New Interview: Lola Claire Has An Unending Desire To Be Educated
The editor-in-chief at St. Edward's University shared her passion for journalism and education with us
Lola Claire is the editor-in-chief of Hilltop Views the student newspaper at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. We talked to her about that, her interest in arts and culture journalism (particularly theatre reviews) and a Solutions Journalism project that she and her classmates have undertaken with help from Solutions Journalism Network.
Normally, I’ll share 4 to 5 questions from my interviews here, but I think you get your money’s worth with me sharing just one. Hope you’ll listen to the episode too.
How has being a journalist shaped you as a person and how you view the world?
I think in a way, I always viewed the world as a journalist, which is maybe why my mom kind of guided me in that direction. One of the biggest things that I think I've taken away from being a journalist is just the desire for education.
I've always been Type A. I've always been a great student. I was one of those weird kids who did like math workbooks over the summer and I loved doing homework. I've always loved learning, but I think there's something really important about not only being informed, but having what feels like a yearning to be informed.
There's so many students on my campus who just have no idea what journalism really is or how it works. And they're functioning on the definition of the media that's thrown into any headline these days and comes out of any Trump speech that you watch. He's talking about ‘the media’ and people don't really know what that means. There's this blanket term for ‘the media’ and it's got this negative connotation.
Being a journalist is really hard these days. One of the things I've taken away the most is just, I would almost even consider it like a hunger for information, like, anytime I hear something, I immediately have to start researching it. I have to know who said it, why they said it, what, what the truth is behind it, who can back it up? Is this credible?
I've gotten to a point where I just don't know how other people aren't like that. I walk across campus and I hear people saying things that just seem so unfounded or they're like, I saw it on TikTok.
Immediately, I'm like, how do you not just start doing research as soon as you hear something like that? Every time I see something I immediately get that bug where I'm like, okay, I have to look more into it and I have to find out all of the facts because if I talk about it, I want to know what I'm saying and what I'm talking about.
And I do want to talk about it because that's what I do. I give people information. That's my job. That's how I'm making money.
The biggest thing that has changed about me having worked in journalism is just that it's not even that I have this desire for information, I don't even understand how other people couldn't have that.
One of my favorite things to say when I'm handing out our newspaper, this may not be the most professional thing, but one of my favorite things to say when I'm handing out newspapers on campus is that it's so hot to be informed.
All of the athletes walk by and I go, oh my gosh, it's so hot to be educated and to know what's going on in the world. Take a paper, you look better already. In a way I think it's true. One of the most important things that I that I look for in people, in friends and acquaintances is whether or not they have like that desire to to be educated on what's going on around them and what's happening in their community.”
The next 2 weeks, we’ll focus on some interviewing journalists covering subjects that have been in the news a lot lately. Lizzy Lawrence covers the Food & Drug Administration for STAT News. And Even Urquhart covers transgender issues for his website, Assigned Media.
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