Last night I had the pleasure of hearing a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist by the name of Angelo Henderson. Courtesy of the National Association of Black Journalists' multimedia shortcourse at Florida A&M University, Henderson spoke to participants in the course as well as students and faculty.
Commanding the audience with his charisma, Henderson charged students with his ups and downs in the journalism industry. I learned much from his experiences. He mentioned being continually discouraged by comments by his editor where he was told he was not cut out for journalism. After giving his all to his work, he was lost as journalism was the only thing he knew.
I took from it that you must not let the opinions of others permanently affect your outlook on life and work. Even if someone offers constructive criticism, it is your job to apply it and work harder towards making changes that will help you in the long run. If someone offers a negative criticism of your work, and you let it consume you; nothing is achieved. "You can't let one person determine your future, " Henderson said.
Another lesson that Henderson offered is that perception is important. I found that to be an important life value. Regardless of what a person's intent is, what other's perceive that intent to be is more important. In relation to journalism and media ethics, if someone perceives a journalist to be plagiarizing work then they are permanently affected. Even if it was untrue they will always be associated with the thought that they were involved with plagiarism.
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