons shipments to the country over concerns about an invasion of Rafah. “Denying it U.S. arms is an invitation to its enemies to take advantage, in hostage talks and on the battlefield,” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes .

No. The pause won’t affect the billions of dollars Congress has allocated to military aid for Israel, making it “the equivalent of giving somebody hundreds of dollars on a daily basis and then making a show of withholding 5 cents,” Al Jazeera’s Belén Fernández writes .

FROM OPINION

“ Our closeness was measured in tosses ”: Learning how to play catch with her son taught Jessica Shattuck how to let him go as he got older.

Here are columns by Ross Douthat on the morality of the war in Gaza and Zeynep Tufekci on protest crackdowns .

MOTHER’S DAY

For Mother’s Day, Catherine Pearson collected stories from Times readers about the mother figures in their lives — grandmothers and aunts, teachers and neighbors, and, of course, moms.

Genevieve Geer wrote about Mrs. Dunn, her friend’s mother, who “taught me that when you can’t get in through the front door, there is always a side door, or a window, to slip into the places you wanted to go.”

Judith Shapiro wrote about Ruth, her childhood nanny, who “let me stay up late on Sunday nights, curled up next to her in an overstuffed chair, watching our favorite television shows.”

Marjorie George wrote about Miss Jordan, her fifth-grade teacher, who “was a powerful example of what a Black woman could be.”

You can read many more stories in Catherine’s article, “An Ode to Those Who Mother Us.”

MORNING READS

A farewell: By the end of this year, only two Chuck E. Cheese locations will have the chain’s hallmark animatronic band .

Vows: The Broadway actress Lindsay Mendez got married on her day off . Jonathan Groff officiated, and Daniel Radcliffe was the ring bearer.

Lives Lived: Mary Wells Lawrence was the first woman to own and run a major national advertising agency. Her company, Wells Rich Greene, was best known for the “I ♥ NY” campaign. She died at 95 .

THE INTERVIEW

By Lulu Garcia-Navarro

This week’s subject for The Interview is the author, comedian and influential radio host Charlamagne Tha God. We talked about what he makes of polls showing the Democrats losing Black voter support, his personal politics and why he’s not endorsing anyone in the presidential election.

A lot has been made of polls showing Black support for the Democrats cratering. I’m wondering what you’re thinking as more and more of these polls keep showing the same thing.

I think you might see a slight uptick in Black people voting for Trump this year, but I think it’s overstated. I think the biggest thing that people are gonna have to fight against this year is the couch. And the couch is voter apathy. This is probably the most — and what I’m about to say is going to sound so cliché — this is probably the most consequential election of my lifetime. I’m not gonna say of all time. But it’s hard to get people to believe that, because we say that about every presidential election, because every Republican candidate has been demonized. So now that you really do have the wolf out there, you look like the party who cried wolf because you put everything on the same scale.

The thing that I’m hearing you say is that you believe that Trump is the wolf at the door, that democracy is under threat. And I’ve also heard you say, “I will not endorse President Biden and Kamala Harris.”

’Cause I just feel like I’ve been burned with that before. You put your name on the line, you endorse somebody, you tell your audience, This is who you should go out there and vote for, and your audience goes and does it. And then when they don’t see these things that they thought were going to get pushed through, they don’t understand civics. All they know is Charlamagne told me to vote for this person because this was gonna happen, and this didn’t happen.

Read more of the interview here .

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

Click here to read this week’s magazine.

‘Photographic justice’: A new book from Corky Lee captures celebration and struggle over decades of Asian American life .

Our editors’ picks: “Reboot,” a satire of modern media and pop culture about a former child star, and five other books .

Times best sellers: Erik Larson’s “The Demon of Unrest” depicts the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War. It is a No. 1 debut on the hardcover nonfiction list this week.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Make your own hot honey .

Try these mascaras .

THE WEEK AHEAD

What to watch for.

Today is Mother’s Day.

Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia hold presidential primaries on Tuesday.

The man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, in their home is expected to be sentenced on Friday.

