my catch with journalism.

When you think of journalism what comes to mind? Deadlines? Pressure? English? For me, what come to mind with journalism are 3 words; white, bourgeois and another word I forgot. Point being, journalism despite the meritocratic industry it already is, is not helped by the lack of ethnic minorities in the industry. Someone famous once said “journalism is the first rough draft of history”. That being said, how does one get to writing that ‘first rough draft of history’?

You could always go to a top university like Oxford or Cambridge, and take it from there. Or you could always sleep with the editor of a nice publication ; but that option wasn’t there for (no sex before marriage and all). So I took the next step. I joined the Catch 22 academy. The interview was a grilling enough, but I had no idea the next 5 weeks would lead me to really question, whether or not journalism is for me.

Before I even got the place, I naturally assumed that everyone on the course were either college dropouts, or people studying bogus media courses. What I didn’t realize was the serious competition, and caliber of journalism I was up against. From Cambridge graduates to people at the top of their game, Catch 22 was at first a daunting experience, but an experience that taught me the barebones of journalism.

If my time at Catch has taught me anything, its how to deal with rejection. With ideas being dismantled, one after another every week, its pushed many of us, including myself to have a serious re-think about what kind of features to come up with. Catch has blessed me in some ways, as it has made me aim to be a more versatile journalist. One thing that will never change however, is the jaws theme tune playing in my head every time Tokes is present at a features meeting. But with time I think that will change.

Till then, I thought I would end this blog post with a quote, which was quoted by one of our Catch 22 tutors Simmy Richman, associate editor for the "New Review" published every Sunday in The Independent on why he teaches at Catch 22;

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”