Former CNN correspondent and Journalist-in-Residence at Emerson College, Cheryl Owsley-Jackson discusses how the convergence of broadcast, print, and social media is impacting journalists, and how they balance their humanity with objectivity.
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Cheryl Jackson is a Journalist-In-Residence at Emerson College.
She has worked at CNN as a correspondent, as a writer for Racing for Diversity Magazine, and wrote the diversity column called, “It Takes All Kinds,” for more than a decade.
Cheryl has also taught at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and at Indiana University.
She has led anti-racism training with the staff and students at some of the top journalism colleges in the country such as Northwestern University, Indiana University, Emerson College, and some non-journalism schools like Harvard.
Cheryl has years of experience as a media consultant and crisis manager.
She has trained police officers, firemen, and school officials in diversity competence.
She was the diversity coordinator for an entire school system, organizing training for educating students and staff. She ultimately became a trainer’s trainer in the process so that she could do much of the training herself.
Cheryl has had decades of professional diversity training, including the social status of black males, gender identities, poverty understanding, anti-racism, immigrant immersion, and the understanding of social class.
However, none of that has been as important as growing up in Columbus, Indiana, where the Ku Klux Klan was still marching through the streets when she was growing up there.
She is comfortable asking the questions that help elevate the stories and voices of all races. That was the goal of the column she wrote for a decade, “It Takes All Kinds,” for the Columbus Republic.
Cheryl understands systematic racism and the impact of the personal attacks. It has been her life’s work to try to create powerful, emotional stories to help people understand each other.
