Journalist Jacque Reid urges students to become proactive

Before a crowd of more than 100 Southern University students, faculty and staff, former BET “Nightly News” anchorwoman Jacque Reid encouraged and inspired her audience to become more proactive about erasing the negative images being portrayed about blacks in the media.
“When you see something negative in the news about blacks, say something about it,” Reid said while speaking to the SU student body in the Cotillion Ballroom of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union Thursday, Oct. 19.
Reid was the second guest for the motivational speaker series of the semester. Reid’s appearance on the SU campus generated warm sentiments from students who attended the event.
“My overall appearance of Jacque Reid, not only as an African American but as a black journalist, I feel at this point in her career she has come through so many obstacles not only because of her gender, being a woman, but her race also being an African American in today’s society,” said Valeria Williams, a senior political science major from Cotton Port.
“She is the one that inspiring journalists look up to,” Williams said. “She’s a role model and a lot of journalists can model after her attributes.”
Reid is a graduate of Clark-Atlanta University who harbors strong views about young people attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a move she said was the key to her success.
“It was important for me to have a smaller environment with (a) professor who really cared about my future,” Reid said. “They seem to have more of an investment in me to be more successful and I was able to be more of a leader.”
Shortly after the cancellation of BET “Nightly News,” Reid accepted a job working with the “Steve Harvey Radio Show.”
“I made it a point to build relationships and network with people,” Reid said, shedding light on one of the main reasons why she received so many job offers after the cancellation of the news show.
But although the calls came and the job was taken, everything that glittered wasn’t gold, Reid said.
After being on air and expanding from three cities to about 30 cities, she was fired.
“If you are in the mass communications field, you will be fired,” Reid said. “Not only as a reporter but as a black reporter hurdles come that many must cross.”
Reid said problems can arise about what angles to use for the stories, if information is relevant enough and if the person being interviewed on camera is the most reliable person to use.
Reid said she feels as if it’s her duty to be the one who would take the initiative to portray blacks in the media in a positive aspect.
“One thing that she said that really stood out to me was before a story she was doing, she stopped two young black students and told them to ‘take that comb out of your head, take the cigarette out your ear,'” said Kyle Green, a sophomore political science major from New Orleans. “It really showed that she’s doing her part on how we are portrayed as people on television.”
Reid said students have to realize they are in a time in their lives when it’s important to network, meet and try different things. Things she said can make anyone a better person.
“Try to step outside the box,” Reid said. “Once you try something different and get into the real world, it’ll help you relate to other people better.”