Journalists Speak to Beginning News Writers

Journalists, Sarah Fentem and Lauren Trager shared stories about their journey to becoming reporters with an Intro to News Writing class on Thursday, February 13th at Saint Louis University.

The journalists talked about the ups and downs of the journalism industry. Fentem, a reporter for St. Louis Public Radio, talked about how she had to fail many times to get to the place where she was today. Trager, who is an investigative reporter for KMOV, spoke about the burden of knowing that breaking a huge story will affect other people and how to do it ethically: “There is no story worth selling your soul for,” she said. Both journalists agreed that the future of journalism is promising, but to only pursue a career if a person absolutely loves it: “If there is anything else you like to do, do that,” Fentem added.

The news writing class learned that getting into journalism takes a lot of work and they should not be afraid to fail. Students were able to ask questions about the process of working in a news environment and about getting into the journalism industry.