You're studying media, you should know this

As a media student there are some things that should be considered general knowledge to you. This list is just a few things that I personally find important based on my personal experience. Over the last three years, I have heard the phrase “why don’t you know this, you’re studying media, you should know this” multiple times in different situations. At one point, I felt like I’m expected to know everything, and to be honest in a sense media students kind of do have to have some level of knowledge on almost every situation.

Holidays

International holidays are definitely a must know for media students; as well as well-known holidays of various countries that are widely celebrated or acknowledged by the rest of the world. With that aside, it is crucial for you to know the national holidays of the country you are residing in. Not just the national holidays, all of them, including the individual regional holidays.

 Events

Again, it is important to be aware of events happening locally as well as the main events that are happening internationally. I’m going to stress on the local events, because as an aspiring media student, it is important to know about these things before they happen. People tend to get their information through the media, so you could either be on the side that gives out the information, or the side that receives it.

Even if you re-report something, you’re still on the receiving end… Be sure to stay up to date with current events.

People

In the media, anyone who’s anyone for whatever absurd reason and time duration is someone you should know. Whether it is the presidents of different countries, or YouTube sensations, these people should be on your radar.

Anyone who has a story that can play on the emotions of the world should be someone you know of.

A majority of what makes the media are the people. Many people empathize with news stories that hold a “personal” element.

Places

This is something that kind of goes without saying. But you’d be surprised at the important places that people know nothing about (in all seriousness, there are some places that have this crazy historical value to them, and I have never heard of them before).

History

History could be linked with the previous 4 points, but it is something that should be known. Media students should have a good study of history. You should know people of great impact and inspiration – writers, activists, poets, actors, … etc. As I said before you should know holidays, along with the reason that made it one to begin with.

Social Media Platforms

Knowing your way around social media platforms should be like a first language to you. It is especially important if you plan on having a career that is media based. Social Media is a growing force! It has been growing and rapidly changing, and it is crucial to be able to adapt to the changes while making use of them.

For example, twitter has been a growing tool for journalists. There are different counts of people learning about events through twitter before any major news channels. Journalists especially need to make use of twitter when relaying information and covering events especially live coverage. It is also a tool to link people to other websites and articles.

Applications

This goes with the last point. But it is one thing to know your way around a social media platform, it is another thing to be able to utilize those platforms from any where on any type of device using all kinds of different applications.

Let’s say you’re out, and you have to cover an event, you’ve got nothing but your phone, it is important to know how to deal with these situations.

You never really know what could come your way when you’re out and about, so as someone in media, you should be able to manage under any circumstances. Using applications should be an extension of our arm.

Intercultural Communication Studies

I personally believe this is an important one. Considering the fact that the global community has grown wonders over the year, it is important to know the little twists between cultures and countries. Advertisements, for example, have gone through ridiculous embarrassing moments while translating their international advertisements. But intercultural communication isn’t limited to advertisement, but to everything related to interaction between people.

You could write a post, and the way that you write it could be offensive to one culture as opposed to another. It’s all about the word choice, and the technicalities or the way you do things. It is also something to consider when translating your work. Make sure you’re translating it in a way that is able to send the same message as opposed to the same group of words.

Despite the fact that yes, there is an insane global community, the boundaries of individual cultural backgrounds are still present.