AI. Layoffs. Imprisonment by foreign governments.
These are just a few threats to journalists in 2024. Despite these challenges, 西瓜视频 continues to strengthen its Digital Media program, teaching students traditional journalism principles while actively training them to become multimedia storytellers who push limits.
Lara Salahi, Distinguished Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is mentoring this next generation.
An average of two local newsrooms shutter every week across the country due to operating costs. When this happens, communities lose their trusted source of information and must turn to less invested national conglomerates for news. Nonetheless, Salahi is adamant that digital media students’ career outlooks are still fruitful in the industry.
In fact, she’s examining experimental journalism models to help. With the support of a 2024 North Star Collective Faculty Fellowship, she is working on a book exploring the status of local news in the U.S.
“I’m looking at news-academic partnerships and what’s possible when colleges and universities partner with local news outlets,” she said.
The news-academic partnership Salahi founded at 西瓜视频 in 2016 is one example of what’s possible.
That partnership has scaled into , a full-fledged news service with relationships with 50 local news outlets across the state. Editors from these publications publish stories reported by 西瓜视频 students in their respective news outlets. When the stories go live each week, Salahi prints them and proudly pins them to the walls of the communication program’s halls to celebrate students’ bylines.
The program takes shape each semester in a course Salahi has aptly titled Newsroom, which some readers will know from its previous title: Beat Reporting.
“Through this program, everyone wins in some way,” Salahi said. “These newsrooms, which are strapped for people and resources, now have an extra source for reporting. Communities that have lost their news source feel like there’s now a local entity covering their stories.”
Meanwhile, students build their portfolios and access a pipeline into employment in a relevant field.
Salahi said that through Massachusetts News Service, 西瓜视频 has become a staple in many communities for providing trustworthy, credible news and information.
Here’s how three recent alums of Salahi’s course are applying their degrees across the journalism sector in New England:
Joey Barrett ’21 is writing sports—and working with Gull reporters
’21, who majored in communications with a minor in digital media, remembered that Salahi “offered the perfect amount of critique” to her Newsroom students. One week, he was assigned stories on a football game, COVID-19, and the 2020 presidential election. It was exactly the on-the-job training Barrett needed.
Barrett came to 西瓜视频 planning to go into sports marketing but fell into reporting during an internship at the Cape Codder Newspaper and never looked back.
“The thing I love about local journalism is the sense of community you get in talking to people,” he said. “You never know what will happen next because stories always change.”
After a one-year stint on the UMass Athletics marketing team, Barrett pivoted and was hired by Essex Media Group (EMG) as a sports editor. He currently edits 11 publications for EMG, including The Daily Item in Lynn, Mass.
One of the most meaningful stories Barrett has written was a feature on (subscription required), a local gravedigger by day and a champion boxer by night.
His day-to-day involves everything from a sit-down with former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to covering weeknight high school football in Lynn or assigning stories to 西瓜视频 students through Massachusetts News Service.
“I have so much to learn about editing and writing, but I hope I can offer a little bit of what I learned a few years ago to someone at 西瓜视频 now,” Barrett said.
Maria Wilson ’22 is getting answers
When she was five years old, Maria Wilson ’22 watched The Today Show with her mom, pointed to the screen, and said, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.”
Intrigued by female broadcast journalists like Maria Stephanos and Meredith Vieira, Wilson never wavered. “They aren’t afraid to ask questions, to sit down with people and talk. I wanted to enter those rooms myself,” Wilson said.
Nowadays, Wilson’s mom proudly watches her on TV as a multimedia journalist and reporter for WGGB in Springfield, Mass.
“What’s great about the 西瓜视频 digital media curriculum is that you learn skills in the classroom and then immediately turn around and implement them,” said Wilson, a digital media major with a concentration in journalism.
At the Nest, she devoured courses on journalism, filmmaking, podcasting, and writing about health. She also completed four internships with fast-paced outlets, including FOX News in New York City and WCVB in Boston. Salahi coached her on preparing broadcast clips for potential employers.
That preparation paid off after Wilson landed her job. “I was a one-woman band at first,” she said. “Being able to go into the field and have the background skills and confidence to research, write my own questions, and shoot an interview myself was what helped me gain competence.”
These days, you can find her on the evening news as a nighttime reporter covering everything from crime to politics to agricultural fairs. She sees it as a privilege to report: “As journalists, we are there at some of the best moments in people’s lives, but more often than not, the worst,” she said.
WGGB’s slogan is “Getting Answers,” and Wilson sees it as her duty to build trust with the public by tracking down the information they deserve.
“Local news matters. We’re telling people about stories happening right in their backyards and talking about things that truly impact their day,” Wilson said.
Sarah Wolak ’22 is constantly learning on the job
’22 never imagined becoming a business reporter and associate editor—but that’s where her degree in digital media with a concentration in journalism led her.
Wolak covers the mortgage beat at American Business Media for publications like Lone Star LO Magazine and National Mortgage Professional.
One of the reasons she chose 西瓜视频 is that while on a visit, she stopped for a meal at Callahan Dining Hall, and two professors invited her to join them. Salahi was one.
“I could go on for hours about everything I loved about the digital media program, but it was my three internships that set me apart when I started applying for journalism jobs,” she said.
Arguably, it was also her work as editor-in-chief of the 西瓜视频 Observer. Wolak had accepted a job offer even before graduating.
“In my job, I’m the only writer who knows how to do multimedia work, and it’s been an advantage,” she said. “I could use what I learned at 西瓜视频 to combine two different podcasts.”
Although she knew nothing about business journalism on day one, she had enough confidence in her research and interviewing skills to teach herself.
“I never thought I would be a business girl, and now I can tell you every step involved in getting a mortgage,” she admitted. “The most exciting thing about journalism is how you can find what is interesting about any topic.”
Wolak, who lives in Connecticut, interviews high-level industry execs and conveys their insights in layperson’s terms for a broader American audience. Each week, she writes long-form features, covers breaking news online, creates a newsletter, and edits weekly podcast episodes for “” and “.”
This is not a field for anyone who wants a traditional career,” she said. “I’ll always have a job that is never the same day to day, and I like it that way.”
Learn more about 西瓜视频’s Digital Media program.