Deez Interviews: Meet the former Poynter fellow who’s looking to bring her reporting chops & passion for high school media literacy to her next gig

Happy Friday, Deezers! Today’s interview is with Taylor Blatchford, a young journalist who just finished her fellowship at The Poynter Institute! She talks about how you can get the fellowship, why journo education should begin in high school, and why Poynter helps make the media foodchain work. Enjoy!

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The interviewee: Taylor Blatchford (follow her @blatchfordtr!)

The gig: Fellow at The Poynter Institute

First things first: Tell us about your fellowship at Poynter!

I spent the summer in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida, at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. I reported for their website on changes and news within the journalism industry, and that evolved into a mini-beat covering student and college media.

My favorite piece looked at how college newspapers are filling in gaps in areas where local news is shrinking. My favorite part? Being 15 minutes from the beach after living in landlocked states my whole life.

Serious answer, though, the team I worked with was amazing. The people at Poynter (and PolitiFact, which shares our office) are so smart and good at what they do.

You were the 2014 National High School Journalist of the Year! How did you get into journalism in the first place?

I took a journalism class my freshman year of high school because I liked writing and taking photos. I joined the school newspaper the second semester and stayed involved for the next few years of high school, moving up through various editor positions and trying out different parts of journalism. (And, yes, winning the high school journalist of the year award, something my friends love to tease me about because they know it embarrasses me when people bring it up.)

I owe my start in journalism and going to the University of Missouri to my high school journalism adviser, Mark Newton, who’s still one of the best mentors I’ve had. I was a stubborn 17-year-old and wanted to go to a certain school in Evanston, Illinois, that shall not be named [editor’s note: yeah fuck that school], but he kept encouraging me to look at Mizzou, and I’m so glad I ended up there.

You’ve dedicated a lot of your time to journalism education, specifically for high school students via the Journalism Education Association and Stanford’s Newsroom By The Bay workshop. Tell us about that.

High school is where I got into journalism, and I’ve been interested in teaching for the past few years. I was actually an education double major for a while at Mizzou, before I realized the combination of that plus journalism school was not sustainable! Down the road, though, I’d love to get an education degree and be a high school journalism teacher.

I think scholastic journalism is valuable because of all the skills it teaches, even for students that don’t end up going into journalism. Working on a team, thinking about how to find answers to research questions, packaging and presenting information for the public — all of those are important for any career.

And in the current news environment, as misinformation spreads more and more easily online, it’s so important for students to be able to evaluate news sources and be media literate. What’s the difference between a news story vs. an opinion column vs. a feature that might include first person? There are too many (adult) Americans that aren’t able to distinguish between those, and if everyone took an introductory journalism/media literacy class in high school, I think it would help a lot.

Speaking of which: in a time of ~fake news~ and distrust in media, why should people be keeping place like Poynter on their radar?

Without getting too philosophical, I think it’s a big food chain. For a healthy democracy, you need an informed public, and for an informed public, you need strong journalism that provides information and holds authorities accountable. Organizations like Poynter feed into that because they help make journalists stronger and better equipped to do their jobs.

Okay, so where can college kiddos find out more info about becoming a fellow with Poynter?

My fellowship was funded by the Google News Initiative, which hosts fellowships at news organizations and media nonprofits around the country including ProPublica, Nieman Lab, etc. I’d definitely recommend it! Working somewhere that studies the media industry is pretty different from being in a typical newsroom environment, but I learned a lot.

You apply directly to whatever organizations you’re interested in, and you won’t get placed anywhere you don’t want to be. Google isn’t really involved after the initial hiring process (and a trip to their California mother ship), but they pay generously, which is definitely a bonus. The application is due around January. If you’re reading this and end up applying, let me know if you have any questions (blatchfordtaylor@gmail.com or @blatchfordtr).

Finally, what's next for you?

I’m applying for full-time jobs all over the place right now. I want to help newsrooms figure out how engaging with audiences can become a more natural part of the reporting process. There are some places that do this really well, like ProPublica, and use their readers to power meaningful investigations — that would be the dream. I’m also interested in education reporting and looking at jobs in that area. (leads are always welcome!)

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Hit a girl up with those job leads, Deezers! She won’t be a free agent for long. And have a good long weekend!

Like Deez Links? Forward to future national high school journos of the year.