Imagine, being a reporter for one of the most popular newspaper in the country. Imagine having to write top news stories with less than an hour to publish.  Imagine having to come up with creative and unique stories that will keep the audience attention.Well that is what Howard Alum, Keith Alexander does on a daily basis.

Howard University chapter of the Association of Black Journalists brought Keith Alexander to share the wisdom he has acquired as a successful journalist. Alexander, shared with over 50 students in attendance the issues that he has faced, but also tips on making your career last.

“Stories that will make your career are the stories that you break” this is one quote he shared with students as he began talking about his police shooting research. he stated that it is important to report news that no one knows about. You want to provide your audience with a different perspective.

Keith Alexander is a fellow School of Communications graduate and a reporter for the Washington Post.Alexander, is notable for winning the Pulitzer Prize along with other Washington Post coworkers for his extensive coverage and research of the fatal shootings by Police Officers.Alexander had the bright idea of doing research on exactly how many police shootings occurred in the United States in 2015. This was not an easy task, Alexander and other reporters had to extensive research, calling, and interviews to get the correct amount of data. After, a year of research it was found that a shocking 900 unarmed African-Americans were shot by Police Officers. Not only did they research the amount of shootings, they also took time to look into each cop specifically. They were able to find that for some of the officers this was not their first time killing a person. However, they were still able to keep their jobs and some officers did not face any punishments at all.

Furthermore, he also spoke about the importance of gaining work experience while you are in college. When it comes to this career field you want all the experience that you can. He stated that before he got to Howard University, he worked as a copy messenger for a local newspaper back home. At this internship, he was able to get multiple stories published. He spoke directly to the Freshman and Sophomores saying that it is important to get as much experience as you can so that you can beat out your competitions.

I believe, Alexander provided the audience of college students great advice on how we can be a successful journalist. With a resume as full and successful as his I believe it is very crucial we listen to everything that he says. Furthermore, I am honored that he took the time to come back and speak with students and provide his views on the industry. Alexander, opened my eyes to how demanding this industry is. In class, Prof. Thomas tends to give us fast turn arounds so that can understand how demanding this industry is. But it always interesting to hear Reporters talk about how fast they really are.

One thing that spoke to me was when he talked about his fast turn around after the 9/11 attacks. When the planes were crashing into the buildings instead of being scared Alexander went directly to work and started working on a story. This spoke to me because it proves that as a journalist you have no days off and even more important as journalist we must be the first. To stay relevant, we must report the news first and accurately. Like Keith Alexander said “good stories make news”.