Andie Diemer’s Weblog

by Andie Diemer

Aug. 20, 2008

Another semester is starting and another project has been assigned. But this time around I am compiling my work and making it available for the world to grasp in all one place: right here. At this site you will be able to gain access to my written pieces, view videos I have shot, edited and produced, click on links to the most influential sources in my life and much, much more.

Elon University junior Andie Diemer is using this site to launch her start as a mobile journalist.

I never really had a chance to work as a “professional,” or at least act like one, before the time of multi-platform journalism. I was introduced to journalism exactly four years ago this semester. At the time I rejected broadcast journalism, knowing that I ONLY wanted to be involved with the writing aspect. But it seemed like the more I refused to accept it the more it became a part of my life. When I arrived at Elon, there was FreshTV, Phoenix14 and other areas serving quality video right in my face, urging me to take part. I made sure to steer clear. But as I started taking my first class, Communications in a Global Society, it became very clear that this “convergence” was here to stay and that we were only beginning to taste it.

I think maybe it’s the fact that the future of journalism is so uncertain that I was turned off. I have to be able to do all these things? There was so much presented in front of me that I became overwhelmed. But I could no longer just stick to my writing guns; it became evident that if I want to be a successful journalist I have to not only be able to do everything, but I have to be a mojo as well. I have to be able to do it all on the run.

This presents an entirely new chapter of the media, journalism and how facts are presented to our world. But it’s so much more than all of that. I didn’t realize that with such an uncertain future, journalism has the potential to be crafted by my peers and myself.

So here I am. And here you are, watching and tracking my progress into a full-blown mobile journalist. Thanks for keeping my company along the ride.