Sunday, May 30, 2010

A Master of Journalism

May marked the end of my graduate studies at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. I am now officially a "master" of the craft.

I'm glad I decided to go to journalism school -- it helped me move definitively into journalism, and my Portfolio project led to the creation of the Not-So Private Parts. The only downside is that I now have student loan debt for the first time in my life.

Though finished with NYU, I'm already heading back to school: Loyola Law School, to be exact.

(Dramatic pause)

Not for my JD. I'm just attending for four days. Loyola has a Journalist Law School program, for reporters who cover the legal world but lack law degrees. I'm looking forward to a very abbreviated version of law school, a week in Los Angeles, and to not having to take any actual law school exams.

Other big happenings in June: I'm emceeing the Electronic Privacy Information Center's "Champion of Freedoms Award Dinner." EPIC is a non-profit devoted to bringing public attention to emerging privacy and civil liberties issues (image at right courtesy of their site). Given my contrarian views on privacy, this will be an interesting night. Anybody know any good privacy jokes?

Following the dinner, I'll be attending a Privacy Law Scholars Conference at GWU Law School.

So lots of law and lots of privacy next month. A big lesson I learned in journalism school: The mastery of subject areas never ends. Get as far into your niche as you can.