In class this past week we had a guest speaker named Gareth Harding. He's a freelance journalists that believes "the best way of doing communications, is to approach it journalistically." One of the things that stuck with me, was his emphasis on creating and keeping contacts. Contacts will help you get the job, or obtain a story, or get information on news that you would not normally get. Contacts help you succeed in the media business and he said without contacts you will have a hard time getting work as a freelance reporter.(http://garethharding.com/about-me/)
He also said, "you've got to fail in order to succeed." It was his life experiences that affected his life the most, not his assignments. You have to go out and find stories and gain that experience for you to be able to succeed. He made the point that when you fail, and you will fail, you have to keep going. Journalists are people with views and opinions just like anybody else, except their voice is heard by a bigger audience. It is important to take the opinions and views of others about your writing and listen, because they will not always be the same ideas as yours.It is also important to be "media literate, so that you know the market." (http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/education/programs/digitalstudio/studio_programs/vidkids/medialit.html) It is the reporters job to make sure that they are up to date on all technology and news circulating through the world. One must know what the world is interested at the time to sell a story or captivate the audience. One must also take risks. Big risks come with great rewards and is important for all future reporters to realize.
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