The Department of Journalism and Media Studies hosted a media day event on Thursday, April 4, at the Mississippi E-Center.
Media day provided students with the opportunity to cultivate relationships with other students in media production and multimedia journalism, as well as get the chance to talk to broadcasters and educators within the field.
The event began with a warm welcome from Elayne H. Anthony, chair of the department of journalism and media studies, followed by Mario Azevedo, the dean of the college of liberal arts
Next was the introduction of the first speaker, Emerson Coleman, the senior vice president of programming at Hearst Television Inc.
He also created and is the executive producer of the political talk show, “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien.”
Coleman took the time to explain his love for telling the stories that are oftentimes overlooked, and the power behind local stories.
“Giving local people the opportunity to be heard on a broader scale is important and is the exemplification of great storytelling,” stated Coleman.
He also believed that though politics and crime have taken over the media, when a local story is broadcasted it gives audiences a sense of humanity and a chance to relate.
Following Coleman, students got the opportunity to hear from news directors from different sources in a panel-like discussion.
Rick McLaughlin, current news director at WAPT-16, Mark Little, news director for WLBT-3, and Tai Takahashi, news director for WJTV-12 sat on the panel.
Each professional reflected on their experience in the broadcast indusyry and were open to all questions that students had about it.
Some of the most important things each individual discussed the importance of being credible, how social media has become a large influence in the media realm, and how crucial it is to properly represent the community through biased storytelling.
Although some may think that news stations are becoming outdated, they are still the most credible way for audiences to find out what is going on because they go out of their way to ensure the stories that they are presenting are accurate.
McLaughlin chimed in and saying, “Sometimes people may go out of their way to make broadcasting news look bad, what matters most is knowing that what was reported was done unbiasedly and correctly.”
Little explained that social media is like a blessing and a curse in some cases. Some people take stories, misinterpret them and run with it.
He continued, “Sometimes, it’s just impossible to control how audiences will take it. Each director also showed snippets of stories they’d covered as well as why they approached it from the angles that they did.”
Impact was a word that was used over and over. When choosing a story, they explained, you must question what importance it has.
Who it will impact or what kind of impact will it have on the people watching. The goal is never to be malicious, or target anyone.
News directors have to be mindful of how they present their stories and the people they are about.
Dwayne Jenkins, a senior at Jackson State majoring in journalism and media studies talked about what he took from the event.
“I feel as though the media day conference was very beneficial to all of us. In addition to learning some ins and outs of the business, we were able to network with these professionals that had a lot of experience in a field we are all aiming to become a part of,” said Jenkins.
He finished, “It allowed us to form connections we may not have had before, and I even got a chance to hold a conversation and exchange contact information with Mark Little who seemed excited to share what he knew and very resourceful.”
