Today, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane paid a visit to our Seminar in Journalism class. Our main topics of discussion were what it takes to be a columnist and the Trayvon Martin shooting.

Kane has been a columnist at the Journal Sentinel since 1995, when he was offered a column upon his return to Milwaukee. Kane gave some words of wisdom to our class of budding journalists. He said if you can find your own stories, the newsroom will appreciate it; otherwise, you are at the mercy of the editor who picks your stories for you. Columnists have to choose their own stories.

Columnists do have more freedom to write stuff. "You are writing it in your voice," Kane said. "It's your audience." Kane said that most journalists are subjective anyway simply by what stories they choose to cover or not cover.

Our class discussed having a voice quite a bit, as class members asked several questions on the topic. Kane mentioned some of his journalism idols from Philadelphia, where he was born.

"Their voice was so distinctive, sometimes people could just read it out loud and you could tell who had written it," Kane said, as our professor Herbert Lowe nodded along in agreement (Lowe is also from Philadelphia)

Kane says having a column can also be difficult because of the background work it requires. It is not just writing everything off the top of your head, Kane said. You have to keep your eyes and ears open for what people are talking about. It is not hard coming up with story ideas; the difficulty lies in turning those ideas into good columns.



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