Reaching Everyone (Blog #2 Kalem Wedemyer)

When I speak to my friends, I speak differently than I would to my parents or professors. When I write an academic research paper, I write differently than I do when I write a note to a friend. I think the greatest challenge in writing journalistically is realizing that you can no longer write for a specific audience; the audience is the public. You have to write/speak to people of varying ages, creeds, history, and geographies. I wouldn't speak to my parents the way I speak to my friends, because that would show a lack of respect for my parents. If I spoke to my friends the way I speak to my parents, they probably wouldn't be interested in what I had to say. In the same way, writing journalistically requires that I reach out to anyone reading my work. I have to make my material matter to them, without it disrespecting someone else at the same time. When most of us have had to put on varying faces for our varying audiences, journalism requires that we throw that habit away and reach everyone we can with respect for whomever they are.