By: Darius Smith
On Thursday, Feb. 21, the 62nd Annual Southern Regional Press Institute was held at Savannah State University. This year’s theme was “Politics, the Press, and Platforms: The Role of Mass Media in Political Campaigns.” Students from across the southeast participated in the two day workshops and seminars, facilitated by various anchors, reporters, writers and producers.
At approximately 10:30 AM, the workshop, “So You Want to Become An Anchor? Here’s the Real Deal,” was held in Kennedy Fine Arts Building, room 147. A little over 30 people were in attendance.
Reginald Franklin, associate professor of Savannah State’s Department of Mass Communications, stood as the director of the workshop, alongside a panel of five consultants, anchor Dawn Baker of WTOC-TV Channel 11, anchor/reporter Kim Gusby, of WSAV-TV, Channel 3, reporter/producer Amber Jones, of WGXA-TV, Channel 16/Fox 28, Macon, Ga, Rob Macko, WJCL-TV, Channel 22 and reporter/anchor Tracy Haynes, WSAV-TV, Channel 3.
The Press Institute, founded by the late Wilton C. Scott, Savannah State College’s director of public relations, began in 1951 from the First Annual Press Workshop which was held on May 2-4. The first nine years of the Southern Regional Press Institute were used as development years. Initially, the Southern Regional Press Institute was called the “First Annual Statewide Interscholastic Press Institute.” In the early 1950’s, Savannah
State College was one of the rare black colleges in America that developed a scholastic press association.
In keeping with SRPI’s political theme, the panel of media professionals was asked, “what to expect when interviewing politicians?’ Boisterously, Macko said, “politicians don’t always tell the truth. All politicians seem to have canned answers, everything seems rehearsed”.
Throughout the discussion, the anchors advised the room budding media professional to do their best to show their personality while anchoring, and though showing emotion while on air has its limits, it is important to avoid becoming robotic. “Be strong enough to realize what is the truth for you,” said Baker.
Haynes left the room of media hopefuls with this word of advice: “if you want to achieve, cut through the muck with a knife. ‘The duty of being an anchor requires many hours of dedication and hard work. ‘You must not forget why you are there dishing out news to the community.”
Contributing: Justin Loggins