A'lauren Gilchrist Has A Passion For Journalism That Not Everyone Does

I'm Luke DiStefano and I’ll be helping Mark with the newsletter for a while. I’m a student at The College of New Jersey majoring in Journalism & Professional Writing, with a minor in Creative Writing. Outside of this newsletter, I am the Nation & World editor at The Signal newspaper, and I am a published poet—with my poetry collection “the gentlemen gallery” available on Amazon.  

On this episode of The Journalism Salute, Mark Simon spoke to A'lauren Gilchrist, a senior at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia. She is also the student representative at the National Association of Black Journalists, and was an intern at WAVY 10 News, which she talks about extensively with Mark.

A'lauren also speaks to a consistent and growing problem within journalism, which is the uphill battle of retaining interest within the subject. Due to the social skills and researching required of any journalist worth their salt, it’s far from an easy field to commit to, and many papers including my own (shoutout to The Signal) struggle with their retention rate when it comes to new writers. A’lauren experienced this at Norfolk State’s Spartan Echo.

“Sometimes as an editor or the executive editor, it's really, I don't wanna say heartbreaking, but you feel like the pressure's all on you when you can't get the next issue out because there's six or seven people who didn't submit anything. Or you're looking at other schools that have more staff backing, that have the funding backing and have more than just one or two editors, and you're seeing what they're doing versus what I'm doing. So this role definitely shaped my view on leadership, and I'm proud of what I've done, but I'm still trying to find ways where we can elevate this paper and get more people involved,” she said.

Despite many strong attempts both field-wide and locally, journalism is ultimately less attractive of an industry then it once was. In a time where truth-telling is at its hardest it is, sadly, understandable why its difficulty deters some from wanting to commit themselves to being a mouthpiece for the truth, in the way that all journalists are called to do.

Speaking personally, maintaining the resolve is the hardest part, like A'lauren says. As an editor at my newspaper, retaining new writers has always been the one part of the job that I’ve found to be near impossible to get better at. Being personable has its benefits, of course, but there is also the need for writers to learn on their own through trial and error. 

The hard part of trial and error is, well, the error. It sucks to get feedback from your editor that’s less than positive. I’ve been there, and anybody who’s ever felt the kind of dread of realizing your work was subpar can relate to this feeling in one way or another. Obviously, delivery comes into play with how critique is presented, but at the end of the day, there is no way to sugarcoat saying to someone that their article needs work.

Journalism is all about telling the truth, and avoiding narrative spin at all costs. Feedback is crucial in the process of vetting articles in this sense, but, again, no new writer is not a little bit deterred by the learning curve of it all.

There is no easy solution in this area, at least not one I’ve found anyways. The best we can do is continue to trust that those who are actually capable of the job, like A'lauren, will find it, just as we must continue to do ours in the name of creating an informed public. 

“Honestly, I just want to be the journalist that keeps journalism authentic,” she said. “I really want to be that person that is there telling you what is actually happening versus what is not.”

“I want to be authentic to who I am, but also just to the craft itself, and, again, I think why I love this industry, and why I am so pressed to do hard news, is that I genuinely don't care what people are saying and what they think. I don't care if you're happy about it, if you're mad about it.”

A'lauren’s salutes: “The Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals. They are the Hampton Roads professional chapter of NABJ. I want to send them a salute because the majority of the members in that chapter have mentored me in some sort of way, have looked out for me in some sort of way, and have really shaped who I am as a journalist.”

“A special shout out to Eugene Daniel, who is an anchor at 13 News Now, and the president of HRBMP, Aesia Toliver, who's an anchor at WAVY and vice president of HRBNP and my beloved mentor, April Woodard, who is the host of Coast Live at WTKR News 3.”

A reminder to professors and teachers

You can find episode guides that you can use if you wish to integrate the podcast within your classroom. There are more than 50 available. Each one has suggested questions for discussion and activities a class can do.

I’m also happy to help you find an episode that would be appropriate for what you’re teaching. Reach out to me at [email protected].

A plug for our previous episode