The Story of Journalism part 1: It All Started With My Grandpa

What major did I first choose until I found out it was not what I wanted? Business, and more significantly, marketing. I didn’t know why I decided on that major in the first place, even though I was not too fond of it. The only reason that makes sense is that I want to be wealthy, and business is the only way. All right then, let’s do it! I learned every business class and tried my best not to fail any of them. And I did it. But I could not apply what I learned in real life, which was sad. I didn’t even know what I could do with my business major.

Yes, I chose marketing to pursue but marketing for what? I had no idea. I always believed things unexpectedly come to us. One day, I still remember exactly what my mom said. “You always help your friends and others with essays and research papers. I can see you have the potential to do something related to writing.” At that time, the only thing that popped up in my head. Mom, why do you have to wait until now to tell me that? At that moment, she told me I was in the spring semester of my second college year. I had been thinking about what she had said to me. I have been helping my friends and others with essays and research papers. I usually allow them to draft an outline, and to do that, I have to understand what they are studying. I spend time reading there and other materials I find online. I love reading books because I believe reading is a way to improve my writing by learning vocabulary and gathering more ways to write, and absorbing more knowledge. I also like to chat with people around me. Anyone who has stories to say often comes to me and talks.

With all of those, I connected all the dots, and finally, I found the only major that fits all of those in journalism. That’s right! Journalism is my path to follow, and until now, I haven’t thought it is a wrong decision. I understood that I had been halfway to pursuing my business major. I almost had an Associate’s Degree with three marketing certifications from my college. I couldn’t quit and change major. I had no other choice than finish it. I had to put a period mark on my business major. Soon after I pursued my degree, I used it to work for a local business. It helps me to have a stable job, after all. But when I transferred to a four-year university, I began a new chapter in my life. Journalism.

It was not like what I thought at first. It is not only about writing. It is also about the AP style, which took me a semester to figure out how to write it correctly, and many other things. But the SPJ’s Code of Ethics is the thing that stays in my head forever because every true journalist must follow what it says. “Seek Truth and Report It” is the first thing I must understand and stick inside my head. There is only one truth. So it is a journalist’s job to investigate and tell the reader what happened when there is much-biased information.

But I will talk about my journey in journalism in my next post. I want to go back a little bit in time. It wasn’t until my mom said that I had potential in writing. It wasn’t until I realized I love writing. It went back to my grandpa, a newspaper lover.

He is not a journalist, but he loves reading newspapers. Each day, there will print newspapers are delivered to his house. I remember three newspapers were delivered to his home many years ago when print edition was still popular. Hai Phong, Laws and Life, and The Youth. And now, three print newspapers come daily. If you want to subscribe to a newspaper in Vietnam, you will go to the post office. For some reason, the post office always includes newspaper services besides mail. My grandpa only needs to go there at the end of the month to pay for the subscription. He doesn’t know how to use the internet, so reading print newspapers and watching the news on TV are his ways to understand what is happening around him.

The image of him reading newspapers on the porch of his house will always be something I remember forever. When he reads, I can see he focuses on the stories. He doesn’t read it through quickly. He reads each line slowly. Even if necessary, he will reread it to absorb the information. Sometimes, I heard him read out loud. Then, during lunch and dinner, he often brought up what he read in the newspapers on the table and said to our families so that we could discuss it. Every time he talked, it was so persuasive. I couldn’t get my ears off his stories. He didn’t only read at home. Sometimes, while waiting for me after school, he brought a newspaper with him and read in the nearest park or a shop on the pavement.

Back in my days in Vietnam, in middle school, my grandpa asked me what kind of newspaper I wanted to read. My grandpa didn’t know the difference between newspapers and magazines. So he only called them newspapers. At that time, I often read two student magazines. Little Angels and Student’s Flower. Little Angels were the most popular magazine at that time because when I came to school, my classmates always had the latest issue on their hands and discussed their idols were featured inside. Mostly, they were K-Pop idols. There were many good stories about K-pop, food and culture, movies, and horoscopes; the most exciting thing was a celebrity poster. Student’s Flower is a magazine about student’s life, stories on each campus, and teenagers. My favorite part of Student’s Flower was the personal stories of teenagers being sent to the publishers, and below every level, there was advice from experts. Those magazines are still available, but their popularity is not like it used to be anymore. The development of TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook has helped generations like me easier to access. But at that time, having those two magazines in my hands after my grandpa subscribed for me was like a treasure to me because it was my childhood.

My grandpa loves drinking coffee and tea daily. I think I have those habits from him because if I don’t consume caffeine in one day, I cannot stay focused for the rest of the day. Next to a cup of tea or coffee, there is a print newspaper, a perfect combination for the morning. I subscribe to the Orange County Register because I live in Orange County. I read the OCR mainly because I want to find news I can write about for my school newspaper, where I am currently working. Each day, they deliver an issue to my house. They throw on my driveway. I pick it up and bring it to the toilet. It sounds funny, but it’s pretty standard. I sit inside and read a few pages. Then, after finishing my daily hygiene, I bring the newspaper to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of fresh morning coffee that I brewed, take a sip, and read the rest of the newspaper. After that, I move to read news from the Washington Post, which I have been subscribing to for a year. With the Post, I usually pay close attention to politics and opinion because, in my perspective, the Post is the only newspaper that reports politics in the most trusted way and deeply analyzes a current event. Reading the Post helped me to improve my reporting and writing skills. How they write helps me understand the news faster and more effectively.

My grandpa was the first person who inspired me to be in journalism. That’s why I am introducing to you this week a series of columns about journalism, where I share what journalism means to me and its stories. I hope you’ll enjoy this column.