As the MIPA summer conference’s first night’s keynote speaker, Tricia Bobeda, who now serves as the senior editor of multiplatform news at WBEZ-Chicago, encouraged students to practice journalistic integrity while following their passions in the ever-changing field.
“Build the thing you think the world needs,” Bobeda said, while discussing her co-start of the podcast the Nerdette, which was her passion project she started around five years ago alongside Greta Johnsen.
Nearly 15 years ago, Bobeda, a Northwestern Journalism School graduate, spent two years in the same seats as the current workshop participants. Since her time at MIPA, Bobeda said her passions led her to pursue a career in journalism, where she learned what she views as the four super powers of journalists, which includes listening to people and combating the ignorance that plagues our culture.
“I don’t think we (journalists) should think of ourselves as superheroes,” Bobeda said, “but we do have superpowers.”
While discussing how journalism has been under attack in recent months, Bobeda spoke about gaining the trust of readers and building publications’ reputations. Citing the idea that with great power comes great responsibility, she pushed the students to be skeptical, yet compassionate.
Bobeda also emphasized that during her hiring process for potential journalists at WBEZ, the three qualities she looks for are hustle, heart and curiosity—traits that, according to her, can’t be taught with degrees.
Bobeda spoke highly of her time at the MIPA summer conference.
“I learned more at MIPA in two years than in my college courses,” Bobeda said.
She ended by motivating the students to seize the opportunity of being enveloped in journalism for four days.
“There’s no better time and place to do it than now,” Bobeda said. “So do it.
Hello Victoria my name is Mackenzie Warren and I am in the Opinion Coverage class at MIPA this year. The introduction paragraph really set the stage for what the rest of your piece was about. All of the quotes from Bobeda helped strengthen this piece and give it credibility.
Hi I am Molly Wilson and I am in the Opinion Writing course. I thought that your choice of quotes were really powerful and truly helped emphasize and/or prove the points you were making in your column. My favorite quote you chose was, “Build the things you think the world needs”. This quote really showed how she only worked on things she was passionate about which emphasized the points made in your article. As someone who was at the keynote speech, I felt like you really showcased the main points of her presentation and presented it clearly for anyone, even ones who were not present.
Hi, my name is Sophie and I’m apart of the Opinion Coverage class. I think your article is very well done. There is a great mixture of quotes and background information. Furthermore, I enjoyed how your headline really matched the basis for the article. But, I think there are a few aspects of the article that could be improved. Firstly, the word “said” appears numerous times in the article and I think that the word could be swapped out with many others that are more riveting, such as, “expressed” or “remarked.” This is just my personal opinion, as I prefer to avoid using the word “said” if I can help it. In addition, I feel as though you could’ve elaborated more when talking about Bobeda’s idea of skepticism and compassion. I would’ve liked to hear your thoughts regarding what you think her idea meant. These are just my opinions, but overall, the article was captivating and well written.
Hello Victoria Gardey., you have a well written new brief. I like how you introduced the speaker and gavve background on her. ALso, you did a wonderful job of sticking to your topic. Your quotes are placed perfectly and your word choice is good. Lastly, i like the contrast you made between jounalist having a rough time recently and Mrs. Bobeda using her superpowers to turn things around. Nice Job.