On Sept. 28, the journalism class at King had special guest speakers Erin Perry, editorial manager, and Malak Silimi, reporter, for Outlier Media. They talked to the class about what it takes to be a journalist and gave resources to make reporting news easier.
Outlier Media journalists Malak Silimi and Erin Perry give reporting pointers to attentive Crusaders’ Chronicle journalists. Photo by Crusaders’ Chronicle.
“What I admired most about the journalists Erin and Malak was how they were very straightforward,” said senior Edyn Henton. “Also sincere about where and how they started their career and the passion that they continued to have for it. I also like how Erin gave great tips for beginner journalists.”
Silimi encouraged journalists to stay connected with sources who are available when going through the article writing process.
“Try to be more aware of the events that are going on around the school as well as get a source list if that helps,” Silimi said. “Have a list of sources that you can easily reach out to if you need answers to certain subjects. Have a diverse source list of different people who you can reach out to when it comes time to work on a story.”
The student journalists enjoyed their presentation as well as their advice and appreciated the classroom visit.
“When I visited Ms. Hollis’ class today, I thought you all asked some really good questions, not just journalism specific, but career specific, which was really, really refreshing to hear from high school students already thinking beyond what they would do,” Perry said. “So, I really liked the questions that you all had.”
Perry has a long history in the journalism field which began at Detroit Public Schools and at the Detroit Free Press as the director of the High School Journalism Program.