In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter , Mia Leimkuhler sings the praises of tofu cream — a pourable sauce made from blended tofu, miso and garlic. Use it to make creamy vegan tofu noodles, a dish that takes just 20 minutes and will win over everyone, vegan or not.

NOW TIME TO PLAY

Here is today’s Spelling Bee . Yesterday’s pangram was adjacency .

Can you put eight historical events — including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the rule of Catherine the Great and the Rubik’s Cube — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz .

And here are today’s Mini Crossword , Wordle , Sudoku , Connections and Strands .

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox . Reach our team at [email protected] .

Joseph Kahn is the executive editor of The New York Times. He oversees all aspects of The Times’s global newsroom and news report. More about Joseph Kahn

Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
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Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Two UI professors address uncertainty, ethical and moral questions looming for journalism

Professors see ethical and moral questions and a whole lot of uncertainty lying ahead in the field of journalism.

The University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication surpassed the century mark earlier this spring, marking its 100th birthday with a celebration of the past, present and future .

The school inducted three alumni to its Hall of Fame, adding to an accredited list of journalism icons. At a celebratory dinner, speakers included current young student journalists with already prestigious resumés and tenured professionals with lengthy experience in some of the country's biggest markets.

More: The University of Iowa's journalism school is turning 100 this year. How it celebrated:

In the midst of the celebration, the Press-Citizen spoke to two seasoned professional journalists turned professors about the future of journalism as it adapts to fast-evolving technologies including artificial intelligence, and how they are adjusting their teaching to that fast-morphing landscape.

Deep fakes, disinformation, lying: Ethical dilemmas afoot

Meenakshi Gigi Durham spent years as a journalist and editor before coming to the University of Iowa. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida and teaches courses on magazine writing, media ethics, gender and mass media and more.

Over her two decades in Iowa City, Durham has published four books and numerous scholarly articles exploring the moral and ethical guidelines and boundaries of journalism.

More: Iowa Supreme Court rules for University of Iowa, reverses $12.8 million payment to contractor

One of her books explored rape culture and the media, another the sexualization of young girls in media. Her most recent article explored the impact of photojournalism on the "napalm girl," a Vietnamese child seen fleeing, severely burned by napalm bombing, in a Pulitzer-winning 1972 photograph.

Durham has been tuned in to media ethics for decades. New technology is bringing even more ethical concerns to the forefront of media we consume each day, she said.

Ethical guidelines have "always been critical," she said.

"But they've changed in ways that we're only sort of starting to understand," she said. "How do we cope with these deep fakes? How do we cope with disinformation? How do we have prominent people who lie? Not that lying's new, but how do we deal with that?"

More: Longtime Czech heirloom, current Pagliai's Pizza home on doorstep of historic preservation

On the educational side, the emergence of AI and the explosion of new technologies over the past 15 years has forced the school of journalism to be "running as fast as we can to stay in the same place," Durham said. But to her, that's a good thing.

It's resulted in new faces in the program, people whom Durham describes as "digital natives," keeping a keen eye on the ever-evolving media landscape. In her view, they provide resources for students that outpace professional newsroom training on specific niches.

"I just feel like we're flourishing right now," she said, citing a deeper focus on community connection with the school's recent purchase of two eastern Iowa newspapers, fresh leadership and evolving curriculum to keep students as connected as possible to the changing media landscape.

'I'd have trouble predicting five years from now,' says retiring prof

Don McLeese unexpectedly found his way into teaching about two decades ago. The long-time journalist had spent decades racking up bylines across the country writing about music. Originally a record store owner, McLeese said that when he started, the journalism business was "a license to print money."

In his 20 years of teaching, McLeese said, the "hunger and need" for journalism has only continued to grow while the strong business model on which organizations had been built has collapsed.

That, coupled with some of the same fears shared by Durham, has fed into his uncertainty moving forward.

"I'd have trouble predicting five years from now," McLeese said.

More: Civil rights groups sue to block Iowa's new 'illegal reentry' immigration law

Despite that uncertainty, McLeese said he believes the J-school has remained anchored to the same general principles he taught before iPhones and learned before personal computers: reporting, storytelling and personability.

