(Image courtesy of Dr. Jenna Vinson. ‘A promotional flyer created for the ‘Careers in Journalism’ luncheon hosted by Dr. Wafa Unus.’)
Marthy Martinez
Connector Contributor
In an event and luncheon featuring Dr. Wafa Unus, a Fitchburg State journalism professor and columnist featured in publications like the Lowell Sun, Unus talked about the role of journalism in social movements and the flexibility that journalism has when it comes to future career paths.
Last week, on Oct. 27, Dr. Wafa Unus, an expert in the field of journalism and communications, visited the UMass Lowell campus to engage in an event and luncheon with the UML community in an O’Leary Library classroom. Her visit was endorsed and recommended by two fellow UML faculty members, Dr. Jenna Vinson and Professor Katherine Flowers, who were inspired to have her come talk to the UML community after viewing her Lowell Sun pieces, notably her Behind the Bylines column.
The first-half of Dr. Unus’ visit came with a public talk, in which she engaged the audience in a conversation on the role of journalism in social movements and how it enacts social change. Throughout her talk, Unus made suggestions to the role of journalism within movements, specifically commenting on how journalism breaks down current events and systemic developments into a concise, shared basis of knowledge for society. She also brought up historical examples of how journalism can aid or change the conversation of certain social movements, including that of the African-American owned Freedom’s Journal during the Abolitionist movement and how reporters framed their stories and collected evidences for cases like the #MeToo scandal.
Concluding herher talk on the role of journalism in social movements, Unus then invited the community to come and “discuss” the interchangeability of careers in journalism in a public forum luncheon, equipped with free lunch for participants. The luncheon was met with more engagement from the audience, in which visitors posed questions on the impending dangers that come with having a successful career within journalism.
One of the dangers expressed frequently in not only the luncheon, but also in Unus’ initial talk, came with the ever-changing inclusion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism and print media.“Journalism doesn’t operate without a human component,” said Unus in an interview after the luncheon. She corroborated her statement by explaining that AI would only “destroy” careers within journalism if it were to take jobs away from prospective journalists, and that most of the work associated with artificial intelligence comes from the work of actual humans, strengthening the “human component” of accurate and reliable journalism.
A growing issue that was mentioned in her luncheon came with the combination of other careers into the world of journalism. However, Dr. Unus made sure to highlight how other careers, such as in the fields of sports, business, and science (in which she had an extensive background on science writing) can play an indicative role in journalism and writing.
“Even in the careers that you’re going into, the ability to communicate something clearly is really, really valuable.” said Unus. “You can say, ‘[T]his is this complex issue within my field and I can articulate it in a way where the masses can understand.’ [Y]ou know, it’s a good skill to have.”
Another grey area focused on in her luncheon with the UML community came with the spread and digitization of journalistic media, primarily with how social media plays a role in the overall communication of journalism. The main concerns revolving around the role of social media with journalism came with how journalists and reporters can manage their accounts with their private lives.
“Watch what you say or do on social media. Don’t post random stuff,” said Unus. “Don’t post stuff that’s going to get you in trouble or that’s [going to] reveal too much about you.” She backed up her claims with how journalists may want to express their “true” selves on social media platforms, but struggle with issues such as objectivity that can play a key role in maintaining responsibility for their social media presence.Although journalism is an ever-changing field that presents new guidelines to the role of investigation and communication when documenting current and past events, Dr. Wafa Unus reassures her audience that anyone, really, can step into the field of journalism.
