On Wednesday, Sept. 27, Cal State Fullerton’s chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) hosted its third event named “Exploring Non-Reporter Roles in the Newsroom,” which took place at Titan Student Union’s (TSU) Bradford-AB.
The mission of this event was to provide networking opportunities, ask questions and get advice on how students can become reliable journalists. Non-major journalism students were also welcomed, where they learned about diverse roles in the newsroom.
In their third meeting, AAJA contacted Adrienne Shih, their first panelist and a senior editor at New York Opinion. She is also an alumna of UC Berkeley and previously worked at Foreign Policy magazine as well as the Los Angeles Times.
Shih was Zoomed in for the presentation since she currently resides in Washington, D.C. AAJA arranged this presentation to be available in person and over Zoom with Shih. Journalists and non-journalists were excited to hear about her journey and her first university internship.
Kirsten Maglunog, AAJA’s president, was responsible for interviewing Shih and preparing questions, including landing her first internship with CNN in New York City as an audience engagement social media intern to working as an editor at a small company after graduation. She further explained that whether a company is big or small, a person has to start from somewhere and should not hesitate to learn a new skill because they never know if their particular craft can be handy one day.
Another point she mentioned is that students should not stick to only one path in their journalism career but look into other job opportunities, such as non-reporter roles, as she had done in her first internship. As an audience engagement social media intern, she was responsible for checking email newsletters, collaborating with readers and managing relationships with platforms such as Google and Facebook. If students wanted to expand their experience, non-reporting roles might be great options for them to explore.
Students were constantly taking notes to ensure that her words and thoughts were kept saved in their notebooks. It is evident that not everyone’s experiences are the same, but one must try their best to become noticeable in the crowd. She also advised students not to be afraid to reach out to recruiters because if they do not, recruiters will never know your potential and perhaps misread your silence as your approval.
With immense expertise in the field, Shih is someone who can inspire young people to choose a career they love and should not limit themselves in terms of gender or being a woman of color.
