Kara Burke, pictured above, will be The Lamron’s incoming Editor in Chief starting in the fall of 2020 (Courtesy of Kara Burke).
International relations and communication double major junior Kara Burke will assume the position of Editor-in-Chief of Geneseo’s newspaper The Lamron in the fall semester.
Throughout Burke’s time on The Lamron staff, she has come to realize her passion for journalism and investigative reporting. Her love for the newspaper is what led her to run for the leading board position. She explained her journey as a member of The Lamron and what she hopes to accomplish as an EIC.
Burke initially joined the newspaper as a freshman, uncertain of whether writing was in her realm. Soon after, her academic plans shifted as she discovered her love for journalism.
“Two of my friends from Model UN asked to interview me for an article my freshman year and then convinced me to try writing for news,” Burke said. “I was a biology major at the time, so I was very hesitant, but once I started I was hooked and ended up changing my major to [international relations] and communication because I loved writing for The Lamron so much.”
Burke further explained a remarkable break-through moment she experienced during her time as associate news editor that sparked the desire to be a future EIC.
“Honestly, it took me a long time to figure out I wanted to try to be EIC. I started thinking about it when I was associate news editor and the article broke about a sexual assault at Geneseo involving a professor. That made me realize how important The Lamron and student newspapers in general are to college communities,” Burke said. “Once I started to delve into the investigative realm and then branch out into other sections as managing editor, I realized that I wanted to be part of every section, not just news, which made me want to be EIC.”
With the passion Burke has fostered by writing for each newspaper section, she commented on the plans that she hopes to implement to achieve even greater success for the newspaper. Her main goal is to increase the livelihood of the paper in hopes of catching more of the community’s attention.
“I’d like to shake up section-specific content a lot. I’d like to see if sports can incorporate more sports news-directed articles, not just game coverage and editorials,” Burke said. “I would, in general, like to add a lot of new beats to all the sections to liven up the paper because we’ve been doing the same stuff for a while. I’d also really like to expand our web content and delve more into satire.”
Burke feels excited to accomplish all her goals alongside the executive board members in the fall. She knows that with the passion and talent each board member has collectively, everyone will work to make the newspaper successful and full of good content.
In the same realm of working alongside the different board members, Burke aims to instill more journalistic skills in the staff writers and editors.
“I hope to make some changes to spice up The Lamron a bit, while also teaching staff writers and editors as much as I can,” Burke said. “I think it’s important [to have] The Lamron serve as a teaching platform for journalism because there really isn’t a journalism program [or] classes [for journalism] at Geneseo. I really want to instill confidence in my team next year, because all of them are really great.”
With her extensive time as a member of this board, Burke hopes to pursue journalism after she graduates. She acknowledges the role of the newspaper in shaping her career goals.
“I am so passionate about investigative reporting because of my time at The Lamron. I really credit working on this newspaper for helping me start to find who I really am. When I came to Geneseo, I was pursuing biology because it just felt like if I wanted to be successful, I had to be a STEM major. I then had Professor Gikonyo in the chemistry department tell me that ‘it isn’t about what you want to do, it’s what you ought to do,’” Burke said. “The Lamron showed me that while I like science, I belong in journalism. Our world is really struggling right now, and I really believe I can make a difference and help create positive change through journalism. My goal is to end up in investigative news or sports politics.”
While college newspapers are important in many ways, Burke emphasizes how crucial it is that community members are made aware of issues in their communities, because that is how change starts. She highlights how significant it is that people are both educated and informed.
“Student newspapers really can hold colleges accountable for their actions and I think that’s really important. I also think it’s important that people be informed of what’s going on in their community, whether it be good or bad, because change can’t be made unless the general population understands the issues,” Burke said. “I also think The Lamron is the best place to actually learn journalism on our campus, and it’s such an important field, so I’m thankful [that our school newspaper] exists to teach people.”