To Click or Not to Click?

The National Association of Black Journalists held a basics boot camp with workshops and panel discussions from successful journalists and industry leaders to aspiring students from several HBCU's and the community. Dr. Hall and Mr. Chambers set up to have students from Mass Communication department to attend free of charge because of how important events like this can be when pursuing a degree in this field. I am always will be super grateful to be given the opportunity to attend an experience like this. The first workshop I sat in on was the "To Click or Not to Click?" The panel discussion was led by Cindy George (@cindylgeorge) and Eric Stirgus (@escoopstirgus). Just to give a brief insight on who they both are Cindy George is a journalist for Pulse magazine a health magazine based out of Houston, Texas. Eric Stirgus is a education reporter for the AJC based in Atlanta, Georgia.

The topic of the panel discussion was to tackle the issue of staying relevant in a viral click-bait society while covering the stories that matter. As the panel fielded questions from students I picked up on some major concepts in staying relevant and up-to-date in journalism even though I'm specializing in the PR industry. A few key takeaways for me was that content is key and providing a unique angle when telling your stories and to always post something that you want to read will set you apart from the pack when it comes to journalism. This blog is giving me an opportunity to not only control my own platform but to build a solid body of work and credibility in this industry that is evolving but becoming increasingly competitive. Another key point for me was to study journalism as much as possible and different writing styles to develop my own unique formula that feels authentic to me and to always write because that's the only way you'll get better at it.