Monica Pearson Talks Twitter At KSU

Monday, Channel 2 Action News anchor Monica Pearson spoke at . Her lecture, sponsored by the university’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter, detailed the numerous ways technology has changed the industry of broadcast journalism over the last three decades.

Pearson has been an anchor and reporter for WSB-TV for over 30 years. In August 1975, Pearson became the first woman and African American to anchor an evening news program in the city of Atlanta. As a broadcaster, Pearson has earned more than 30 Southern Regional Emmy Awards.

Pearson opened her presentation by demonstrating how she provides narration for commercial spots through the use of an iPad and iPhone.

“That cell phone you use right now just to talk on? In our business, that is now a viable tool for doing stories,” she said.

Pearson said that due to an emphasis on multimedia, the “one man band is back” in broadcast journalism.

“You can’t just specialize in just being the best reporter in the world,” she said. “Now, in smaller markets, you’re going to be the reporter and the videographer as well as the editor.”

“You’ve got to be media savvy,” Pearson continued. “The more you know about social media, the more attractive you are going to be to employers.”

Pearson told the audience that she realized the importance of social media when Justin Bieber was spotted at a Georgia Music Hall of Fame ceremony.

“My co-anchors for the night we’re standing up there, shooting the whole thing and tweeting it and Facebooking it,” she said. “I lost a competitive edge that night because I wasn’t tweeting.”

Pearson pointed at her cell phone. “That thing builds an audience.”

Pearson said that a number of factors, including the increase in the population of Spanish speakers in the metro Atlanta area, will change the way local broadcast media is produced. She also said that she expects web-based media to become the largest growth sector for the industry of journalism over the next several years.

In her lecture, Pearson also talked about her many experiences as a reporter in Atlanta.

“When I went on the air in 1975, there were no people of color nor women doing the 6 o’clock news,” she said. “When you talk about changes from 1975 to now, it’s like a lifetime.”

“When I moved in 1975, you could not do grocery shopping on Sunday because there were blue laws,” Pearson recalled. “How have we changed? We’ve grown in population and ideas, and that’s all for the good.”

“I’ll never forget my first interview in Atlanta,” she stated. “(The cameraman) said to me, ‘your package is going to be a minute and 30 seconds, and you’ve already asked more than we need. You need to be more strategic with your questions and get to the point.’”

“It was the best thing he ever did for me,” Pearson said. “Then, I went back and prioritized my questions.”

Pearson said the most important aspect of television news is in merely relaying the most important features of a story to the viewer. “It’s as simple as that,” she said. “Telling it to the viewer the same way you would say it to them, with the most important information first.”

Pearson,  who has interviewed numerous celebrities for her “Close-Up” specials on WSB-TV, said that her all-time favorite interviewee was Dolly Parton. “She not only was a great business woman, but she knew how to use her looks to get what (she wanted),” Pearson said. “She was the most real person I ever met.”

Pearson said the highlight of her professional career was a story involving the Georgia High School Association. “After I did my report, not only did they integrate the board with women, they also made girls' soccer a statewide sport, which it was not at that time.”

Pearson said that although she finds her work very rewarding, it isn’t without its difficulties and challenges.

“Being in front of the camera isn’t always the best thing in the world,” she told event attendees. “If a story goes past your work hours, you stay. I cannot tell how many Christmases I worked until I finally had seniority. And I still work every Thanksgiving, doing the tree lighting for Macy’s.”

Pearson concluded her lecture by reminding students and other attendees that the most important part of her career is the journalistic aspect and not the media persona.

“Reporting is what makes you who you are and how people see you, not the anchoring,” she said. “Anchoring is fluff.”

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