On Tuesday, for one of my Journalism classes at Texas A&M we took a tour of our local newsroom, The Eagle. During our visit, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with editor, Kelly Brown.
Kelly Brown is a woman that has worn many hats in the journalism field. Brown graduated from Texas A&M University in 1989 with a degree in journalism.
Between writing for the Houston Chronicle, working as a private investigator, having an article published in Cosmopolitan magazine, to becoming The Eagle’s editor; Brown has crossed a wide spectrum of journalism careers.
However, Brown wasn’t always as passionate about print as she is now. Brown said that she tried to escape the newsroom environment various times throughout the years.
“I needed a steady job,” Brown said. “The newsroom wasn’t enough for me at the time. That is why I became a private investigator for a local police department.”
Brown said that becoming a private investigator took most of the same general reporting skills that a journalist would use, with the benefits of better pay. Brown also said that the techniques for gathering information that she learned from her time as an investigator sharpened her source gathering skills.
Her career in the private investigation field did not last long, and Brown was back in the newsroom by 1996 writing for The Eagle.
“I was a course reporter for four years,” said Brown. “I wrote about topics such as local companies, the collapse of the Aggie bonfire, and various city governments.” Brown said that once she came back to The Eagle, she knew what her greatest passion was.
In 2001, Brown became the managing editor for The Eagle. She held that title for nine years, and in 2010 she became The Eagles first female editor.
“I’m basically just a glorified city press editor,” Brown laughed when asked what she felt her biggest contribution to The Eagle was. “On a serious note, I feel it is a great accomplishment to have been the editor for a whole eight years. The fact that I still have a newsroom environment running where my employees actually want to come in and work is an honor.”
Brown also said that by being exposed to many larger newspapers like she helps The Eagles public relations grow.
According to Brown, The Eagle Currently has 23 employees with only two being full time. Brown said that the newsroom environment has greatly decreased in the last decade with the increase of digital media.
“We used to have to make actual phone calls to gather information. Now all we have to do is search our topic on the internet, and all of the information is right there,” said Brown. “It takes a process that used to take hours and cuts it down to seconds.”
Brown said that The Eagle has a few available internships open. For more information on these positions go to www.theeagle.com, or email her at kelly.brown@theeagle.com
Getting to talk to Kelly about how journalism has changed over the decades was very inspiring as a journalism student. Even though our visit was brief, Ifeel like learned an immense amount of information about how the newsroom operates.
