National Association of Black Journalists visits Boston
Carole Simpson, senior leader-in-residence of the Journalism Department who is best known for working as an anchor and reporter for ABC News, brought several students to the annual National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair in Boston July 30–August 3.
Emerson Journalism Department students at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference in Boston this summer. From left, Alecea Rush, MA ’15, Laura Onyeneho, MA ’15, Cindy Severino, MA ’15, faculty member Carole Simpson, Evelyn Martinez, MA ’15, Brianna Jennings ’15, and Tashanea Whitlow ’15. (Courtesy Photo)
“They were able to meet and hear some of the most accomplished black journalists in the nation,” Simpson said, “from Dean Baquet, the new executive editor of the New York Times to veteran CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker, who is joining 60 Minutes…Our students learned about journalism’s best practices as told by black media practitioners who are the best in the business.”
Patricia Nicolas, MA ’15, at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference in Boston this summer. (Courtesy Photo)
The students, who included Alecea Rush, MA ’15, Laura Oneyenho, MA ’15, Cindy Severino, MA ’15, Evelyn Martinez, MA ’15, Brianna Jennings ’15, Patricia Nicolas, MA ’15, Marcelle Hutchins, MA ’15, and Tashanea Whitlow ’15, attended some of the 50 workshops that incorporated all platforms of media coverage, and had their résumé reels critiqued by recruiters from almost all of the nation’s major news organizations at the career fair portion of the event.
“They saw their competition for jobs in the future and several remarked that they were going to ‘step up their game,’” Simpson said.
Cindy Severino, MA ’15, at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference in Boston this summer. (Courtesy Photo)
However, she said the convention was “not just work and no play.” Students attended a night at Fenway Park, a festival of new films about the subject of race, and “receptions galore,” Simpson said.
“I watched our students grow with self confidence and develop the demeanor of professionals,” she said. “College campuses can be a bubble, but our students got a taste of the real world outside, in which they will have to thrive and survive.”
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