Digging Deeper:Trading Politics for the Pursuit of Proof
I’ve spent the last month questioning my career…..
Now before you all panic allow me to explain. See, ever since I was 15 I have been so set on being a political journalist. I wanted to talk about what was happening in our government, why it matters and why you should be listening. Look, I think that is all still very true. But there’s something else I’ve found a passion for.
When I did my internship, I went in thinking I didn’t enjoy conducting interviews, and just wanted to write and that would be my 9-5. Newsflash! When you’re starting out, you don’t really get a choice in the matter. You guessed it, I had to interview people. Now when I say it was fairly straightforward, it was asking people about a marathon they’d ran, or talking to musicians about their upcoming gigs, and I weirdly enjoyed it? I think I just thought I wasn’t quick enough at thinking of questions or it came across as very unnatural, but to be honest the more I did it, the more I was enjoying it.
There was one interview that stood out in my mind, and it made me think if I was a professional and well established journalist, I could have gotten away with dealing with it a lot more sassily than I did. It was an interview with an MLA (who I will not name) who I can only describe as a mess. She dodged almost every question, and met me with some of the least thought out answers I had ever come across. Now me being a bit nervous as she herself is well established in her career (not very liked I’ll tell you that) I felt too scared to confront her with the one liners I was hoping to give her (or you know that really annoying thing where you’re in an argument and about an hour after it, you think “oh my god I should’ve said that”), but it really made me think. Now granted this isn’t a great example, given that was political based. But I think I would love to be an investigative journalist.
For those who don’t know, investigative journalists are the equivalent to your two year old who’s just learnt the word “why?” They love finding an answer. For example, Louis Theroux is probably one of the most famous investigative journalists at the minute. If you didn’t watch Inside The Manosphere, he goes on a deep dive about “the red pill” and the rise in “Andrew Tate content". Now what I love about Louis Theroux, is that his position on these issues is quite clear, you know he didn’t agree with these content creators, but he picked at their brains, and pretended to go along with it to get an answer and get a definitive WHY? If you didn’t watch it I HIGHLY recommend this and all his other documentaries.
With that being said, I find myself watching a lot of the Jubilee Surrounded Videos. Today I watched the Mehdi Hassan VS. 20 Conservatives, and he stands firm on his views, and doesn’t pretend to understand what the others are saying. I think this type of journalism is also effective but can sometimes be quite unproductive because nobody is really listening to each other. I suppose Mehdi Hassan is just trying to prove his point and move on. I think political commentators can be just as investigative than the journalists.
Bottom line is, yes I still want to be a journalist, I just think my career has a slightly different outline than it did before. I think I just love picking at people’s brains to understand their belief rather than blindly agree or disagree, then just write about what they said. I also think being an investigative journalist would get you into some super interesting positions, for example, Louis Theroux interviewing people waiting to face the death penalty.
Let me know what you think, and I'll see you in the next one.
Eva :)