"We're not just a trade school," McLeese said. "We're not simply preparing people for jobs. Because whatever technology we have will likely be outdated by the time they're five years into their profession anyway. We have to train them to be able to recognize what the common elements are across the board."

McLeese is retiring from teaching at the end of the academic year but keeping his pen in hand wherever he sees fit to tell a story. He echoed Durham's belief that the university's School of Journalism and Mass Communication "is as strong or stronger than at any point in the 20 years I've been here."

That's down to keen instructors keeping focused on the key, static tenets of journalism education and the revolving door of new technology.

"We are capable of doing better journalism now than ever before with the resources we have at our fingertips," McLeese said. "...(And) we are vital in training not only the journalists of tomorrow but also the citizens of tomorrow."

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at [email protected]  or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Two UI professors address uncertainty, ethical and moral questions looming for journalism

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

Jonathan Lambert

If you're like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while since you've spent much time writing by hand.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes. Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency benefits that have undoubtedly boosted our productivity — imagine having to write all your emails longhand.

To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that's uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

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In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.

"There's actually some very important things going on during the embodied experience of writing by hand," says Ramesh Balasubramaniam , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced. "It has important cognitive benefits."

While those benefits have long been recognized by some (for instance, many authors, including Jennifer Egan and Neil Gaiman , draft their stories by hand to stoke creativity), scientists have only recently started investigating why writing by hand has these effects.

A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page.

Your brain on handwriting

Both handwriting and typing involve moving our hands and fingers to create words on a page. But handwriting, it turns out, requires a lot more fine-tuned coordination between the motor and visual systems. This seems to more deeply engage the brain in ways that support learning.

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"Handwriting is probably among the most complex motor skills that the brain is capable of," says Marieke Longcamp , a cognitive neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université.

Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is a complicated task, as it requires your brain to continuously monitor the pressure that each finger exerts on the pen. Then, your motor system has to delicately modify that pressure to re-create each letter of the words in your head on the page.

"Your fingers have to each do something different to produce a recognizable letter," says Sophia Vinci-Booher , an educational neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. Adding to the complexity, your visual system must continuously process that letter as it's formed. With each stroke, your brain compares the unfolding script with mental models of the letters and words, making adjustments to fingers in real time to create the letters' shapes, says Vinci-Booher.

That's not true for typing.

To type "tap" your fingers don't have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple and uniform movements. In comparison, it takes a lot more brainpower, as well as cross-talk between brain areas, to write than type.

Recent brain imaging studies bolster this idea. A study published in January found that when students write by hand, brain areas involved in motor and visual information processing " sync up " with areas crucial to memory formation, firing at frequencies associated with learning.

"We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all," says Audrey van der Meer , a psychologist and study co-author at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She suggests that writing by hand is a neurobiologically richer process and that this richness may confer some cognitive benefits.

Other experts agree. "There seems to be something fundamental about engaging your body to produce these shapes," says Robert Wiley , a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "It lets you make associations between your body and what you're seeing and hearing," he says, which might give the mind more footholds for accessing a given concept or idea.

Those extra footholds are especially important for learning in kids, but they may give adults a leg up too. Wiley and others worry that ditching handwriting for typing could have serious consequences for how we all learn and think.

What might be lost as handwriting wanes

The clearest consequence of screens and keyboards replacing pen and paper might be on kids' ability to learn the building blocks of literacy — letters.

"Letter recognition in early childhood is actually one of the best predictors of later reading and math attainment," says Vinci-Booher. Her work suggests the process of learning to write letters by hand is crucial for learning to read them.

"When kids write letters, they're just messy," she says. As kids practice writing "A," each iteration is different, and that variability helps solidify their conceptual understanding of the letter.

Research suggests kids learn to recognize letters better when seeing variable handwritten examples, compared with uniform typed examples.

This helps develop areas of the brain used during reading in older children and adults, Vinci-Booher found.

"This could be one of the ways that early experiences actually translate to long-term life outcomes," she says. "These visually demanding, fine motor actions bake in neural communication patterns that are really important for learning later on."

Ditching handwriting instruction could mean that those skills don't get developed as well, which could impair kids' ability to learn down the road.

