Society of Professional Journalists Chapter George Mason University

On Tuesday, November 28th we had the pleasure of hearing from Amos Gelb. He is currently the director of Washington Media Institute and former senior producer for CNN's Investigative Reporting Unit. He's taught at George Washington and Georgetown. Gelb has also won many Emmys and other awards. He asked us: "Where do you think you're going and what do you want to do?" He said that at first we say what we think would be acceptable and there's a sense of guilt when we say what we truly want to do. According to Gelb, the older generation has messed up the younger generation's mindset because they've instilled a set of values. They're holding onto traditional jobs and not allowing for younger people to venture out into new career paths. He believes that local news in going to die because a majority of the stories aren't the best that they could be. Also most people these days watch news on their phones and not on TV. He stated that Donald Trum...

On Tuesday November 16th, GMU SPJ had the pleasure of attending the Dateline: DC event at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams DC Signature Store. It was an amazing event and our members had the chance to network with representatives from NBC Universal, Fox News, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, CBS News and NPR. The event began with a cocktail hour and then we heard from a few speakers. The event was hosted by NPR "1A" host Joshua Johnson and NPR "Weekend Edition" host Scott Simon received the Randy Shilts Award. The special guests at the event represented every major network and a number of national newspapers. Guests were encouraged to become NLGJA members and to continue coming to events!

On Tuesday November 14th, GMU SPJ met to plan our holiday toy drive and decorate our toy drive boxes. We partnered with The Office Student Media, which our chapter falls under, in order to use recycled newspapers from Fourth Estate to decorate. It was a crafty to way to tie our toy drive into journalism buy using printed stories written by GMU students to decorate the boxes. We added our logo and other fun decorations and set the boxes out around the school. We plan to donate the toys we receive to INOVA Fairfax Children's Hospital to spread holiday cheer! It was a good way for our chapter to bond while also supporting a good cause.

On Tuesday October 17th, GMU 2015 graduate, Adam Woodward, came to speak to our SPJ Chapter. He was a communication major with a concentration in public relations and a minor in electronic journalism ( which no longer exists ). He is currently a sports reporter at USA Today and had interned there during his junior year of college. He interned for 4-5 days a week, unpaid, and also worked some night shifts. One of his best memories at Mason was studying abroad in London at the London School of Economics during a fall semester. Adam believes that there is multiple ways to tell a story besides just writing an article such as videos and podcasts. He spent a lot of time at sporting events such as Wizards, Nationals, Capitals games during his college years observing how the games work and learning how report on them. While he originally came to DC from Ohio to study politics, he fell in love with sports reporting. He ended with saying he wouldn't have a had a job without having goo...