An informative panel discussing the difficulties of the journalism industry and how aspiring writers can break into it in this competitive environment.

Journalism is a difficult industry to break into, with employment rates rapidly decreasing and revenue falling to record lows. However, many aspiring writers refuse to lose hope, fighting to secure a place for themselves in the industry and helping others to do the same. Last Thursday, October 15, the Asian American Journalists Association at Columbia University held a panel discussion featuring three successful journalists: Margaret Guzman, Leying Tang, and Wendy Li. This event allowed aspiring journalists to meet professionals and learn methods to thrive in this struggling news environment. 

Margaret Guzman is an Emmy-nominated producer at Business Insider, working on engaging news stories told through long-form videos. Guzman is a first-generation immigrant and found that this background taught her to adapt to her environment, a skill that aided her in finding a stable job out of school. Her work includes interviewing people on shows as well as producing documentary-type videos. In addition, her investigative video “Why Going to Concerts Is Harder than Ever” was nominated for the 2026 News & Documentary Emmy in the Outstanding Arts, Culture, or Entertainment Coverage category. 

Wendy Li is a video producer working at the Wirecutter, The New York Times’ service that publishes product reviews. Li did not have any journalism experience in her undergraduate years until she was first hired as an assistant video producer at NPR. She reflected that in entry-level positions, she was often given clips that she didn’t like or that were unusable, but she learned to have fun with them and achieve her goals. In her current job, Li’s work includes embedding videos into articles to make them engaging and managing the production process entirely.

Leying Tang works as an associate producer at CNN Podcasts on projects such as “Five Things” and “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.” “Five Things” is a production that selects the five biggest headlines of the day to get listeners up to speed on the news quickly and efficiently. “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta” is a podcast where Dr. Sanjay Gupta demystifies subjects regarding psychology and the human body, such as the process of freezing eggs. Along with working on these projects, Tang contributed to the PBS Frontline investigative documentary The Discord Leaks, which received two Emmy nominations in 2024. She has also been a finalist in Columbia University’s Radio Race in both 2025 and 2026, and she was one of 16 participants selected for AIR’s New Voices in 2024. Tang came from China to attend graduate school at New York University and originally wanted to pursue a career in TV or video. However, she ended up working in audio journalism, particularly video podcasts, which she describes as a happy medium between video and audio.

During the moderated discussion, the panelists discussed what their day-to-day looks like within their respective jobs, with Guzman and Li outlining that in journalism every day is different. Guzman highlighted some of her duties, including writing scripts, reaching out to people, conducting interviews, and writing pitches. As for Li, she explained that her projects vary as she works on both long- and short-form stories, so her production process changes with the format. Tang said her work largely consists of scripting and editing audio packages. To make a video podcast episode, she picks out strong quotes and builds a narrative, highlighting that communication with the video editors and animators is crucial.

The panelists also offered plenty of advice for finding and securing stable jobs. Li emphasized the power of marketing yourself by sending cold emails to potential employers. “In journalism, there are not enough positions for every qualified person to get,” Li explained, “so getting in contact with people helps a lot.” Tang added that it is important to show your portfolio and build  a professional profile. She  also underscored that you shouldn’t be afraid to go off course or start at a smaller newsroom. Once you make it into any newsroom, you can work your way up by pitching ideas and speaking with your supervisors so you can improve. Finally, Guzman pointed out that reaching out and building relationships is very useful. Having peers familiar with the job allows you to build a community that can help you hone your skills and break into the journalism world.

The last question of the night asked the panelists to describe how being Asian American women affects their jobs as journalists. Guzman reiterated that being an immigrant gave her the ability  to adapt to her surroundings, to which she credits her observational skills. Tang explained that while she doesn’t identify as Asian American, her identity as an Asian immigrant influences her to pitch ideas related to these issues because it feels like her responsibility to represent these voices. Finally, Li said that she is inspired to “have audacity” in her work, since she is expected to quietly work. In this line of work, however, it is important to be loud and confident, as that is the only way your ideas will be heard.

The news environment is undergoing drastic changes, as social media allows fake news to spread rapidly and AI takes over the internet. Despite these difficulties, however, journalists persist in their mission to share the truth and tell the stories of our world. “The reason we support journalists is because we do rigorous fact-checking, which is not something AI can take over,” Leying Tang asserts. “And another thing is storytelling; I don’t think AI can take over the creative storytelling [aspect]. We are human beings, and human beings tell human-being stories.”

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