Kate Sheppard

We all know that when we graduate, we will have a hard time getting into the industry, but it always comes in doses of reality of just how hard it could be. Hearing such experiences coming from an IC student is reassuring. It was interesting hearing about the struggles of a section of the industry that is reportedly growing, but still finding dead ends in terms of access and being deemed as actual news gathering organizations and publications, as also demonstrated by the previous issue with Lake Owego.

Hearing about how many publications have encountered hardships with access was almost shocking to me. Even publications like The Nation and NPR having some difficulties, although eventually succeeding, in terms of access issues seems extreme because of their well-established reputation and how long they have been prosperous. However, everything changes once it is discovered that it is a nonprofit organization. What makes this into such a big deal? With nonprofits there is much less room, if any, for issues with accountability and corruption, with this in mind, there is no higher corporate power to stop them from exposing other corruptions within the government both at state and federal level like there is with the mainstream (for profit) media. Could this be a possible reason?

It can be very intimidating, but at the same time fascinating learning about all of the different possibilities out there, it is just a matter of searching and finding one that is write for any given niche if so desired. Such as different publications to freelance with while working at another.