Parker Seibold spent 2020 covering COVID-19, California’s fires, reopening of schools and other daily news for the Monterey County Weekly. Seibold graduated from the J-School in the Spring of 2017 and found an internship at the Missoula Independent the summer after school and later worked for the Missoulian. In a recent Q&A with graduate student Sierra Cistone, Seibold explained that her journey into being a hard news reporter was not something she had planned while still at the J-School.
An edited transcript of the conversation follows.
Did you plan to be a breaking news reporter when you were in the J-School?
I did not. Breaking news always kind of stressed me out and I felt like I would never be good at it. I wanted to work on feature stories and anything I could spend a lot of time on. Now, I love breaking news and I think some of my strongest work comes from news assignments.
What have you learned about covering breaking news through your work at the Monterey County Weekly?
I’ve learned a lot about how to be prepared to cover breaking news, especially wildfires. But I primarily cover more basic news because we are a weekly. I try to have all of my equipment easily accessible pretty much all the time. I also have a better grasp on how to do quick research about something so I can have a basic understanding of what is happening and know who I should be talking to when I get to an assignment. Knowing how to get that information makes a big difference in how efficiently I can cover breaking news.
What made you first interested in photojournalism?
I’ve always been interested in photojournalism. I think I was interested in it before I even really understood what it was. I always loved looking at, and felt I connected with, photos in magazines like National Geographic. I first said I wanted to be a photojournalist when I was in the fourth grade and got my first camera around the age or 12 or 13. From there my understanding of and love for visual storytelling grew.
How did the J-School prepare you for the work you do now?
Exactly how their motto says they would. I learned by doing. The J-School and the professors there have high expectations of students and want you to go out and do journalism for a reason. They’re preparing you for the real world which is competitive and fast-paced.
