Kevin Anderson

April 9, 2009

Kevin Anderson, blog editor for the Gaurdian, met with students in Steve Klein’s, online journalism class this week to discuss internet tools. He connected with the students via a tool called Skype, from London. Skype allows for a more updated chatting experience in that you can talk through video conferencing and surf the web, type with the other person.

Anderson, began with electronic journalism when it too was very new in the industry. He currently is the D.C. correspondent for BBC news. He has covered many different events such as presidential elections since 1996, the Oscars among others.

He went on to discuss how journalism students today have the “wrong heroes”. That there is too much idolization of investigative journalism such as Watergate, and that newcomers in the field need to be looking to journalists that use many different types of media to get their stories out. Look to those that have blogs, twitter, web pages, podcasts, anything that you can see them progressively on the move. Lindsey Czarniak, sports reporter for NBC news is a good example of this because of her constant updates on twitter and her blog.

“It’s not what you cover, but how you cover it,” states Anderson. Those students that are using Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, for more than keeping up with friends are on the right track to keeping ahead of the fray. They are also acquiring jobs with these applications. Many people once in a job, can set up a career network on these applications as well as with the more career oriented version of facebook, LinkedIn.

Anderson suggests that the more media savvy you are, for instance with your resume, the more attention you will gain. Use the skills that you have acquired and make a multimedia resume, one that incorporates blogging skills, videography, web publishing in addition to your traditional format. It will set you apart from other candidates. These days it is all about standing apart from the crowd, be the wow factor. “Media skills are what is going to set you apart,” Anderson said.

Finally, “you need to stay ahead of the curve,” said Anderson.