{"id":1614,"date":"2015-09-29T14:28:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T18:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2015-09-29T17:14:57","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T21:14:57","slug":"journalism-masterclass-what-i-wish-i-knew-then","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/2015\/09\/29\/journalism-masterclass-what-i-wish-i-knew-then\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism Masterclass: “What I Wish I Knew Then”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By: Alaina Laszewski, Graduate Student<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be curious, read, pick up the phone, and always ask the next question; while their titles are long, their pieces of advice came forth succinctly, with honesty and humor. Audrey Cooper, Editor In Chief, San Francisco Chronicle; Walter Middlebrook, Assistant Managing Editor, The Detroit News; and Tom Cibrowski, Senior Vice President of Programs, News Gathering and Special EventsABC News were the alumni panelists at COM\u2019s Journalism Masterclass on September 24, 2015 entitled, \u201cWhat I Wish I Knew Then.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panelists began the hour by offering an overview of their careers, and then launched into a series of questions varying from \u201cwhat is an opportunity you wish you\u2019d seized while in college,\u201d to \u201cwhat is the biggest mistake you see young or aspiring journalists make,\u201d on to \u201chow do you avoid or overcome burnout?\u201d While Cooper, Cibrowski, and Middlebrook live and work in completely different regions of the country, their thoughts touched upon common themes: be patient, work hard, find mentors and stay curious.<\/p>\n

In a time when most college students are encouraged to stretch themselves any number of ways, joining numerous clubs and extra-curricular activities, Cooper explained the importance of getting to know people. \u201cOne of my bigger regrets from my time here was kind of flitting all over to a lot of different things…I would\u2019ve availed myself more and been a little bit more assertive about getting to know people that might\u2019ve been able to help me.\u201d
\nWhen asked whether a journalism degree is necessary, Middlebrook spoke about the importance of a journalistic skill set, regardless of degrees held.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some people who can\u2019t write, but they can ask questions\u2026Some of you are afraid to talk to people and you shouldn\u2019t be in the business. Some of you are afraid to get in front of a microphone and you don\u2019t learn how to enunciate\u2026But there [are] various places in our different shops where you fit in, if this is what you want to be. But you have to practice that skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cibrowski cautioned the audience to be careful with social media: \u201cWe\u2019re all big on social media\u2026but we\u2019ve had to fire people who Tweet inappropriate things or take a stance. It\u2019s really unfortunate\u2026we can\u2019t show bias. You have to be aware of where you are, who you work for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper, Cibrowski, and Middlebrook stayed after the masterclass\u2019 allotted hour, meeting with students to discussing the industry, as well as to offer more personal advice to those who came forward with questions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Alaina Laszewski, Graduate Student Be curious, read, pick up the phone, and always ask the next question; while their titles are long, their pieces of advice came forth succinctly, with honesty and humor. Audrey Cooper, Editor In Chief, San Francisco Chronicle; Walter Middlebrook, Assistant Managing Editor, The Detroit News; and Tom Cibrowski, Senior Vice … Continue reading Journalism Masterclass: “What I Wish I Knew Then”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5847,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5847"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1618,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}