Lexie Kaufman is a freshman at Emerson studying Political Journalism. She is currently involved in four different shows on campus and is only in her second semester!
Her Campus at Emerson: What made you decide to be a journalism major?
Lexie Kaufman: I decided to be a journalism major back in my freshman year of high school. I was very into music and I started taking journalism classes because I was really interested in writing about music so I thought it was something interesting to explore. I took a journalism class in my freshman year and the passion developed over time. Then I got into politics through being assigned news topics and going to political rallies.
HCE: How has your experience been going at Emerson?
LK: (Laughs.) My experience is very 50/50, great, bad sometimes… Being a journalist is very hard, especially at Emerson when you don’t necessarily have the same viewpoints as everyone else. You’re really trying to stay objective. I think that’s the hardest part of being a journalist, especially in Boston, where it’s very very one sided and you’re not a part of that one side and you still have to keep that objectivity. But it’s been great so far because of the amazing opportunities Emerson has given me, and all of the shows and news reporting it has to offer.
HCE: What shows are you doing and which one is your favorite?
LK: I’m currently involved with a couple of news shows and a couple of EIV shows. I’m on EIV News for field reporting, I’m on WEBN to be a political correspondent and also an anchor/correspondent sometimes, I’m on EIV’s News Feed as an assistant producer so that’s new for me, and I’m an entertainment correspondent for The Dish on EIV.
HCE: How do you keep up with it all?
LK: I don’t. I don’t sleep (laughs) and I don’t eat. In all honesty, I bought a giant calendar, stuck it to my wall, just so I make sure I don’t miss things. You know it’s not terrible. I like being busy, I feel like I have a real purpose here and I’m contributing. It just makes me feel a lot better waking up knowing that I’m going to do cool things for society and myself.
HCE: Let’s talk about your involvement on The Dish. What kind of things do you do on the show?
LK: On The Dish I’m an entertainment correspondent so I focus on television mainly because we have a host and three correspondents; that’s our whole show, the talent. Our correspondents are music, movies and TV. So I do TV. I think we do bi-weekly, so every other Friday we do a show, and I do a 2-3 minute satire bit, making fun of TV or talking about what’s going on in TV in a light hearted way. Or a bad hearted way, (laughs) it depends. But yeah, that’s what I do on The Dish.
HCE: How do you think this is furthering your journalism career?
LK: Well my journalism career goal is to be a political talking head so the more camera time I get the better. It’s helping me learn how to speak on camera, in front of an audience, get comfortable doing it, how to stand, how to talk, etc. So this is definitely the best way to get that hands on experience.