My Life As A PR Student vs. Being a Journalism Student

           

            It is very interesting to see how the PR field along with the Journalism field coincides with one another so easily, yet there is somewhat of a rivalry between them. Taking both of these programs at Mohawk has taught me some interesting facts. Here are six refreshing facts that I have learned as being both a PR and Journalism Student.

1.  Relevance is a must for your audience

I remember the first time I had to pitch a story in front of the whole class in Journalism. There was a thought in my mind that the professor was going to love my idea because it was very out of the box. I was completely wrong! The reason is because the story itself was not relevant to the audience. Over the three years of taking this program, I have learned to think about my audience before pitching a story. Since attending the Public Relations Grad Certificate program at the college, I have learned that pitching ideas to an agency and a client needs to have relevance before the idea becomes a reality.

 

2. Get your creative juices flowing

This is one of the main reasons as to why I have taken both of these programs because you are able to invent ideas and see them grow before your eyes. The last year of Journalism is where I found a niche because I was writing stories that interested me. I enjoyed editing videos while creating tutorials because it was fun to educate my viewers while putting a lot of work, six hours of editing to be exact, into my creations. In PR, the program has numerous projects where me as student can express my creativity through strategic planning. There is so much room in creating ideas that are new in this field.

3. Need to have great story writing skills

With communication comes along excellent writing skills. Both the Journalism and PR programs teach and stress to students about the skill of writing, because we are literally communicators. With my journalism background as a student, I needed to write simple because of the audience that I was writing to. These both fields are all about being straight-to-the point when explaining or telling a story. As students, we need to simplify our words and make them clear to the audience.

4. There is a demand of a strong social media presence

I would have never signed up for twitter if I did not attend the Journalism program. In my opinion, I have never found twitter to really peak my interest because I thought as a user you could only post meaningless quotes. I have realized that as an effective communicator (both as a Journalist and PR Practitioner),  you need to have a strong social presence in order to have get noticed in the media.

5. The CP Style Book is like the bible in both fields

I use the term bible because this book is a resourceful tool to use in both these programs because both reporters and communicators need to communicate with one another.  It teaches writers and editors how to properly write an article, news release and other stories (because we are telling a story in each forms of writing) how to properly write out a number, describing a person who may be of high status or not, and speaking about a company.

6. Versatility is a must

In the three years of completing the Journalism program, I was taught three basic skills. The first and most important was on how to write in a straightforward and grammatically correct manner. The second was how to edit videos for my stories that I was creating while the third was me editing my stories through radio. These are beneficial tools to take into Public Relations because as a student I have learned a little bit about news releases that are conduct through video format. You need to keep an open mind when learning information in class or even the workplace because the possibilities of going places in life are endless!