BY ANNA WOLFINGER
Lauren Wilson, the enterprise reporter for Channel 5 News in Cleveland, visited students taking the Newspaper/Yearbook class to talk about her career. During her visit, she encouraged students to step outside their comfort zone and experience the possibilities life has to offer.
Wilson is from Firestone, Ohio and graduated from Bowling Green University as an education major. As her knowledge about her major grew, so did her desire to look into other possible careers. If she had never followed her gut instinct, she would have never found her passion in journalism.
“My curiosity led me to change my major to journalism,” said Wilson.
Wilson has had much success throughout her career. Her first internship was with WTOL, a CBS-affiliated television station. From there, her career has taken her all over. She spent two and a half years at Good Morning Cleveland, five years with PBS as a producer, radio reporter and a television reporter, and she worked with E! Entertainment. She also hosted her own food show called Beyond the Dish, where she featured restaurants in the Cleveland/Akron area.
As an enterprise reporter with Channel 5, Wilson goes out into the community and is almost like an investigator.
“I dig a little deeper into my stories than usual reporters would,” Wilson said.
She has had both small and big stories. One of her favorite stories to cover was being in Cleveland when the Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Championship.
“That will live forever in my career. It was a great moment to be a reporter,” Wilson said.
One of her biggest stories involved a serial killer near Massillon. She found the friend of the suspected murderer and interviewed him, realizing that he was actually his lover. She reported this and ended up breaking the case. CNN then picked it up and the case turned into a national story.
Lauren Wilson continues to investigate in the community through Channel 5 News, and hopes to encourage others to pursue this career.
“Journalism isn’t dying, it’s just evolving. Media can touch people’s lives. We need journalists more now than ever,” Wilson said.
