One of the best pieces of advice I got from a professor in college was that if I wanted to be a journalist then I had to know what was going on in the world. She warned us that many news outlets would give a news quiz as part of the hiring process. This proved to be true when I was given one as part of an interview for an internship.

It is a fact that to be able to report on the news, to be able to determine what is relevant and important, you have to know what is going on in the world.

I originally began to inform myself because I felt that it was important as a journalist, but I soon came to realize how important it is as a citizen in general. I believe that it is my duty to inform myself about what is happening home and abroad, although I mostly focus on domestic issues. This enables me to widen my horizons, have educated conversations, form fact-based opinions and make decision in elections and beliefs based upon knowledge not guesses or feelings.

This would be impossible without the media, which has been under attack as of late. Yes, the industry has its warts and bad apples, but so does every industry. The freedom of the press and its existence is arguable the most important institution in America and enables our democratic system to function. Without the press we cannot be informed as citizens and then we can be fooled by alternative facts or other outright lies. For this country to function, for the government to be held accountable, the public must be informed and this requires the media.