Catie Sergis | jrnl4970

Why Community Journalism Matters

By Catie Sergis

This semester has been filled with the knowledge and understanding of what it means to be in the field of community journalism. My experience at the Shelby County Reporter brought about a newfound respect for journalists in a small town. It is clear that young journalists thrive in an environment such as the Shelby County Reporter’s newsroom because they are able to learn every aspect of the job.

When I first thought about community newspapers across the country, I thought there would be just a few writers on staff for a small paper that goes to print weekly.

However, that is not the feeling you get when you walk into the Shelby County Reporter newsroom. Rows of desks are filled with journalists hard at work. Stacks of six different newspapers and four kinds of magazines are piled all around.

Journalists are even expected to write up to 15 stories a week. This fact alone showed me that journalists in this field should be given the respect they work so hard for. It was inspiring to see young journalists find news in unexpected places across the county.

However, it was even more admirable to see a woman such as Katie McDowell work her way up to become to the general manager of one of the bigger newspaper groups in Alabama. Her story goes to show that community journalism can teach us every aspect of the business as we move up in our careers.

Before visiting this newspaper, I thought journalists simply write a couple stories each week and their job was done. However, it is so much more. These writers find so many different types of stories each week, they photograph the important moments, and they even design the layout of entire newspapers.

It was interesting to see how many young people were involved in this newspaper group. I realized this is an amazing learning opportunity. Being a community journalist at the start of your career can surely bring you to even greater opportunities in the journalism field.