JOURNALISM WAS NEVER THE DREAM BUT DEFINITELY WHERE SHE WAS MEANT TO BE

Lauren Paris (25) - picture sourced from Lauren Paris's Instagram account

I took the time to sit down with Lauren Paris, who is a former news journalist for HeartFM and is currently a day-time show producer at Cape Town's most loved radio station.

Lauren is an amazing person who one can instantly connect with when having a conversation. Her bubbly personality makes one feel so comfortable as if you have known each other for years. She is always willing to help and constantly wants to know more and how she can do better at something; it amazes me how she never knew that she was always meant to be a journalist.

"Journalism was never the dream but when it happened, I took it as a sign" said Ms Paris in the interview when she was asked whether it was always the plan to go into the media industry.

Paris who is born and bred in Cape Town; graduated from The Cape Peninsula University of Technology with a BTech Journalism Degree in 2018 and has not looked back ever since. After Paris matriculated, she was not exactly sure what she wanted to study but applied for a journalism course at CPUT. To her surprise, she got accepted and took this as a sign that it was what she was meant to do. During the course of her studies she fell in love with journalism and instantly knew this was the career for her. Paris grew up in the community of Mannenburg and it is no secret that the area is known for its high rate of crime. gang violence and teenage dropouts. With the support of her family; Paris was able to stay motivated and determined to finish her studies.

Lauren Paris at her BTech Graduation - The Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Once she completed her academic journey, she then took on the task of job searching and it was definitely not an easy thing to do. It's no secret how tight the media industry is, especially in Cape Town. Finding a job within the media industry is very challenging, many companies look for people with experience and when you're studying it can often become difficult to work and gain experience while being a full-time student. "It’s all about networking, always try to get your foot in somewhere whether it be a community paper or radio station. Get that experience".

Lauren considers herself lucky to have landed a job at one the best radio stations in the country. It is evident how much she loves her job as I watched her speak about it during our interview. "It gets tiring because as much as you want to have fun, you need to remember that it is a job you're doing but I enjoy my job and all that comes with it." Paris started her career as a news journalist at HeartFM; it was not long until she made the shift to a Day-time show producer for the radio station. I asked the question 'how different are these two jobs, do you miss being a news journalist?' and Paris responded:

I don't feel like I have left journalism. As a producer I am still constantly researching, reading news stories and looking for content. The research will always be the link for me because it’s what I had to do as a journalist as well. I constantly had to be reading the news for updates and researching to verify information. I would say that the only difference in being a producer is the fact that it allows me to work on all kinds of stories and not just the hard news.

Miss Paris in action - doing radio on the road. Picture sourced from Lauren Paris's Instagram account.

As a journalist you work on many stories and often times you have to remove your emotions from the situation, I asked Ms Paris how she manages to remain objective when reporting:

I always have to remind myself that this is my job; often times I read news stories that come in for the day and many of those are absolutely heartbreaking but as a journalist it is my responsibility to report the story with just the facts. One can easily be consumed by your emotions and want to report the story based on how you feel. It is not for everyone but I know that I am here to inform people on what they need to know.

Journalism has never been an easy career field, and I am sure you have learnt this along the way, I mentioned during the interview. I then proceeded to ask Miss Paris why journalism matters:

Journalism will always matter, it’s a job that gives a voice to the voiceless and it allows for people to have their stories told. Going into journalism this was the biggest thing I learnt. My job comes with a big amount of responsibility and it is my duty to give those who want to be heard a chance and expose the injustices that happens within society.

Lauren and her colleagues doing work on the go - HeartFM
Picture sourced from Lauren Paris's Instagram account.

As we ended off the interview, I asked Lauren whether she had any advice for students currently studying journalism and spoken like a true journalist Miss Paris said “As a student try to network with people who are in the industry as much as possible, ask the necessary questions, don’t be afraid to want to know more, ask about the job. Be as adaptable as possible because the media industry is constantly evolving.”

I could not have said it in a better way. It is clear that although journalism was not in Paris’s plan it is clearly where she was meant to be. It was so amazing to see how well Lauren fits into this career field, as if she’s always known it is what she wanted to do. She is a force to be reckoned with and will definitely be going places within her career.