Each year, Mr. Scala’s history class is visited by a special guest, namely Brian Thompson, a reporter for NBC News 4 New York. And just like previous years, Thompson’s presentation this year did not fail to entertain.
Thompson is well known for his work with NBC, and is known for breaking major stories. One such story was when former governor Jim McGreevey was discovered to be having an affair with his recently appointed homeland security advisor; Thompson was the first to report this. He has a New York Emmy Award, which he’s received for his work on the program “What Matters.”
He’s also well known for his extensive coverage of Hurricane Sandy, including the destruction of the Jet Star roller coaster, and Thompson has also done an interview with a former first lady of New Jersey’s battle with depression shortly after her husband’s induction.
Thompson talked about his experiences as a reporter, including one incident in which he had to get his crew out of an area that potentially had landmines in Bosnia during wartime. In addition, he talked about his experiences with the Sandy victims, which he felt was one of the best stories he’d ever reported on because they were incredibly grateful.
A big portion of Thompson’s presentation was on the importance of e-journalism, and how print journalism has began to decline in importance. Thompson talked extensively on how what defines journalism has changed, and how social media has revolutionized the way we get our news. One such example was a picture he tweeted of a flooded car, which was the first reporting on a case and as such went viral.
Thompson’s presentation was very enlightening as to the current state of journalism, especially to us here at The Lion’s Roar, who went entirely online several years ago. His expose on his experiences and his advice regarding what journalism has morphed into is valuable to all who attended, and I’m sure Thompson will be invited to return once more next year.
You can follow Mr. Thompson @brian4NY, and see him on NBC 4 New York News.