by Quinn Gorte | Jan 29, 2019 | News Slider
The Tennessean’s Vanderbilt beat reporter Adam Sparks came to campus to speak to Lipscomb students about the importance of being flexible and honest in their careers. Lipscomb hosted its first Media Masters of the semester on Tuesday evening, with sophomore journalism major Spencer Boehme interviewing Sparks during the evening. Sparks, a graduate of MTSU, has been a sports writer for 19 years. He has won numerous journalism awards, including National Beat Writer of the Year. Throughout his writing career, he has covered a variety of stories, from reporting on the Titans and the Nashville Sounds to flag football and elementary basketball. Sparks encouraged Lipscomb students to be open to a variety of job opportunities, paid or unpaid. “If you are given an opportunity to work, you say ‘Yes,’” said Sparks, noting that unpaid or low-pay opportunities should not necessarily be looked down upon. “You have to get your foot in the door, [in] some way or some fashion,” Sparks said. Sparks gave an example from his own life, explaining that he often accepted reporting opportunities that were generally looked down upon, an attitude and choice which Sparks said he believes gains reporters respect. He also discussed the importance of work flexibility to non-journalism careers, sharing a story of his friend who wanted to be a loan officer but finally accepted a job as a bank teller, due to his lack of experience, and was later promoted to vice president. “The reason he got there is he finally said, ‘I’ll take whatever bottom position you’re offering me,’” Sparks said. In addition to his career as a professional reporter, Sparks is also...
by Cory Woodroof | Dec 5, 2013 | News Slider
Attendees of the Don R. Elliott Distinguished Presidential Lecture dinner Wednesday night had the chance to hear two of journalism’s most ardent defenders share their thoughts on where the medium is headed. Former New York Times reporter Alex S. Jones, the evening’s keynote speaker, and former Tennessean publisher John Seigenthaler Sr. joined together in a conversation, discussing the digital age of journalism and the place of traditional morals in the new, virtual frontier. The director of the Shorenstien Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Jones shared his thoughts on the shift to speedy publishing in the digital world of journalism, transitioning from a time, as Jones said, where accuracy lorded over the hope to be first to press, and balance was always over edge. He looked back on a time where journalism was regarded by many to be a public service, rooted in ethical practice. Jones noted a publisher’s view of their product being a social responsibility. Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Jones believes the internet age is making a gradual change into placing reader enjoyment at the top of the list of importance. “Now, I believe the core value of the digital world is that you have to be entertaining,” Jones said. “You have to be quick. You have to be entertaining, and you have to grab people quickly, and if only for a short time.” Jones and Seigenthaler also discussed the world of Wikipedia, with Seigenthaler recounting his notorious experience to rid false claims on his own Wikipedia page and the events that followed, including meetings with site...
