There is no such thing as a ‘student journalist’.
Students of journalism no longer practise their work in the seclusion of a classroom. They do not write solely for lecturers, or even for each other.
Quoted from this blog.
It goes on saying that this means that even though they are still students, they are also publishers. Be it through a blog or a Twitter or Facebook account. Because of that, students should be more wary of how they present themselves.
Often officials will claim they didn’t know what they were saying was going to be published because they “were only dealing with students”. Or they might even refrain from talking to students at all, because of the fact that they are simply students.
The blog advises to refrain from using the term student journalists. The emphasis shouldn’t be on student, but on journalist. This doesn’t mean that all students who are involved in journalism should get a professional license, but there needs to be a shift in mentality nonetheless.
With this also come responsabilities. Students need to pay more attention to the content of their posts. They need to check their sources, be aware of liabel and slander, and the possible consequenses of their posts.
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