MTSU Sidelines

Issue date: 6/13/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Morguefile.com Before she landed a gig as an associate producer for WKRN, MTSU alumna Jennifer Jackson studied abroad in London, where she interned for Morris Visitor Publications, a company that owns three major British magazines.

Growing up in Woodberry, Tenn., Jennifer Jackson always knew there was something more to life than the rural area where she grew up. After a valuable experience overseas, she got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put her skills to use.

A December 2005 graduate of MTSU's College of Mass Communication, the 22-year-old former journalism major currently works as an associate producer for WKRN, Nashville's ABC news affiliate, where her responsibilities include selecting sound and video bites and writing scripts.

Additionally, she also helps arrange live shots for Channel 2's local reporters, as well as for reporters from around the country. She takes part in rewriting scripts for the station's Web site and attaching videoclips to accompany the stories, and most recently, she has begun producing the station's weekend morning newscasts.

As for Jackson's latest broadcast journalism success, no one could be prouder than her dad, Pat Jackson, manager of MTSU's Audio-Visual Services.

"Jennifer is very focused and she knows she needs experience," he says. "She works very hard, and she is very determined. As she was growing up, her mother and I both wanted her to do what she wanted, within reason."

On the road to her current career, one of the experiences Jackson chose was to study abroad. In the summer of 2005, she secured an internship in London, where she worked for Morris Visitor Publications, a company that owns three major London-based magazines specializing in tourism; namely, London, Where London and London Guide.

For Jackson-who minored in global studies and art history-travel abroad was a dream come true.

"I met lots of people from MTSU; there were about 200 people from the United States doing the internship while I was there," Jackson says.

Nothing, however, could prepare her for the bombings that hit London on July 7, 2005, during her internship. These bombings were a series of coordinated terrorist bomb blasts that hit London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. That day, three bombs exploded within 50 seconds of each other on three London Underground trains.

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