Photo courtesy of Jack Womack
Photo courtesy of Susan Rosegen
MSU alums find rewarding careers in journalism
by Carol Schmidt
Jason Lehmann was flipping burgers in town for about five or six months after graduating from MSU with a degree in English in 2003 when he saw a classified ad for a reporter for the Livingston Enterprise.
"I'd heard horror stories about how English grads couldn't find a job in their field without being a teacher or going to grad school, and I'd nearly resigned myself to the fact that I'd earned a degree that I wasn't going to use," Lehmann said.
Instead, Lehmann is more than a year into a reporter's position with the Enterprise, and part of a very select group of MSU graduates--those who are earning a living as journalists.
Even though MSU does not even offer a journalism course, many graduates have gone on to successful careers as journalists. One of the most successful may be Jack Womack, '84, F&TV, senior vice president of domestic news operations and administration for CNN/U.S. based in Atlanta. Womack oversees all domestic news gathering operations including CNN's 11 domestic bureaus, the network's national desk and Atlanta editorial operations; CNN's affiliate service, CNN Newsource; CNN Satellites and Circuits; CNN Newsbeam; and CNNRadio.
A Helena native, Womack began his career as a radio announcer at KCAP in Helena, and he also anchored news on The Intermountain Radio Network. After graduation from MSU, Womack worked as an assignment editor at ABC and CNN affiliate KXLY in Spokane, Wash., joining CNN in its infancy.
Having had a ringside seat in contemporary journalism history, Womack says he tells students that they don't need a degree in journalism to get a job in the field, nor do they need to graduate from an East Coast journalism school.
"You need to be a great story teller," Womack said. "You need to be curious about the world and how things work or do not work. Be proud of your background. It's a great conversation starter to tell people you're from Montana."
Susan Roesgen, '83 Engl, is also a Montanan and MSU grad who has climbed up the journalism ladder. Even though she was the daughter of William Roesgen, a former editor of the Billings Gazette newspaper, Susan "never planned to be in journalism."
"I thought I'd be some kind of writer, but not in the media," Roesgen said. Like many MSU journalists, her first experience was as a copyeditor for the Exponent." Her first television job was writing commercials, "but I wound up in the news department. I was so shy and scared."
She said that somehow she got both bolder and better and worked her way up the anchor ladder, eventually anchoring the news at WABC-TV in New York City. She co-hosted an international travel show for The National Geographic Channel, based in Washington, and is now in New Orleans, a city where she once won an Emmy for her documentary on the thefts of artifacts from historic cemeteries. She also is a reporter for National Public Radio.
"I always encourage high schoolers 'not' to get a j-degree," Roesgen says. "My argument is that you need a broader education, and that you'll bring way more to the table as a well-rounded thinking person than someone who spent four years focusing on getting face time on TV. I also think that the business changes so rapidly that what you learn in j-school is likely to be outdated by the time you get to a real newsroom. And, if you're smart, you'll go to the smallest newsroom that will hire you - as I did by accident - and in that newsroom you'll learn by actually doing and not by studying theory."
Nick Geranios graduated from MSU with a degree in English literature in 1980 and is currently the chief of the Associated Press bureau in Spokane, Wash. Geranios started his journalism degree at the University of Montana. But economics required that Geranios go back home to Great Falls to work in a grocery story for a year to garner enough money for tuition, and when it was time to resume college, he joined friends in Bozeman.
"I think what actually helped me was practical experience of working on the Exponent," Geranios said. "It was fun and there were lots of good stories. I had good clips to show to potential employers. No one ever asked me about journalism school. I've found an English degree is very useful for a writer."
Geranios' career has taken him from Powell (Wyo.) Tribune to the AP bureau bureau chief in Sacramento where he covered California politics, with stops in Chicago, Springfield, Ill., and Yakima, Wash. He said he enjoys the Spokane bureau where he covers "an interesting mix of news and sports, Gonzaga basketball, WSU sports, and I always cover the Bobcats when they are in town against Eastern."
There are recent MSU grads who are beginning their careers in journalism. Like his predecessors, Lehmann said "without my experience at the Exponent, I'm not sure I'd be doing what I am today."
Michael Hicks, '04 Engl, is currently a reporter at the Shelby Promotor, but a year ago he was also plying his trade at the Exponent, where he was a sports reporter.
Womack urges MSU students with an interest in journalism to help themselves by "learning everything you possibly can before leaving college."

"The best thing you can do is to get an internship and learn every job in the newsroom," Womack said. "Work for free if you have to. This is in addition to your scholastic experience. Besides, everyone LOVES people from Montana...."