As everyone scuffled in the Main Lobby, conversing about the upcoming day and receiving their Medaille folders and wristbands, silence struck the room as Mayor Byron Brown entered. The day kicked off with Richard Jurassic, the President of Medaille, giving a brief introduction and welcome to the Mayor. After the Mayor gave his testimonial about Medaille, he declared November 9th, 2007, the first Medaille Media Day. The day was filled with panelists that came to tell us about their media experiences and also tell us what important things we need to know when pursuing our careers.
The first panelist was Bryan Meyer, an investigative reporter for the Buffalo News for the past ten years. I’m sure that all of the teachers and students that met or have known Bryan can confidently say that he is quite the character. To be an investigative reporter, you must be very curious, questioning everything that comes about, even if it seems that you may have the obvious answer. Even though I have no interest in being an investigative reporter, being curious is a good trait to have in the media industry because you always have to get the true story, and sometimes you might not discover the truth unless you become a little nosey. Bryan then mentioned that the thing he likes most about Medaille’s Media/Communications department is that they really stress internships. He emphasizes that people should learn and experience different sections of media before deciding upon what they want to do. In his words, “Know a little bit about a lot of things.” This is great f or a resume since it makes you appear as a very well rounded person, giving you depth in your field. This would begin to be a reoccurring theme throughout the day.
Following Bryan was a Medaille graduate, now editor and publisher of a Polish newspaper, Roger Puchalski. Roger said that internships are great because they show you what the real world is like before you graduate. To paraphrase Roger, internships are, in a way, greater then classes because you make mistakes and have to deal with it. After a student asked both Roger and Bryan how far is too far when interviewing someone, especially someone that you are close to. They both responded by saying that of course you never what to hurt someone and that you have to be fair, but also have to remember that it is your job.
The next session began with teachers and visitors gathering in the back of the TV studio, as the panelists got ready. Professor Lou stood behind the podium as he introduced the four panelists, and of course made a few jokes, making the entire studio laugh. The four panelists were Tim Walsh of AAA, Mary Murray of the Erie County Sheriffs Office, Mike DeGeorge of the Buffalo Police Department, and Bonnie Kane-Lockwood, the senior field representative of Brian Higgins’ Office. Everyone had their own way of saying the same thing, but they all had their own, individual pieces of advice or experience. In Medaille’s Communications Department, it is mandatory to have three internships, with the fourth as an elective. Walsh’s advice is to diversify your internships, and not to stick with the same internship for all four years. This is because all parts of communications interconnect in some way. Mary Murray made a great point about internships also, that is that you do not get any money, but you gain much more in knowledge. Mike DeGeorge isn’t the same as all of the other speakers in the way that they all finished school and then went to their jobs. DeGeorge chose between school or his internship. He chose his internship because he knew that this opportunity won’t be there again, and that school will. The final speaker, Bonnie Kane-Lockwood was a great speaker, and she never lost her audiences attention. The old saying is “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Bonnie elaborated on that a little by adding, “it’s also what they know about you.” Not only in the communications field, but in all fields, its how you treat people and how they remember you. In this field, you deal with people on a day-to-day basis, and how you approach them, with your voice and manner, can tell a lot about a person.
The final session of the morning had to do with a part of Media/Communications that I’m not interested in-at least I think I’m not. Mary Alice Demler (Channel 2), Mylous Hairston (Channel 4 and 23), and Joanna Pasceri (Channel 7) came to speak about their media experiences. They come to our living rooms everyday delivering the daily news. They all spoke about their experiences and how they came to where they are now, but they all had one thing that stuck out to me. A lot of people give this advice, but sometimes it doesn’t seem as sincere as others. Joanna said that she never takes he job for granted, and that it is a privilege. Mylous started out with saying that he always knew he wanted to do something in broadcasting. With his first job being McDonalds, he said that he had a good time practicing his broadcasting voice over the drive-thru. Before he got into on air news, he was on the radio, where he could ad lib, and not read off of a script. That interested me because I have no desire to be on air, and I believe that when you ad lib you present more of a connection with the audience. The session finished up with Mary Alice Demler speaking about how she never pictured herself on air, in front of the camera. Now she is the lead anchor of channel 2, and all of her experiences not related to news are what makes her now, very well-rounded. She said that you must have drive and passion in this field. That applies to everything you want to do in your life; if you don’t have the drive to succeed, then there is not point in doing what your doing.
I thought the entire day was a success, going from one thing to another really gave me a good idea about how there are many different departments in the media world. I think that this was a great idea and that we should do this in the years to come. To sum up the entire day in one word: internships. All of the speakers stressed that there is nothing more important that to experience what you want to do, outside of the class room, in the real world where you can make mistakes. It’s a competitive world and you must have the drive and passion to get where you want to be. And once you get there, you cannot take it easy, you must prove yourself. Do you want it or do you really want it?
~Matt Dunford
