KC Counts talks with Jonny Coker about his work at KRWG as he embarks on new adventures. Here is a portion of their conversation:
KC:
Well, Jonny, everyone here at KRWG is so sorry to see you move on. Thank you for the time that you've spent here. You were here during some crazy times. There were big stories happening in Las Cruces, the region, around the world. I want to start by asking you what you were doing before you came to KRWG because it was the height of the pandemic and you had just recently graduated, right?
Jonny:
I had been unemployed for a while and doing freelance stuff, and just trying to find my own way in the world. I graduated in 2019 and I didn't start at KRWG ‘til 2022, so there was a lot going on in my life before that point, but you know, just to speak a little bit on that, I can't thank KRWG enough. You know, you helping me, of course, the director of content, Anthony Moreno, and everyone at KRWG has really just been such a huge support in covering these these times that we've gone through these past few years, whether it's the wildfires in Ruidoso, whether it's coming out of the pandemic, whether it's dealing with the public safety issues that we're having in New Mexico, I mean, there's a lot going on. But I've had so much support and coming into KRWG, not fresh out of college, but as a professional sort of trying to find their way in the world. It's just worked out so perfectly and I can't thank everyone here enough, honestly. It's been amazing.
KC:
What did you learn from your experience at KRWG that maybe you didn't from what you were doing before?
Jonny:
I learned that - I knew journalism was a tough job and journalism is a tough job, and I think it just reinforced that in terms of especially, you know, we mentioned all the crazy stuff that's happened these past three years. I think what I learned is it takes a lot of dedication and a lot of support to really be able to pursue this profession and to be able to do it effectively. You really have to have the right team around you and you have to have the right mindset going into it. And luckily, we do have that here and we've been able to cover these things in an effective way I think, and hopefully the public has been able to see that and and been able to be informed by the type of reporting we do with the support.
KC:
We have, well, I hear compliments about you wherever I go, and and it's easy to see why. One of the questions I had for you was about the stories - you mentioned a lot of the big stories that you've covered since you've been here and stories can impact you personally as a journalist in different ways. What of those do you recall as being the hardest story to cover?
Jonny:
The hardest stories to cover there, there are a couple that come to my mind. Of course, there were the fires in Ruidoso that you know, devastated that community and and I grew up in the Sacramento Mountains and I was hard to see people going through such tragedy in those mountains that I grew up so close to. And also just sort of sleeping out in the field wherever I can find a house or place to pull over, to take a nap. You know what I mean? It's a full time thing covering stories like that, not being able to have a home base, not able to come back to the station because it's, you know, so far away; and then also anything to do with public safety and police body cam footage, having to review that and and see the things that first responders go through, that's difficult. It's a difficult thing, and it's an important thing. I mean, I always had a level of respect - a high level of respect for first responders, but being there and talking to them and and talking to them about these issues and seeing and disseminating to the public what I'm seeing without traumatizing them, I suppose, is something that I - it's a skill that I learned and it's hard.
KC:
You realize that every word you choose has an impact.
Jonny:
Right. And that's the other thing, too, is one little word or one even if it's not necessarily incorrect, if it could be misconstrued as being incorrect, that's something that I've learned to watch out for and, and certainly my writing over these past 3 years, I think has been something that has leveled up. I've certainly grown in that aspect as well.
KC:
What would you offer as advice to students right now who are in the journalism program at at NMSU?
Jonny:
That's a good question. Just believe in the work that you do, find a beat that you think is important. Find something that you're passionate about and write about that, do stories on that, pursue those things. And find an editor that, well, it's hard to, you know, it's a hard landscape in journalism right now, but find a team around...
KC:
Editor. What's that?
Jonny:
But find a team that you can vibe with, have them back you up. Just find a team that you can work with and just go after the things you're passionate about. That would be my advice.
