How I get my news as a J-School student

News sources are endless and overwhelming nowadays. As a journalism student, even I have to take breaks from consuming media day in and day out. However, staying up-to-date on local and national news has always been important to me. 

I can proudly admit that I have had a finger on the pulse since I was young. My mom’s favorite story to tell her coworkers and friends about me is that I was the only 9-year-old she knew who sat through an entire presidential debate (Trump and Hillary). 

Regardless of whether I understood what I was watching, even at nine, I made sure I was up to date on what was going on around my country and world. 

Now, as a 20-year-old journalism student in my second year at college, my understanding of the world around me has significantly broadened. That didn’t happen by accident. 

Throughout the years, I’ve slowly honed in on my media literacy skills by making mistake after mistake and believing just about everything that I saw on my social media feeds until enough felt like enough. 

Around junior year of high school, I decided to make a switch. I began finding all my news through reputable news sources and only reputable news sources. Every time I saw something on my feed that I wasn’t sure about, I looked it up and confirmed with… You guessed it: a reputable news source. 

I will be the first to admit that the term “reputable news source” seems ambiguous at best in the political climate America is currently in. The best advice I’ve been given about finding news sources that I trust is, “find reporting that is accurate in fact and context.” 

If you find that to be easier said than done, you aren’t alone. Four years after deciding to get my news from reliable places, I still have trouble knowing when to trust reports to this day. Media literacy isn’t just something we learn as we grow up, like reading or basic math. It’s something that we have to take time to focus on and build upon.

The second best piece of advice that I’ve been told by almost every single one of my J-School professors and the adults that have been in my life is: read more than you think you should. 

This relates to media literacy more than people think it does. Once you learn to read between the lines and dig deeper into a piece of text, you understand tone and meaning way better than someone who doesn’t read frequently. This skill helps you parse out the nonsense when reading news sources.

Since the New Year (it’s Feb. 5 as I am writing this), I have read six books. In my day-to-day life, I am consistently occupied from 9 to 5 every single day. Despite the hectic and busy life that I lead, I make time to read because I know how beneficial it is not only for my future profession as a reporter but also because it makes me a stronger consumer of media as well. 

Another extremely important factor that will help you understand sources and feel more confident knowing what you are looking at in different sources is finding where you stand politically. This might seem redundant, but it’s important to understand your specific political opinions when figuring out where you want to get your news from. 

While I will always suggest you get your news from nonpartisan sources, sometimes starting off small by finding a news source that aligns with your values is the best way to dip your feet in and start getting comfortable looking at the news each day. 

Once these three things become a part of your daily life, things will start falling into place. Articles won’t seem as daunting, and you will be able to find and stick with sources that you trust.

Regardless, the world is always changing, and so is the media. Sometimes you will get irritated or fed up or downright exhausted. That’s OK. 

Taking breaks is just as important as staying in the loop.

• college
• Media Literacy
• opinion
• skills
• student