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As a Fox News Channel
intern, Kimberly Adams, holding microphone, learned just
how much patience journalism requires. While covering The
New York Times scandal, she waited one day from 10
a.m. to 7 p.m. outside the newspaper’s building for
the higher-ups to emerge. They never did. Photo by Richard
E. Levine
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Feeding
the Frenzy
By Chris Blose
Note: This story was published originally
in the winter 2004 issue of MIZZOU, the magazine of the MU Alumni
Association.
Aside from pop stars, few 20-year-olds
know what it’s like to be in the midst of a media frenzy,
a seething mass of photographers snapping photos and reporters
scrambling for the oh-so-important sound bite. But Kimberly
Adams knows.
As a Fox
News Channel intern
in New York for summer 2003, the junior journalism and political
science major
from St. Louis got to play her part in the media melee. She
spent days in stakeouts outside a federal courthouse, where
she waited for a maligned Martha Stewart to emerge. She helped
cover the Jayson Blair scandal at The New York Times.
Her biggest moment came with one of the top stories of the year:
the blackout. When New York City went dark, along with other
parts of the eastern United States and Canada, Adams stepped
up from the role of intern and produced live shots and audio
for the national news network.
Of course, Adams’ ability
to perform under pressure should come as no surprise. In June
2003, she earned a Top Ten Scholarship from the Scripps
Howard Foundation, an award that included a $10,000 scholarship
and designation as one of the 10 best journalism students in
the country. She understandably slipped out of her usual professionalism
for a moment when she found out about the award.
“I’m in the New York bureau of
the Fox News Channel with all these correspondents and producers,” Adams
says,
“and all of the sudden they hear this squealing coming from
the corner. They looked at each other like, ‘What’s
wrong with the new intern?’ ”
Adams consistently makes
the dean’s list and is also a McNair
Scholar. She didn’t pursue journalism at MU to pile
up awards, though. Really, she just loves to tell stories.
That’s
where the journalism education, everything from writing to visual
production, comes into play. The political science major represents
the extra work needed to tell those stories properly, especially
given her goal of becoming a foreign correspondent.
Now that Adams
has had a taste of just how exciting journalism can be, she
knows she’s chosen the right path. One day,
we might all turn on our TVs to find an image of her reporting
the news from far, far away. She’ll live
the fabled life on the road in pursuit of the story.
“I know I’ll just be sleeping
one night,” she
says, “and I’ll get a phone call saying, ‘Kimberly,
you feel like traveling?’ I’ll say ‘Sure,’ pick
up my already packed bag, and then I’m out the door.”
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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