[MUSIC] If I had fireworks and confetti, and a cake, and something to toast you with, I would do that this very moment, because you, you learner, have reached the end of the Michigan State University School of Journalism specialization for Coursera. You have achieved the finish line. You get the trophy, because you have completed the capstone. This has been a journey. For some of you, you've been with us for months and months, and we know that discussing journalism and learning about it, may have been something totally out of your comfort zone. But that's why we were here. We were honored and we were thrilled to be here, to be present with you in learning about journalism. What we do is dynamic. What we do is changing. The technology is changing. The way the world consumes information from mobile to digital formats, to traditional newspapers, it changes every single day. And that's both the exciting part and the scary part, because we are always changing. We always need to evolve and that's the message I wanted to leave you with. Journalism is for some people an ancient practice. People were writing news in their own way on walls inside of caves way back when. Then, we morphed into Gutenberg, inventing movable type, to then, the telegraph, to then newspapers, to then movies, and television, and the Internet, and so on. The evolution never stops which is great, because human curiosity and the need to know what's going on in our world never stops. We could never have imagined 100 years ago that we would be able to make a phone call to people on the International Space Station, and have video and see clearly what they're doing. So, imagine what's going to happen 10 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now. No matter what happens in the world, from tragedy to joy, to excitement to sorrow, journalists are always there. We are the witnesses. We are the people that can help define history, in that we can reveal history. But we can also do smaller things, we could tell the stories in our community. We can share moments of daily life that maybe are important, but maybe do not receive as much acclaim as some of the famous things in our world. The diversity in journalism is immense. The range of jobs are immense. And hopefully, by taking this specialization, you have seen and maybe thought about some areas where you could fit in. At the very least, I want you to be an informed news consumer. I want you to be able to look at your local newspaper or radio station, television, whatever is in your life, from social media too, and think, I wonder how the reporter put that together? Now, you can answer, I think I know how the reporter put that together, and understand the journalism. You could appreciate excellent journalism and you can also be a critic of poor journalism. On the flipside, maybe you have discovered this is where you want to be for your professional life, and if you have, welcome. That's what a lot of us here at Michigan State have done with our careers for a long time. We love being journalists. We believe in this craft. And we believe in the importance of this craft, because what we do can change lives. So, look at yourself in a different light. Do you want to be a writer? Do you want to be a reporter? Do you want to be in television? Do you want to do radio? Do you want to do podcasting? Do you want to do graphic arts? There are so many places where you can fit in journalism, but at the very least, you can be smarter in how you consume this. So, we're hopeful that this journey that you've taken with us has helped you understand some of the other things that are going on in this world, and at the very least, that you can appreciate what journalists do, and at the very best, we hope you come and join us. So, I want to thank very much everyone out there. You learners, you've been fantastic. We've enjoyed being on this journey with you. We'd like to thank Coursera for their help along the way. I'd also like to thank the other members of our Michigan State School Journalism team, Dr Lucinda Davenport, who is the Director of the School of Journalism, Professors Eric Freedman, Joe Grimm, Jeremy Steele, Dave Paulsen, and I'm Joanne Gerser, and I want to thank you too. And I also want to thank Brock and Emily and our fantastic production team. It's taken a village to put this together. And the great part is we have all been so excited to see your enthusiasm along the way. So keep it going, we thank you very much, and thank you for being part of our journey. [MUSIC]
