Journalism has served an enormous purpose in my life, and has influenced me to the point that it's a career path I want to pursue. I've always been interested in current events and issues, and as I've grown older, I've seen how essential to society information is. I think that if I ever were to have awareness of the news and issues withheld from me, I would feel much like John McCain, who said that as a POW he missed the news, and awareness of world events, more than anything else.
One of the specific influences I can see that journalism has had in my life is the work of Jon Krakauer. He took many of the stories he wrote for Outside magazine and turned them into longer works, and two of his books had profound influences on me. The books Into the Wild and Where
Men Win Glory, both stories highlighting extraordinary men and their actions, embody a type of journalism I think is very valuable. Human interest stories can have much more of an impact on the individual than broader stories on world issues, and while they are obviously less important to society, they are an important part of journalism.
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