Oswego’s 11th annual Media Summit
Many facets of the topics of equality and diversity in the media were discussed at the 11th annual Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
The beginning of the summit started with President Deborah Stanley approaching the podium to say a few words about diversity and equality in the media.
The panelists for this year were a very diverse group of people, perfect for this years Media Summit. Most of the panelists were graduates of Oswego State. Michelle Garcia, Kendis Gibson, David Longley and Jennifer Sanders shared their experience within the field. Each panelist described what difficulties they have faced within the workplace.
David Longley, a ’94 graduate of Oswego State and the Chief Meteorologist at WSYR, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005 but he does not let that hold him back in the industry. He described what he said to his viewers and his boss when he first announced his diagnosis.
“Here it is, I have MS and I don’t really know what it’s going to mean, I don’t know what it’s going to entail but I’m going to keep going as long as I can and we’ll go from there,” said Longley. “I made sure not to make it about me. I didn’t want a pity party, but it helped me to connect with people and discuss my story and be open about it.”
When talking about challenges they have faced in the media industry, Jennifer Sanders, a news anchor at WSYR, talked about her struggle of getting a job when first entering the news circuit.
“At my first job, I was the only black woman at the station I was working at. When I tried to acquire a higher up position, like an anchor, they told me that I wasn’t the type of woman they were looking for,” said Sanders. “They were used to having white, blonde women as anchors on their station and I just didn’t fit that description.”
Sanders didn’t let that bring her down, she now works at a station with three black woman anchors.
Later within the summit Michelle Garcia, ‘06, the Identities Editor at Mic.com, discussed the spectrum of the LGBTQ community and intersectionality within the media.
“If you’re not really that familiar with the LGBT community, yeah it all sounds like it’s under the same thing but in reality there is so much more,” said Garcia. “To be a black trans woman, is so different than being a Latino gay guy.”
