In nearly four complete semesters at Marquette University my professors have lined up countless guest speakers. Most are interesting and several have career relevant advice. Only a few have combined both. Monday afternoon #loweclass was graced with the presence of four established journalists who could speak directly to our goals.
Professor Herbert Lowe recruited Justin George, Liz Navratil, Miranda Spivack and Dave Umhoefer to share with our class. All four explained a bit about their history as journalists, what they are up to now and told us about some plans they have going forward. Justin George works for The Baltimore Sun as a crime reporter. A story he worked on led to an opportunity to work on a podcast hosted and produced by Sarah Koenig who worked as a producer for This American Life. The podcast, Serial, debuted in October of 2014 and quickly became the most popular podcast on iTunes. Serial went viral and it got people talking, so much so that its reddit subpage has 44,317 people subscribed to discussion about the podcast. George hopes to use his experience working on the podcast to move his career forward. He thinks that he can use a podcasts as a part of his next project – one you may hear plenty about in the near future. Liz Navratil is also a crime reporter. She does her work for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Navratil broke a massive story that cost a mayor and a chief of police their jobs. To break such a massive story within four years of graduating college would be miraculous. Her insight was appreciated and her story was gripping. Miranda Spivack spent many years working as a reporter and editor for The Washington Post but now she does freelance writing focusing on legal issues and transparency in government. She spoke about how difficult it can be for journalists and citizens alike to obtain information from the government that should be accessible. Spivack had plenty to say about ideas she has in terms of exploring this issue. Dave Umhoefer has made a career out of covering one of the most interesting men in politics, Scott Walker. Umhoefer wrote a curious piece about Walker’s time as a Marquette student and the mystery that surrounds it for politifact.com that caught my attention. Umhoefer interested me because he is covering a public figure experiencing an unprecedented rise to fame. If you have any questions about Walker, “govwatcher” is your man. I can only hope I get the chance to meet more guest speakers of this quality in my time at Marquette. Until then all one can do is soak up the knowledge that has already been shared.
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AboutOn this page you can find blog posts about my adventures in journalism, ponderings about projects, experiences with storytelling tools and updates on what I'm working on. Archives
February 2017
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