On April 10, the journalism program at Bucks is offering students a chance to meet active and working journalists at its 13 annual Media Day Forum.
The event features three journalists who are currently in the field and is organized into two workshops. The first is from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. and the second from 11:00 to 12:15 p.m. It is set to take place in Rollins room 127, otherwise known as the Centurion newsroom.
This year’s journalists work for a plethora of different news forums. Scheduled are Tom Rowan, a reporter for the Express-Times, Mike Rushton, a contributing editor of SportsNetwork.com, and Kara Seymour, an editor of Newtown Patch.
Rowan, who is a local government beat reporter for the Express times, graduated from Temple in 2011 and his work has been featured in publications such as the Philadelphia Daily News, Philly.com, and the Buck County Courier Times.
Rushton, also a Temple graduate, works for SportsNetwork.com, which is a wire service located in Hatboro, PA. He is responsible for writing season previews for the NBA, NFL, MLB, and the NHL. This summer he will be travelling to London to cover the 2012 summer Olympics.
Finally, Seymour, a James Madison graduate and former reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times, now works as an editor for Newtown Patch. Newtown Patch covers local news in Newtown Township, Newtown Borough, and the Council Rock school district.
Tony Rogers, who organized the event, said his motivation behind his selections for the speakers was to “[place] emphasis on the kinds of jobs people graduating college can expect to work at starting out.”
An interesting fact about two of the scheduled speakers that Rogers pointed out, “Tom and Mike are of the journalism program here at Bucks and both went on to pursue bachelor’s degrees from Temple.” He joked, “If nothing else it proves that students can get a job in the field after going on from here.”
Another point of interest Rogers noted, “Mike and Kara work for exclusively online news sites.” Which he said will provide a perspective on what it is like to work in that type of forum.
On the event itself Rogers said, “We bring in professional journalists working in the field right now to give students a chance to hear about what: the hours are like, what the pay is like, etc.”
Rogers said, “It gives students a unique opportunity to ask working journalists what to expect as many of the students in the program are still trying to figure out if journalism is the field for them.” Rogers attempts to bring this perspective into his classes but as he noted, “the classroom can only take you so far.”
A tremendously important aspect of the forum is that while the reporters give their talks, there is an invaluable Q&A session set aside with each journalist after they speak. This gives students a chance to ask their questions, which is something that is obviously not always possible.
The event has housed some big names in the past, from Steve Kapas, the now president of NBS and former Bucks student to New York Times reporter Charlie Leduff.
The event is free and open to the public, even high school students attend, and all students are encouraged to participate. For any further questions on the event, Rogers urges students to ask by e-mailing him at [email protected] or calling him at 215-968-8165.