Debra
McCaughey Visits TSU Communications Department
On Last Wednesday, April
24th, Ms. Debra McCaughey visited Texas Southern University’s
Journalism Class as a guest, sharing her years of experience and her immense
knowledge in the field. She has been on
television as an anchor also a field reporter, so this visit was very
motivating and inspiring. She spoke very
well about the career, telling us what qualities or characteristics we should
have as journalist; who we should talk to, and how to talk to them and when to
be pushy and when not be.
One of the most important
subjects she touched on is knowing how to write properly. “If you can not write then you will not
succeed” said Ms. McCaughey. This basically
means that if you can not write a story, a blog, a journal, or article, you
should not expect to be a journalist.
Journalism is all about getting your point across and stating the facts
to get your point off.
Being your own boss or owing a business of
your own should be one of the routes you take to journalism. Working in TV can
be one of the best gigs out there because you can call your own shots, learn
professional editorial skills and manage creative people. You can connect with the community better
to, because everybody watches TV. If
you can create something to put on TV to capture the minds of the community or
a broader audience, you would have a better chance in reaching people or
changing the way people view society. Working with public relations at the Houston
Community College (HCC), she learned marketing and advertisement play such a
big role in any field or study. The way
you market and advertise will literally make or break a business. You put out what you want people to see. The
way you introduce your idea or point is what grabs the audience and then keep
the audience, and this is the whole meaning behind advertising. Debra McCaughey went into the field hungry,
ready, and matured Regarding urgency and passion, McCaughey stated “pushy, you must be pushy, know when to
be pushy, when not be, and who to be pushy too”. She meant you have to be driven in this line
of work. You must go out and get a story
or do an interview etc. and if you shy and timid how do you expect to get the
job done? You need to go out and create
a story out of nowhere and report it or shoot it, all these helpful points to
make anyone a good journalist.
Ms. McCaughey also talked
about Internships. We all know what
these are. Internships are made for you
to learn something about the business you want to invest your career in. For example, an internship at New York Times,
going in and learning how the ropes work, seeing how the senior editor approves
work, just a firsthand looks on how the New York times became the New York
times gave Ms. McCaughey her needed experience as a journalist. “I know most
people are reluctant to join internships because of the whole no pay asset, but
that goes back to being pushy and determined. If this is something you want,
then you would need to look past the “no pay” part and grind your way to the
top,” Ms. McCaughey said. She also
reminded us that there are 100s of other students’ same credentials who also want
that spot. They are determined and they
are pushy which is why those people might become better. You too can be better.
-Barek McCann
