My name is Jorge Montiel and I have wanted to become a journalist from a young age.
Initially, when I went to Dodger games I was fascinated by the players but I was more fascinated by the guys in the booth calling the game.
I became a big Vin Scully fan and have wanted to become a sports broadcaster ever since.
The love for broadcast journalism grew even further thanks to my childhood watching the WWE. I have always enjoyed listening to commentators like Jim Ross, Michael Cole and Corey Graves. I like the art of getting the fans to get excited about events, people, and moments.
As the years have gone on, I have opened myself up to other avenues of journalism.
On one of my favorite comedy shows, “Everybody Loves Raymond” the main character Raymond Barone is a newspaper columnist for New York Newsday in which he writes about New York teams the Knicks, Giants and Yankees etc.
In an episode of the show, he got into it with a family friend and the family friend was criticizing Ray Barone’s writing and Barone told him that he gets paid to write his opinions, and that in writing he found that if you pull your punches you are the one that is going to get hit.
That quote sticks with me to this day because it is true. If you don’t dig deep and be unapologetically honest you get criticized for it
I was always inspired by the stories he told and the vibe he had while he was in the newsroom.
So journalism has always been a big part of my life in its own unique ways.
By the time I was heading into college I made a commitment to myself that I was going to become a journalist.
So, I did my research to find the best journalism schools and Cronkite stood out the most to me.
Cronkite was the most hands-on and the most dedicated to producing true journalist based on my research.
It takes amazing professors and mentors to produce good journalists. Professor Rhoden seems to be an example of this.
Professor Rhoden is passionate about what he does and it shows in his writing. I look forward to working with him this semester.
It was not just Professor Rhoden that drew me to this class, it was the opportunity to commentate on certain topics.
It has always been important to me for individuals to express their opinions in an informed and educated manner.
I salivate at the opportunity to do that. The reason for this is, in day to day conversations that I have with people I discover each growing day that I am not the only one who shares my thoughts and opinions.
If I could be a voice for people or bring up issues that people want talked about I am happy and honored to do that.
A lot of times a lot of people are not represented for a multitude of reasons whether it is because of color, creed, religion, or just lack of diversity in the newsroom.
I feel as if in today’s day in age there are a lot of punches being pulled and the ones that aren’t pulled are thrown with the illest of intentions and motivations.
It seems to me like the younger generations pull their punches because they are afraid to be cancelled or hurt someone’s feelings. So they possibly sacrifice the truth because they feel an obligation to protect these individuals because they identify with something that they resonate with.
That has no place in journalism. There is also no place in journalism for pushing agendas either.
This is something that the media at large does. Whether it is party affiliation or they are close to a subject they are unable to stay unbiased in their reporting.
That’s wrong and I will speak out against it any chance I get.
Now, it is different for columnists, they get to share their opinions and thoughts with the world, which I enjoy reading about because it can open up a different perspective.
What I will do, and what I ask everyone else to do is when they do right their opinions and thoughts that they think it through. Stick to your guns and what you feel inside but be well informed on the topic in which you speak about.
This is exactly what I hope to get out of this class. Learn how to express my opinion but not let my personal beliefs completely sway my approach to writing about a subject.
In all honesty, I think that this is the biggest threat to the journalism industry. Now that essentially anyone can put their opinion on social media it is our responsibility as journalists to differentiate ourselves from these folks.
It is a difficult task but one I intend to tackle by the way I express my opinions and the research I do so that my opinion piece or hard news piece is an informed one.
It is essential to me to tell stories that aren’t being told but should be told. It is just as important to me to give my opinions and hopefully make the public think about things differently and that is what I intend to do in my time as a journalist.
