Interview with Kai Wright
I originally caught up with Kai Wright, senior writer at TheRoot.com, for another video interview I did with him about his appearance at a World AIDS Day event in Boston. I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk to him about his online endeavors as well.
Many of the things he mentioned in our interview are right on point. For the last 10 years, I have worked as a freelance print journalist, and now I have found that I have to reinvent myself in the digital world.
I was an early adapter to online journalism; I have been blogging for over six years, and Twitter has recently become my new best friend. This summer I started writing for the new African American-centered online news site TheGrio.com. But I never thought in a million years I would have to shoot and edit video for work, but for the last year I have been doing it with little chagrin.
I am still in the “trial and error” process, but I am having fun with my self training, mostly from watching other online videos and playing with my video editing system. My digital efforts have paid off so far. In addition to vlogging (a form of blogging using primarily video) for WGBH, the PBS affiliate in Boston, I was also hired recently to do short video interviews with authors at my local black bookstore, Jamaicaway Books & Gifts. So, yes, I guess you can say I am an entrepreneurial journalist taking advantage of the new online frontier.