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KEITH REED SPOKE ON DIVERSITY IN THE NEWSROOM AT THE MICHAEL DAVIS LECTURE FEB. 20

ESPN editor spoke at annual lecture

 13 ARROW • week of Feb. 27 - March 5, 2013

DIVERSIFY

Editor speaks and visits classANDREA GILS COPY EDITOR

Students at Southeast Missouri State Uni-versity had the opportunity to hear from Keith Reed, one of the seven senior editors of ESPN The Magazine on Feb. 20.

More than 100 students attended Reed’s lecture where he talked about his career and how he got to the position he holds at ESPN, while also addressing diversity issues in the media world.

Reed had dinner with students from the National Association of Black Journalists, visited a few journalism classes and gave a lecture in honor of Michael Davis, a journa-lism student who died after a hazing inci-dent at Southeast in 1994.

During the class visits and lecture, Reed talked with students about how he got to work for “the largest and most successful media company on Earth.” Reed has worked for ESPN for 18 months. Before that, he wor-ked as a business reporter for the Baltimore Business Journal, the Boston Globe, the Cincinnati Enquirer and has had multiple internships during his college years at Cop-pin State University in Baltimore, Md.

The 36-year-old NABJ national treasurer said he never knew he would work in sports journalism since he had been working as a business journalist. He said being a business journalist provides the the best combination of his three main interests — journalism, business and politics — for his entire life.

During the dinner, Reed talked about the challenges in terms of competitiveness, diversity and preparation that students must face in the journalism industry of today.

Reed explained the importance of taking advantage of the resources Southeast provi-des students, like working for the Arrow, joi-ning pre-professional organizations such as NABJ and Society of Professional Journalists and doing as many internships as possible.

Reed said that coming from a smaller school from the Midwest region of the U.S. places Southeast students at a disadvantage compared to Ivy League students who have direct access to networking and the big com-panies located on the East Coast.

“I think it’s important for students to get the opportunity to hear from people who have experiences that they might not

necessarily have access to,” Reed said. “If we are going to have diversity in our business, then we have to start pulling out from pla-ces that are not on the map. It can’t be always the same four schools.”

Students heard about the role diversity plays in a newsroom, the importance of a diverse team and as Reed said, “bringing yourself to the newsroom.”

Reed described how important it is to have a diverse staff on air and in newsrooms. Reed clarified that diversity is not limited to racial difference, but also includes differen-ces in gender, socioeconomic status, how one thinks and how one views the world.

“You’re going to walk into a newsroom where there is a diversity problem no matter where you go,” Reed said.

Reed began the lecture by sharing news he received Wednesday morning. The pre-sident of NABJ told Reed in an email that “[Soledad] O’Brien, one of the most visible members of CNN’s team, is considering lea-ving CNN because the position that she had sought as a host in prime time had never materialized,” Reed said.

O’Brien is CNN’s anchor of the morning news program Starting Point. Reed said that O’Brien made sure that a network like CNN was being representative and was examining issues that impacted people that were not the core mainstream of the newsroom itself.

Mass media instructor Michael Sim-mons said that Reed did a good job presen-ting students with challenges they may face in journalism.

“As educators we have to be honest with students and let them know that even if you have the skills and education it’s still very challenging,” Simmons said.

Public relations student Tyler Graef said that Reed not only raised awareness by tal-king about diversity but transcended that.

“Being competitive in the marketplace was a point in his speech that I think that is more important than diversity,” Graef said. “I feel that the example that he sets has more of an impact on me than a speech about diversity.”

NABJ member Cameron Jeffery said he was inspired by Reed because he said that even though Reed was a professional, Reed said he was not perfect, and that motivates Jeffery to work on his craft.

Keith Reed picks a student from the crowd to ask him a question at the Michael Davis Lecture on Feb. 19. Southeast Missourian photo

MONSTER TRUCK WINTERNATIONALSThe event will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Show Me Center. More information can be found showmecenter.biz.+

Now accepting applications for the 2013-2014 school yearfor the following Arrow management positions:

Students interested in applying for these management team positions need to be ableto make a commitment for the entire 2013-2014 school year.

To apply, all applicants are asked to email the following information to:mkneer@semissourian.com• Position(s) interested in applying for• Written statement of your vision for the ARROW and improvement we could expectunder your leadership

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Deadline to apply: 5 p.m. March 22, 2013Go to www.southeastArrow.com for complete outline/schedule. Positiondescriptions are also posted.

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