Andrea McDaniel

Andrea McDaniel is no stranger to the journalism world. After being in this business for 18 years McDaniel had lots of tips to share with our journalism class. You would think that after working in a career for almost 20 years it would get easier but McDaniel said that is not the case. “Journalism never gets easier,” said McDaniel. One of the biggest challenges McDaniel faces when trying to write a story is getting her subjects trust. “There is a lot of distrust in Baltimore because of violence,” said McDaniel. She said in order to get most of her stories she had to start with social workers and gain their trust in order to ever get into the school systems. McDaniel said that parents are the hardest to interview because they don’t trust at all. As a class we asked if it is hard to separate her from the sad stories she writes. “As a reporter you are still a person, its not bad to show compassion.” McDaniel also doesn’t let her gender slow her down. She says that being a women has never deterred her from a story or held her back because she wont allow it to. McDaniel gives me hope to become a journalist like her one day.