{"id":4038,"date":"2020-03-09T08:46:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T12:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/?p=4038"},"modified":"2020-03-09T08:46:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T12:46:57","slug":"from-hunter-to-the-hill-student-shares-experience-covering-politics-in-d-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/2020\/03\/09\/from-hunter-to-the-hill-student-shares-experience-covering-politics-in-d-c\/","title":{"rendered":"From Hunter to the Hill, Student Shares Experience Covering Politics in D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Kadia
Kadia Goba addresses journalism students via Skype from the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 25 about covering the Trump impeachment proceedings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was a long road from New York fashion to Washington politics, but this winter former Hunter journalism student Kadia Goba ended up covering one of the biggest stories of a generation \u2014 the impeachment of a president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goba, who had earlier in her career worked as a sales rep in the fashion industry in New York, now spends her time on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where she covers Congress for Buzzfeed News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the best of times, it\u2019s a grueling job. Goba typically is up at 5 a.m. to check for news on Twitter and then spends the day working the halls of Capitol Hill to gather info for her stories from staffers and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Things got especially intense as the impeachment of President Trump unfolded this fall and winter. She recalls fellow reporters often working until 2 a.m. or after, as they chased down lawmakers for comment once impeachment proceedings ended for the day, and then putting together stories to run a couple of hours later during the morning shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work was so draining, she recalls, that sympathetic senators would sometimes even send candy and encouraging notes to reporters in the press gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Goba finds covering the country\u2019s highest legislative body rewarding. \u201cOne of the most exciting things about Congress is that we have so much access to members,\u201d she says. \u201cAfter they vote, they walk in the hallways and we stand around and talk to them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also learned to hone her craft, especially in interviewing. \u201cYou have to press them,\u201d she advises. \u201cWork on framing your questions better and force them to follow-up.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goba added that it was important not to take anything for granted. \u201cIf you make assumptions, then your questions start to become framed around that. You get more information when you\u2019re not making assumptions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to Buzzfeed <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Goba got her first real exposure to politics at an internship with a local political news site in Brooklyn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a student at Hunter College, Goba says she took advantage of every opportunity available, such as working on the student-run Envoy, applying for nearly every internship listing and enrolling in multimedia classes to hone her video skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big break came in 2018, when Goba won a Pulitzer Center Fellowship grant funded to travel to Sierra Leone to report<\/a> on how local women rebuilt their community after a landslide that killed many and left many others homeless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Students gather for advice from Goba on Pulitzer Fellowship<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While reporting there, she recalls being without electricity and having trouble reaching out to government officials in the country. But the experience taught her a lot about flexibility and adaptability, and letting her story be molded by her experiences.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goba strongly suggests that students apply to internships as early in their college careers as possible. \u201cI think people should just try to apply for any that they can,\u201d she says. “It\u2019s where I made all of my connections.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many students may feel discouraged by a lack of racial diversity and representation in the media, but Goba confirms that those perspectives are in demand. When asked how it felt as a woman of color to work in an predominantly white industry, she replied, \u201cI\u2019m used to it, coming from the fashion industry. It\u2019s lonely, but I\u2019m also proud that I worked hard for it.\u201d 
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Hunter Journalism student Kadia Goba helped cover impeachment proceedings against President Trump this winter. Find out about her road from working as a sales rep in the New York fashion industry to a politics reporting for Buzzfeed on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,18],"tags":[221],"class_list":["post-4038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage_news","category-journalism-program-news","tag-buzzfeed-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4038"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4102,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4038\/revisions\/4102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm.hunter.cuny.edu\/journalism\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}