This year’s theme for Student Press Freedom Day is “Journalism Against the Odds.” It goes without saying that freedom of the press is quite essential, yet, many may not consider just how vital a role student journalism plays in its community.
In any society, power is everything. Success and prosperity are all based on the power an individual has in society.
If there is one thing I have learned in my years of both college and living, it is that information is power. This may sound dramatic, but it is the truth.
It is through the information that both individuals and collectives succeed. History has shown that tyranny and oppression take place when one group withholds information from the other or utilizes information to control and manipulate the masses.
Of course, being informed starts in the community and especially in the community’s educational institutions.
In what has been quite an eventful past few years, topics of race, politics, power and corruption have dominated conversations both in college and beyond. Such events only further make me see what it means, and what it takes, to be a journalist.
As journalists, it is our job to make sense of these controversial matters by informing our community of what is driving the conversation. There is also the responsibility of providing information that can start more productive conversations about issues in the community.
Being a journalist is not easy.
Anyone in a writing occupation has to deal with feeling their voice is not heard and does not matter. And when you are a Black journalist, there is all the more concern that your voice does not matter to the masses. On top of that, being a college student does not help either as we college students constantly face the likelihood that being college students does not mean much to those both in our university and the real world. The struggle of whether your voice matters is truly constant.
As you can imagine then, being a Black college journalist places you behind all these barriers and questions of both doubt and meaning as you wonder if the world and those around you really want to hear the words you transfer from your mind to your fingertips and then to the world to read.
But alas, being part of an award-winning college newspaper for nearly four years has made me see just how much of an impact a student newspaper can make.
In these four years, I have witnessed the change The Signal has made on campus and just how much it is vital that journalism be allowed to flourish in our society. And that is where things can truly take a turn.
When those around you know how much power you have as a journalist, people do try to stop you from attaining the information you need. The fight to find your voice is often the prelude to the fight to be heard.
I said earlier how in our world, power is based around the information one has. Money may make the world go round, but it is information that is truly the greatest currency. Everyone deserves the wealth of being informed about the affairs, events and forces surrounding them, whether it be on a college campus, the state, the country or the world.
Being a journalist means using your skills and powers to release and provide information to the masses, giving the public the knowledge and thus the power to make the informed choices all people deserve to be able to make. Journalism against the odds means fighting for the people so that they may have the power to fight against all odds the world throws at them.
Of course, informing the world starts with informing one’s community, which starts with informing those in our educational institutions. Every university exists to create the future leaders of the world, and it is imperative these new generations of leaders be informed.
So with that being said, as a journalist I say one must never stop fighting.
That means fighting to report, fighting to discover, and yes, fighting to inform. In a world where information is everything, reporting and informing my community about issues I feel are worth knowing about is one of the greatest contributions I can make in this age. Knowing I can do that as a college student shows one can make a difference no matter their age or diploma status.
Your voice matters, because someone will hear it.
Your word matters, because someone will read it.
Student journalism matters, because the world needs it.
Never forget this. Keep moving forward. Use your voice as a student journalist and let no one stop you. Always know your power, and keep creating student journalism against all odds.
