Roy Wood Jr inspires journalists at CMA convention
By Raul Flores
American comedian, writer and radio personality Roy Wood Jr. was one of this year’s keynote speakers for the College Media Association Spring National College Media Convention.
Wood addressed all student journalists present in the audience. He discussed success in today’s mass market; specifically, how to grow and learn as young journalists in a media landscape that has been changing constantly.
Roy Wood Jr. of the Daily Show talks the CMA Student Media Convention in New York City.
One of the messages that Wood Jr. made clear was that aspiring journalists must create several opportunities for themselves. He told the audience about doing stand-up comedy shows as early as his junior year in college. Wood Jr. told the audience that it is important to be persistent and exploit all possible opportunities available to you.
“If you can take two internships, take two,” Wood Jr. said. “While you can still afford to work for very little, work as much as you can.” he continued.
“Journalism is about the quality of your writing, and it’s about the quality of the volume of your experience,” Wood Jr. said. “As much as you can diversify and create a volume of work, I think that you’re in a great place.”
According to Wood Jr., journalists should be looking at many different types of media. He mentioned that aspiring journalists should look at publications that can easily improve with their own skills, and reach out to editors to seek these opportunities and demonstrate your skills.
Raul Flores of New Mexico State University interviews Roy Wood Jr. of the Daily Show.
Regarding motivation, Wood said that one of his biggest regrets from college was that he frequented unmotivated people. One of his most emphatic lessons was that people, especially ambitious, passionate individuals, should be around other motivated people.
Wood spoke about the changing media landscape and how to cope with the decrease in audiences interested in news, radio and other traditional news media outlets. He assured the audience that while some mediums might be losing power, people are still interested in what journalists have to say.
“Print is a dying concept, but that’s just the physical form of how we disseminate information.” Wood Jr. said. “People still read, people still click on stuff in their tablets, people still go to apps,” he added.
Wood Jr. explained the importance of being versatile in media as well. There are many tools easily accessible to everyone that help with creating powerful, creative and interesting content. It’s all about having that drive and looking for different ways to seek audience engagement.
“I think that what you have to figure out is, what is the story that you want to tell, and then start looking at the best ways to tell that story.” Wood Jr. said.
When talking about the pandemic, Wood Jr. was quick to advise the audience in learning what else interests them aside from their major. According to him, students should never follow a single interest in life.
“I found fun in trying to figure out what were some of the other things that I enjoyed doing and what some of my other interests were,” Wood Jr. said.
Following this search for external interests, he told the story of how he started a podcast. For him, it all stemmed from his desire to speak about things he found interesting and worth delving into. He urged people to find that one thing that is at the back of their heads, waiting to be explored.
“Figure that out, even if you merge it with what your skills are within journalism.” Wood Jr. said. After the interview, Wood Jr. finished the session by answering questions from the audience, all giving more advice on several topics.