"If young children are not receiving any handwriting training, which is very good brain stimulation, then their brains simply won't reach their full potential," says van der Meer. "It's scary to think of the potential consequences."

Many states are trying to avoid these risks by mandating cursive instruction. This year, California started requiring elementary school students to learn cursive , and similar bills are moving through state legislatures in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. (So far, evidence suggests that it's the writing by hand that matters, not whether it's print or cursive.)

Slowing down and processing information

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it's possible to type what you're hearing verbatim. But often, "you're not actually processing that information — you're just typing in the blind," says van der Meer. "If you take notes by hand, you can't write everything down," she says.

The relative slowness of the medium forces you to process the information, writing key words or phrases and using drawing or arrows to work through ideas, she says. "You make the information your own," she says, which helps it stick in the brain.

Such connections and integration are still possible when typing, but they need to be made more intentionally. And sometimes, efficiency wins out. "When you're writing a long essay, it's obviously much more practical to use a keyboard," says van der Meer.

Still, given our long history of using our hands to mark meaning in the world, some scientists worry about the more diffuse consequences of offloading our thinking to computers.

"We're foisting a lot of our knowledge, extending our cognition, to other devices, so it's only natural that we've started using these other agents to do our writing for us," says Balasubramaniam.

It's possible that this might free up our minds to do other kinds of hard thinking, he says. Or we might be sacrificing a fundamental process that's crucial for the kinds of immersive cognitive experiences that enable us to learn and think at our full potential.

Balasubramaniam stresses, however, that we don't have to ditch digital tools to harness the power of handwriting. So far, research suggests that scribbling with a stylus on a screen activates the same brain pathways as etching ink on paper. It's the movement that counts, he says, not its final form.

Jonathan Lambert is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who covers science, health and policy.

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NYT Modern Love essayist navigates her grief with support from Walpole writing group

Writing can be a lonely activity, and you could say the same thing about processing grief. But Tina Hedin of Keene found community in a local writing group. It’s there that she started working on an essay about her grief after her daughter’s death. That essay recently appeared in the New York Times’ Modern Love section.

NHPR's Morning Edition host Rick Ganley spoke with Hedin about how writing can connect people who are grieving.

Your essay's called "We Didn't Know It Was the Last Time." Can you tell us about the essay for listeners who have not read that yet?

I think of it as an essay where the past and the present are happening at the same time. In my own experience of grief, that's a state that I find myself in a lot – where I'm in the present, but memories of the past are triggered by some little event and come rushing back.

And that's what happened the day that I'm describing in the story. I was at the gym. I saw a young woman there who reminded me of my daughter. It was Christmas season. I saw a picture on my phone that day taken of my daughter, and it took me back so vividly to the last days that we were together with her, and I describe that in my story.

And the experience of writing about that made me reflect on a more universal experience. Often we don't get a chance to know when something is the last time, when it's the last time we're with our loved one. Or we do something that we think is ordinary, and then in retrospect, it's incredibly precious and special because it will never happen again.

Writing isn't your job professionally, but you belong to a Walpole writing group. How did that help you navigate your grief after your daughter Kiki died?

I didn't expect to share the things that I was writing initially, but I did have a place to share them with my group. And as the months went by and I did get feedback from others, I realized that sharing my writing with other people who have experienced grief could give others what I got from reading.

Initially, after Kiki died, I was just desperate to find writing by others who had gone through the loss of a child, who were experiencing that kind of grief, and I was in hopes of feeling a connection, feeling not alone in this terrible experience.

What's been the response from readers to your essay? The New York Times obviously has a huge reach.

It's been pretty mind blowing for me. I woke up at 3 a.m. in the morning that it came out, too excited to sleep. And I went online, and I saw that I already had emails from Switzerland, and Dubai and the Netherlands – people around the world that had read it. At this point, I'm still trying to work my way through them.

Many of them are from parents who have lost a child. Many of them are from people experiencing grief and loss. Our grief is universal. Each loss is unique and precious to that person. And I really do feel honored that so many people have taken the time to reach out, especially considering that that was my hope in writing in the first place – was to connect with other people.

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