Young journalists advised to find mentors

By Tarana Burke
Diversity Institute Fellow

08.10.04

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Hone your craft. Give extra effort. Find a mentor.

Panelists at a workshop on surviving the first five years on the job emphasized these points while speaking to a group of freshman journalists at UNITY 2004.

The panel was designed to answer questions about navigating the years following college and getting a first journalism job. It included Yuan-Kwan Chan, online producer for The New York Times; Miguel Almaguar, reporter for KCRA-TV in California; and Rose Tibayan, author of The Resume Tapebook: The Job-Hunting Handbook for Television Journalists.

“Be the best at what you do,” Tibayan, a former TV reporter in Philadelphia, advised the audience of minority journalists. “Ethnicity gets you in the door, but it is not what keeps you there.”

Many of the workshop participants were in their early to mid-20s. They asked questions about how to be aggressive in the newsroom and how to decide when to move to the next job.

Glenn Proctor, associate editor of The Star-Ledger in Newark, moderated the panel and reinforced the session’s central message: Find a mentor.

Panelist shared stories of their mentor relationships and echoed Proctor’s advice.

Related

UNITY 2004 coverage by Diversity Institute reporters
Summer fellows file dispatches from Washington, D.C., where more than 7,000 journalists of color are attending convention workshops, speeches, receptions.  08.05.04