Cooperative Jouralism...who'd a thunk it?

It used to be, and I am not incredibly proud to admit this, I had a hard time working with other people. I mean I’d do it and I considered myself to be a team player and friendly and cooperative, but to be entirely frank I’d get a little irritated by the whole thing.

There was almost nothing more frustrating to me than to have someone sit there and try to change the article I had been working on – apart from editors who are people I quite appreciate to this day. But it would drive me crazy to have someone reword a sentence I was writing before it even was complete. It was not my thing.

Then some people introduced me to this little thing they like to call online journalism, and I’ve got to let you know I’ve never wanted more people to assist me in my entire life. I have since concluded that my past mindset might be as dated as the notion that print journalism is all there is. Suddenly I was calling up everyone I knew asking questions, getting feedback, and attempting to help others where I could…though those brief moments of glory were few and miles between.

You cannot be an expert on everything. Some people know web design, some people know video, others know audio and still others are strong in photography. Online journalism is a lot like online in general, in order for it to be effective a lot of minds have to come together. One story can have three, five, ten people working to produce it. It gets to the point where why on earth would you work alone? To do so would be sacrificing some integrity in the story.

Online journalism is a cooperative activity. And really isn’t that the best thing? More minds, more hands, more ideas the entire scenario just creates a melting pot of ideas and strategy. It goes past one person’s vision and expands to be more truthful, timely and accurate – it inevitably becomes better journalism. More people checking other people’s work, I mean it is truly a great set up.

And I realize other people might have arrived at this conclusion prior to me receiving the memo…but it really is a great discovery that I thought I’d share with those whose faxes are working somehow slower than mind.


MEMORANDUM
ATTN: All Journalists and Human Beings
SUBJECT: Working with other people actually pays off, especially in regards to journalism and even more especially in regards to Online Journalism.

Thank you and Best Regards,
Heather C.