The AUMnibus

Newspaper journalist Diana Sugg with her Ingram Lecture plaque. Photo by Jasmine Jamison. Two top journalists speak at AUM

Desiree Taylor/ Entertainment Editor

AUM had the honor of hearing two journalists this week, Pulitzer Prize winner Diana K. Sugg from the Baltimore Sun, and NBC News-Atlanta Bureau correspondent Janet Shamlian. Both women gave their personal thoughts on the “death spiral” of the news industry and its core values.

Sugg suggests that 85 percent of news comes from American newspapers, and that finding “what matters”—integrity, truth, and heart—is important.

“Today we need journalists that have a soul. As a reporter, you’re part social worker, part detective and part anthropologist wrapped into one,” says Suggs in her story-teller like voice. “When you go into this crazy world, remember what matters. Nothing is more important than understanding people and the world.”

Sugg and Shamlian say reporting is their passion. Both women acknowledged how the industry has changed, and how its reprogramming leaves some uncertainty.

“We have 800 community and specialty websites and blogs now,” says Suggs. Journalism has lost 14,000 jobs and 45 percent of advertising has dwindled. A lot of my friends and colleagues have lost their jobs and aren’t going back to journalism because of lack of jobs. No one really knows what’s going to happen in the future.”

Shamlian speaks of the broadcast industry in the same way. “Things are changing, and this business is so fickle. There’s even talk of the New York Times charging for its content. Correspondents twitter, blog, and even make their own videos now. I bring my office with me,” says the quick witted and humorous personality as she shows something that looks similar to a makeup bag. “I pull out my microphone and my recorder, and record in the plane’s bathroom or at home. I need this job for the health insurance—I have five kids!"

Despite downturn in the industry—like some newspaper content dropping from one hundred stories a day to only forty—both women are hopeful about the future of the news, suggesting jobs are still available. Open-mindedness and getting up to speed about what’s out there in technology is key.

Shamlian and Suggs give tips on how students can be successful in the field. Both stress the importance that persistence is key.

“Don’t take no for an answer,” says Shamlian. “Keep knocking on doors until you get what you want.”

“Get stories right and in context. Follow your gut instinct,” says Suggs. "Be humble. Write the story because people are hungry for news, and they will thank you for them later”.

Janet Shamlian currently lives in Texas with her military husband and five children. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and worked in 2004 as a freelance writer and correspondent for MSNBC and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

Diana K. Sugg is a married mother of four who worked for The Baltimore Sun. She attended Villanova University and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for her series of medical stories on stillborns.