Reminiscences ...(1)

One of the recommended virtues both aforementioned books lists is mental discipline. You must keep an active mind in order to keep mentally healthy (If you have holed up somewhere safe, otherwise you have much larger worries to contend with). Understand Chaucer's mantra "Idle hands are the devil's tools". I will follow his example by reminiscing about last years "Introduction to Journalism" lectures.... such an endeavour may seem useless in current times, but remember, keeping busy is much better than having the time to reflect on current events.....

Week 1. (25/07/10)
This was the introductory lecture, where the agenda was set. I specifically liked the quote "Journalism is the first rough draft of history" by Phillip Graham of the Washington Post. However he never did say that. That quote was abbreviated from a longer speech where he stated "...So let us today drudge on about our inescapably impossible task of providing every week a first rough draft of history that will never really be completed about a world we can never really understand…" Apparently the phrase was coined in the Washington Post by Alan Barth 20 years earlier.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Graham#.22First_rough_draft_of_history.22)

"Citizen Journalists" were mentioned as a threat to the status quo of media due to technological advances in handheld devices. However i disagree, due to the fact that whilst pictures may be easily taken by amateurs,  lucid writing takes years to develop and is not something easily done on a mobile phone. So whilst visual media may have to contend with this phenomenon, i beleive the linguistic side of journalism will be something left to professionals.

Toad.