Showing posts with label introduction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label introduction. Show all posts

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Journalism student to learn editing skills

My name is Jennifer Profitt and I'm a journalism/political science double major. I've been working for the University of Michigan-Flint's campus newspaper, The Michigan Times, for roughly one year. When I first started writing for the M-Times I wasn't interested in hard news stories or politics. I wanted to cover campus theater and music. Eventually, my ambitions changed and I began covering the Student Government Council. I've been on the SGC beat for one semester so far, and it's proved to be a good place to find stories, though they're not always earth-shattering.

My path to journalism wasn't what one might call traditional. I've always loved the English language. I wrote essays with ease and rarely made grammar mistakes. I also have a passion for theater and performing which, unfortunately, doesn't lead to much of a career. I combined my love of English and performing and voila! Before long, I changed my major to journalism and I'm now an aspiring television reporter. I've taken several journalism classes and worked for the M-Times but I haven't had a solid chance to try my hand at editing. It intrigues me, and the more I look into working at the M-Times as an editor, the more I like the idea. I can't imagine a class that could prepare me more for such an opportunity as this class.

I'm looking forward to learning the other side of working for a newspaper. It's one thing to write a piece but quite another to edit that same piece. I've had limited experience editing newspaper material or laying out newspaper designs, but I'd love to learn exactly how it's done. I'm not at all familiar with editing/design programs, so this should be an excellent opportunity to expand my knowledge.