A Discussion With Eric Athas

My first impression of Eric Athas was that he very could have been another student in our Multimedia class. Clean cut, and armed with a Mac Book Pro, he seemed to blend in well with the rest of the journalism students. There is one major difference between Eric Athas and the masses of journalism hopefuls at UMass Amherst: He’s made it.

By ‘making it’ I don’t mean that Athas has a six-figure salary and is friends with celebrities; I mean that he has a successful career. A successful career to a college student seems like a far off entity that we are constantly chasing until we finally graduate and then….wait for it….we’re living at our parents house to pay off student loans.

Athas struck me as a student whose brain never really seemed to turn off. Before graduating in 2008, he had a number of accomplishments in the journalism field at UMass Amherst. He had the brainchild that would turn into what is now know as the Amherst Wire (link) and was a liaison to the western Massachusetts publication known as masslive.com. Hearing these achievements made me envious, but after further explanation Athas made it known that it wasn’t impossible for students to get involved in these types of publications, you just had to have the right amount of determination.

Noteworthy news seemed to shape Athas’ early career. As a student he followed a story of a student who had allegedly committed suicide in India (link). His coverage and investigative reporting led to negative comments by her friends but ultimately there was more to the story than meets the eye and Athas was apart of that for the duration of the publication. The theme of ‘wearing your journalism hat’ continued later in his career as well. As a homepage editor at the Washington Post, he was one of the first on the scene to a murder at a Lululemon Yogashop. With his journalism hat intact, he was able to break the story that turned out to be much more than a simple homicide.

Another point that was stressed in the discussion with Athas was hard work and networking. He provided countless examples of times that he has been put in contact with people by chance. Athas found his new job at NPR by befriending someone at a conference in Toronto, and many years later it landed him a job. The importance of networking seems to be essential to landing a successful job in the modern journalism field. Patience is another factor. One does not simply graduate from college and land in an amazing job, you have to work your way up the ladder to get where you want to be. Athas is a prime example of a student with a curiosity and love for journalism and a fantastic work ethic. He stuck to his beliefs when he covered stories and always worked hard to uncover the truth. Having Athas speak to us gave us an insight into the world of hard working journalists, and it became apparent that everyone needs to always wear their journalism hat.