Al Jazeera America Nashville’s national correspondent Jonathan Martin likes the competition, creativity and spontaneity of his craft.
“These three things really drive me to get up every morning and to work in news,” Martin said to a group of student communicators at Lipscomb University’s Media Masters event in Ezell.
“Something is always going, always changing,” Martin said. “You’re competing against yourself. You’re competing against other stations and companies. I love that competition.
“Second of all, I love the fact that there is creativity involved in this business,” he said. “You can make it your own. Finally, I think the spontaneity of things is really what drives me.”
Growing up in Atlanta, Ga., Martin always knew he wanted to pursue a career in news. His passion started when he was only six or seven years old.
“I always wanted to watch the news,” Martin said. “I was obsessed with the production, the anchors, the current events.”
Martin began his career in the city of Augusta, Ga. Two years later, he got a call to be the morning anchor at WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville. From there, he was able to work his way up to a weekend anchor position.
When he got the call to join Al Jazeera America’s Nashville bureau eight months ago, he said he was “all about it,” and has been working there for six months.
Martin took some time to discuss the type of stories he gets to cover and showed a clip of one of his latest stories about undocumented immigrants qualifying for in-state tuition.
“Today, I was covering another story at Vanderbilt Hospital and children who are affected by cancer,” Martin said. “Tomorrow, I have to fly out to Kansas to cover a new education bill.”
He also dropped a few tips for student journalists about to head out into the field.
“Make sure whatever you do, you truly have a passion for that,” Martin said. “The best part and the most fulfilling part is the work you do before you get on TV. Whether you’re going into journalism or PR, Enjoy the grunt work of what you do.
“Study your craft and know what you want.”
Martin then recalled his college days and how the experiences prepared him for the real world.
“For me, it was making mistakes,” he said. “When you get to a professional level, there’s not a lot of room for mistakes, but here on campus is where you can make mistakes.”