Caroline Stroud

JOUR 271

Sandra Knispel

October 12, 2012

455

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI----------- Ole Miss alumni Sandra Knispel spoke to a packed classroom Thursday morning in Farley Hall.  With students shoulder-to-shoulder and sitting on the floor Knispel talked about her journey with journalism.

            Sandra Knispel was raised in Germany but has lived in Wales, France, and the United States.  She got her Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and Russian studies from the University of Wales, Swansea. She then came to Mississippi to get her masters in journalism from Ole Miss.  

            Knispel has worked on all media platforms from newspapers, magazines and Television.  However, Knispel told the class she did not originally plan on being a multimedia journalist, but in order to stay a journalist in today’s world she said you have to be able to do it all.

            “If you want to have a career that keeps going you need to know all types of journalism,” said Knispel.

Right after college Knispel got a job in New York City working for a German/ American newspaper, she worked there for 3 months until she realized that was not where she needed to be and left.  Knispel worked odd jobs for a year after that and then got a job as a television anchor for Bloomberg TV Germany. With Bloomberg Knispel covered financial markets and economics. 

Knispel moved back to Mississippi in 2001 with her husband and started working as the editor for the weekly Oxford Enterprise. She has been freelancing for Mississippi Public Broadcasting and NPR since 2002.  Knispel also writes for national magazines including, Conceive and Baby Talk. 

Her broadcast work has earned her many national and regional awards including the Excellence Writing Award in the Florida magazine and the Folio award.  She just recently won her second Edward R. Murrow award for her broadcast on Smithville, Mississippi after the tornado completely destroyed the entire town. 

Before she left Knispel shared advice with the students telling them to work hard and do internships, “just say yes and do it,” said Knispel.

She told the students to consume as much news as possible, listen to more than just local news and sign up to get subscriptions of Newsweek. Don’t sugarcoat anything, always remember the do no harm policy, use Facebook for your reporting, fair and balanced journalism, always keep your eyes open and continue to build a network of friends are a few of the other tidbits she told the students as they furiously jotted down every word she was saying.

Sandra Knispel has worked hard to get where she is today, her success has come from her hard work and dedication and she encouraged the students to do the same.