IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU–IT’S ABOUT THE STORY
That, in short, is what I tell aspiring journalists.
To be a journalist is to see the world clearly and help other people see it clearly too. For a Christian, this means serving Christ and society in a very particular way.
That’s why it is an incredibly fulfilling vocation. It’s like a combination of storyteller, historian, philosopher, and theologian. A novelist makes up characters and events, but his real goal is to show readers something true about themselves and their culture. Historians help people see the present in light of the past. And to understand the ideas that have shaped our society, journalists also need to be grounded in philosophy and theology. I explored these ideas a bit more in a Touchstone essay.
At Patrick Henry College, where I teach, we show you what it means to be a storyteller, whether at mainstream or Christian publications.
Studying journalism might be a good fit even for students who can’t see themselves in a newsroom. The three most important skills of a journalist are the abilities to see the world clearly, to think clearly, and to write clearly. These are skills in high demand in many different fields; PHC journalism graduates work in communications, public relations, technical writing, education analysis, and national security, among others.
Below are a couple of syllabi from the main journalism courses I teach and a lecture about how to write basic news stories that you might find helpful.
Sillars_ JRN203 – Journalism I – FA2015
lessillars.com 