It’s All Journalism
It’s All Journalism is a weekly podcast about the changing state of the media. You can download episodes on our website or on ITunes. New episodes are posted every Saturday.
We are always looking for ideas of guests to interview and topics of discussion. Please email your suggestions or comments to editor@itsalljournalism.com.
You can also find out more about the podcast and follow our activities on Facebook or on Twitter (@AllJournalism).
Megan Cloherty
Follow @megancloherty
I fell in love with TV news when I was young and decided early on that I’d pursue it as a career. After attending the University of Missouri for broadcast journalism, I started my career as a local television news reporter and anchor.
I started out at KDRV, the ABC affiliate in Medford, Oregon. From there, I moved to Kansas City, Mo., where I reported and anchored at WDAF, the Fox affiliate.
When I came home to earn my master’s degree, I landed a freelance job working on air for CNN Newsource as a national correspondent and briefly spent time working for the Sports department of WRC News 4 in Washington, D.C.
I received my master’s in Interactive Journalism at American University in May 2012 and now work as a reporter and digital web manager at WTOP-FM in Washington, D.C.
I grew up in Bethesda, Md., and enjoy cooking, spending time with family and staying active.
Email Megan at megancloherty@gmail.com
Anna Miars
Anna Miars
I’ve enjoyed writing for as long as I can remember. I officially declared my desire to be a writer (what exactly that means has morphed many times) in the fourth grade. I made a career-day poster that showed a grown up version of myself holding a briefcase and a pen. While I don’t carry a briefcase and find myself utilizing a keyboard far more often than a pen, what I created almost 18 years ago (my mother has saved this gem) remains a testament to my love of storytelling.
After working on my high school newspaper and yearbook, I went to the University of Colorado at Boulder for a bachelor’s in news-editorial. I dabbled in the book publishing world for a year before I started working in the communications department at a nonprofit. Just three years out of college, I realized that being able to write wasn’t going to cut it professionally. Although I loved (and still do) the tangible, tactile nature of print publications, magazines and books in particular, the relevance and utility of digital media had become undeniable. To bring myself up to speed, I completed a master’s in interactive journalism at American University, graduating in May 2012. I worked at the Kogod School of Business at AU as the web content coordinator during most of the program, an opportunity that allowed me to utilize the skills I was learning in the classroom in my daily work. All in all, it was a great experience that imparted a great deal more than just a new skill set. Where I used to tread lightly — new media, blogging, mobile — I now dive into with enthusiasm each day. I can happily say that I don’t fear the journalism of the future, but stand ready to embrace it, whatever it may be.
I’ve lived in Washington, D.C., for close to five years. I was born in Indiana, Pa., but spent most of my formative years in Portland, Ore. I’ve also lived abroad in Riga, Latvia, and Cairo, Egypt, visiting many countries in Europe and the Middle East on both trips. My passion for travel is second only to my passion for journalism. I’m also interested in health and fitness, photography, social media, higher education, fashion, wine and books. I currently work at the American Association of Community Colleges as the internet content editor, managing the association’s website, writing and editing web content, producing video and multimedia and contributing to social media channels.
Email Anna at anna.miars@gmail.com
Michael O’Connell
Follow @frolixmike
I grew up in Indianapolis, Ind., and attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where I studied journalism and English. More importantly, I met my wife Fran, and we were married a week after graduation in May 1983.
The following October, we moved to Arlington, Va., and Fran began working as an Air Force officer at the Pentagon. Soon, we filled out our family with our son Christopher and the twins, Amber and Kayleigh. In 1987, we moved to a townhouse in Fairfax, Va., where we live today with three cats.
While our family has stayed put in Fairfax, we’ve had the opportunity to travel all along the East Coast many times, from New York City down to Key West., Fla. We’ve also visited family in Western New York and Indiana, and traveled multiple times to California.
I have a lifetime of interests that I could list here, but my current passions are digital media and travel. When I was younger, I was a fan of comic books, science fiction, Japanese animation and Japanese popular culture.
In a roundabout way, these early interests started me down my current career path. My early freelance writing assignments were interviews with comic book creators and features about animation. When Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon became huge culture phenomena in the mid-1990s, I specialized in covering the collectible gaming market and landed a couple of key editing jobs at Gamer Magazine and AnotherUniverse.com.
As associate editor at AnotherUniverse.com, which later became part of Fandom.com, I had my first opportunity of working in an online environment, editing stories and writing features about popular culture.
After Fandom.com folded, I found a job as a reporter at the Connection Newspapers in Fairfax County, Va. Over the years, I became proficient in community reporting and worked my way up to managing editor.
While at the Connection, my work was recognized with multiple awards presented annually by the Virginia Press Association, including the 2011 VPA Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service for the Fairfax Connection’s print and online project “An End to Homelessness.”
In the fall of 2010, I decided that I wanted to expand my experience in digital media and entered the Interactive Journalism graduate program at American University, in Washington, D.C.
As the editor who oversaw online content at the Connection, I was able to feed my digital media interests.
In October 2011, I was finally able to return full-time to online journalism as I joined Federal News Radio as its morning web editor. Each day, I’m fortunate to work with a creative team of digital journalists writing features and creating multimedia content about the federal government.
Email Michael at moconnell207@gmail.com
