By KEVIN DU and ARELIS HERNANDEZ
The UNITY News Online

Famed broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite’s relationship with his high school journalism professor Fred Birney cradled his growth in a budding industry.

Finding the right mentor is indispensible to a journalist’s career, panelists at a mentorship reception said. It could mean the difference between small-market confinement and network glory, they said.

KNBC anchor Mekahlo Medina said the need for mentors has not diminished.

“If you don’t have mentors that help guide you on how to not only craft journalism, but to maneuver within an organization, then you’ll likely never grow as a journalist,” he said.

Medina was one of the many experienced journalists who attended the discussion, which was hosted by NBC Universal. The standing-room only crowd consumed the advice, as well as the vegetables, cheese and drinks.

Audience members also shared stories of great mentors and advice.

NBC News’ John Yang, who was joined by Vicki Burns of WNBC, Chris Blackman of NBC 10 and Johanna Guerra of Telemundo, said young journalists need to take the initiative.

“You have to be the one to lead when asking for advice,” Guerra said.

He recounted the story of one persistent intern. Every day, the intern would knock on her office door and confess, “I have nothing to do. I’m bored.”

Guerra found the intern assignments to do, and she soon developed the skills to be hired as an associate producer. That inquisitiveness garnered her respect, said Guerra, who offered to mentor the former intern.

People have to want the help, speakers said. Being mentored means making improvements and taking every piece of advice with gusto and willingness, they said.

Finding the fine line between being relentless and becoming a “pleasant pain in the rear,” means taking precautions, Yang said.

“There’s a difference between persistent and stalking,” he said to laughter. “… Persistence does show interests in learning and moving on to the next level.”

Mentorship is like a trial and error support group — they are there to help you through tough projects and offer advice, panelists said. Navigating ethical issues and newsroom politics requires the wisdom of seasoned veterans.

“They all want to see you grow and contribute to a better product,” Blackman said.

He said one intern sent him resume tapes every week. After every critique, she would nail the problem in her next tape, Blackman said.

Although having a mentor doesn’t guarantee journalistic success it does make the process easier, Yang said.

Temperatures may have exceeded comfortable levels, but audience members said the tips were well worth the sweat.

“It was hot and hot,” Medina said. “It was hot because it was hot inside. And it was also hot because students not only figured out how to become mentees but were [also] able to connect instantaneously with industry leaders.”

By JACQUELINE LEE
The UNITY News

The days of having a single mentor to guide you throughout your career or trying to get by without one have passed.
Rapidly changing newsrooms mean that young journalists ought to have several numbers on speed dial.
“It might be wise for a person to have a whole coaching staff,” said Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press.
That staff might include a mentor within the newsroom who can serve as a go-to person during crunch time, or to help navigate newsroom politics and ethical issues. A mentor outside the newsroom and a mentor for personal issues, career advice or to get a grasp on the business side of things.
Any combination works, Grimm said, and there’s even “reverse mentoring,” where the learning is mutual.
Melissa Patterson, a Chicago Tribune intern who is being mentored by a courts reporter this summer, agrees.
“I really don’t think you could have too many mentors. This profession is way too complicated and way too stressful to do on your own,” she said.
In this era of buyouts and layoffs, however, mentor relationships are often disrupted by an increasingly frequent game of newsroom musical chairs.
“Sometimes it’s hard to be a positive mentor when you’ve lost a part of what made you fall in love with this business,” Patterson said. “So it’s harder to find a mentor, especially if students don’t know where to look.”
Patterson advises others to find mentors outside the newsroom, such as the two college professors she refers to as lifetime mentors.
Greg Morago, a pop culture reporter for The Hartford Courant, never had a traditional mentor, but said he always wished he did. With that in mind, Morago has been a mentor for 12 student projects at minority journalist conventions in the past.
“Sometimes relationships can be forged during a couple of short and intense working days, and it doesn’t have to be a constant every day relationship,” Morago said.
This year, Morago was planning to work as a mentor for the UNITY student projects, but had to cancel his trip two weeks before the convention because he took a buyout from his newsroom.
“A lot of these relationships are being disrupted now, but whether they are broken is up to the individual,” said Grimm, who volunteered to take a buyout at the Detroit Free Press this week. “Technology makes it possible to mentor long-distance.”
Sheila R. Solomon, senior editor for recruitment for the Chicago Tribune, first entered the industry in the 1970s. Back then, she said, colleagues did not welcome her race or her gender in their newsroom, so much as mentor her on how to stay in the business.
As her career progressed, Solomon took younger journalists under her wing, helping them to take those first steps and learn to keep walking.
“I think these mentor relationships will always exist because we’re human, and they exist everywhere else,” she said.

By JACQUELINE LEE
The UNITY News

The days of having a single mentor to guide you throughout your career or trying to get by without one have passed.

Rapidly changing newsrooms mean that young journalists now need to have several numbers on speed dial.
“It might be wise for a person to have a whole coaching staff,” said Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press.

That staff might include a mentor within the newsroom who can serve as a go-to person during crunch time, or to help navigate newsroom politics and ethical issues. A mentor outside the newsroom and a mentor for personal issues, career advice or to get a grasp on the business side of things.
Any combination works, Grimm said, and there’s even “reverse mentoring,” where the learning is mutual.

Melissa Patterson, a Chicago Tribune intern who is being mentored by a courts reporter this summer, agrees.

“I really don’t think you could have too many mentors. This profession is way too complicated and way too stressful to do on your own,” she said.

In this era of buyouts and layoffs, however, mentor relationships are often disrupted by an increasingly frequent game of newsroom musical chairs.

“Sometimes it’s hard to be a positive mentor when you’ve lost a part of what made you fall in love with this business,” Patterson said. “So it’s harder to find a mentor, especially if students don’t know where to look.”
Patterson advises others to find mentors outside the newsroom, such as the two college professors she refers to as lifetime mentors.

Greg Morago, a pop culture reporter for The Hartford Courant, never had a traditional mentor, but said he always wished he did. With that in mind, Morago has been a mentor for 12 student projects at minority journalist conventions in the past.

“Sometimes relationships can be forged during a couple of short and intense working days, and it doesn’t have to be a constant every day relationship,” Morago said.

This year, Morago was planning to work as a mentor for the UNITY student projects, but had to cancel his trip two weeks before the convention because he took a buyout from his newsroom.

“A lot of these relationships are being disrupted now, but whether they are broken is up to the individual,” said Grimm, who volunteered to take a buyout at the Detroit Free Press this week. “Technology makes it possible to mentor long-distance.”

Sheila R. Solomon, senior editor for recruitment for the Chicago Tribune, first entered the industry in the 1970s. Back then, she said, colleagues did not welcome her race or her gender in their newsroom, much less mentor her on how to stay in the business.

As her career progressed, Solomon took younger journalists under her wing, helping them to take those first steps and to keep walking.

“I think these mentor relationships will always exist because we’re human, and they exist everywhere else,” she said.