You Shouldn’t Fear News and Magazine Writing

By Mallory Wippel
Agricultural Communication
Senior

Ever since my first semester at Ohio State I have heard bad reviews of News Writing (COMM 2221) and Magazine Writing (COMM 4202). Some students said that the professors were tough and expected a lot while others declared that they would never need these classes for what they wanted to do after graduation. So you could imagine my anxiety the day before the fall semester of 2016 when I was taking both classes. They were the only prerequisites standing between enrolling in the AgriNaturalist course (AGRCOMM 5135) and me.

Whether students are going to work in the agriculture industry or any other field; magazines are a key source in communicating with customers. Magazine writing teaches the ends and outs of writing, designing and working on a team to publish a magazine to the iBooks store.

News writing was by far more challenging. About every two weeks there was a news story due. Each student found a story and was responsible for interviewing 2-3 sources and gathering media to add support. It wasn’t always easy finding a something to write about that was new to Ohio State but once the semester went on, I found that news is all over, you just have to be looking for it.

It’s not secret that news and magazine writing are a few of the more challenging courses for the agricultural communication major, however, that they aren’t worth it. In the second week of the semester I was interviewing Dr. Bruce McPheron, Provost of Ohio State, about the summer tuition drop.  These courses present an opportunity to talk to professors, students and leadership at the university that you wouldn’t otherwise do. Every student may not be a writer in his or her future career and that’s okay. However, the confidence to talk to people and ability to know how to go after the information you need is universal tool that every professional will need.

 

One of Wippel's story was selected to be published in the The Lantern.

One of Wippel’s stories from the news writing class was selected to be published in the The Lantern.

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