One problem that I have had with journalistic writing is letting my sources tell the story without me interjecting my own two cents. My first few years of college while knocking out core curriculum, I always enjoyed English class because I could throw in so much of myself. With journalism, I feel it is difficult to largely take myself out of the writing. Even more challenging is that fact that I really show my writing skill when I am writing to defend an argument or position, not merely organizing a bunch of quotes.
A good example of this was last semester when I was writing a story on a guy I worked with who, several years ago, was forced to cut off his own leg while hiking and stuck under a boulder. I took down eleven pages of notes. My story really consisted of transcribing what he had said and laying it all out. I only directed the story and set the tone. I got an "A" on the story, but it felt really weird having almost no presence in my own writing. I wrote this way because I feel that this was what the professor wanted, and it was mostly to appease him and get the good grade.
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