Critical Preface

            Before I enrolled in Writing for the Mass Media, my experience and knowledge with writing news articles was limited to the guesswork, luck, and patient copyeditor, Fran, which carried me through my internship. I enjoyed the opportunity to actually learn the fundamentals to this kind of writing; any sort of practice writing succinct, concise statements rather than lengthy academic prose is certainly worthwhile practice for me. As a senior and an aspiring journalist, I needed preparation for the real world of media writing, and I think that the class did. At the very least, I have learned that advertising and Public Relations is not the field that I should delve into…ever.

            Each of the assignments involved types of writing that I had not previously encountered. The Public Relations pieces certainly pushed all my comfort levels. I have never written press releases, but I think that I developed the three topics well and followed the general guidelines found in our class text. My goal was to make them as interesting as I could without over-doing the releases; I know how dull it is to read a dry press release. As for the print advertisement, I did my best but I know that it is not worth actual use. Advertisements are a particularly hard concept for me to grasp, and so I am not proud of the work, but I hope it meets the goals of the assignment. My creativity comes through writing, not visuals.

            The group PR work was a fun and challenging experience. I am naturally a person prefers solo work before group projects, but the experience proved that group collaboration creates fantastic pieces of work. The editorial, brochure, and broadcast probably would not have been as well done as they are if our group had not done them together. We blasted through the goals of the assignment and produced pieces worthy of any portfolio.

 

            I do not think that I have written a feature story before the media class. It was certainly difficult for me to decide upon a topic, and even more difficult for me to narrow down exactly how to approach it once I decided. The kind of news that is reported and the kind of news that should be reported is a topic that I have thought about for a very long time, and I was glad to have the chance to write my opinions. I think that I did fairly well on this assignment; it was closer to the kind of writing I am used to and that I like, so it was just easier overall.

            The projects taught me much about what I should expect – or what I may be subjected to – should I break into the journalism world. I am glad to have experience constructing so many different kinds of pieces, and I think that I met the requirements well. My portfolio reflects my interests as well as pieces that push the boundaries of my previous experience, and is a worthy compilation.