As a young journalist, my goal is always to find a way to make an impact and affect change in any way I can with the platform of media. 

Mass media’s influence has always intrigued me, and the power media has is one that I don’t take for granted. 

A friend once told me “a small impact made on a person or community is still an impact.” I took that to heart. For me local journalism is the bedrock of mass media — the stories of everyday people who live in close communities. Having an opportunity to stay aware of the goings on in the place they live is important to the people in those communities. With the internet and the digitization of the medium, the presence of local journalism is becoming increasingly pivotal. 

Writing stories that directly impact the community is a privilege that, when presented with the chance, is not easy to pass it up. 

That said, covering sports as an intern for The Covington News isn’t something that I envisioned myself doing three years ago, but my path has led me here, and I am not one to question fate.

I grew up in Albany, Georgia and graduated from Albany High School. Albany city is one where you always know someone who’s someone you know. The news there is vital to keeping up with the growth of the city and the major changes that take place. Growing up, I fondly remember reading the Albany Herald — mostly the comics and sports sections  — and watching the news on WALB. 

The way those two mediums kept everyone informed was always fascinating to me. When I had the chance to dabble in broadcast media in high school, I was hooked and I haven’t looked back since. 

It was there I found my passion and skill for writing – it was a facet of mass media that sort of snuck up on me. After three years of broadcast media in high school, I decided to make it my major in college. I will soon be graduating from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. 

During my time in college, I’ve gained some invaluable experience from a number of different media outlets. After a couple of years of blogging, I started at Def Pen in 2016, where I cover the NBA, which includes opportunities to occasionally cover the Atlanta Hawks. 

Being at Def Pen has helped me learn the ins and outs of digital journalism, and I’ve been able to write with some incredibly talented writers. That environment has allowed me to grow in ways that I couldn’t imagine. 

For the last eight months, I have been a staff reporter at Georgia State’s independent student paper, The Signal. At the risk of making a bad a pun, it’s hard to put into words exactly how much I have evolved as a reporter and writer while at The Signal. The team there — specifically the sports team — has pushed me each and everyday to make sure I’m putting my best foot forward while representing the paper. 

Over the years, my respect and reverence for Journalism has steadily grown, and although I am a sports journalist, every aspect of the field has become a part of me. It is that exact zeal that I will bring to the Covington News newsroom. 

I love community journalism and hope to be able to connect with the Covington and Newton County community’s coaches, athletes and citizens — and all of you who are readers — in a way that allows me to use this platform to tell stories that matter to you.

I look forward to the learning experiences ahead and working with a great news team for the time that I am here. From what I can tell already, the paper and the community are in sync with each other, and I hope that I can help to augment that. 

I can’t wait to get started.

Daniel Richardson is The Covington News’ new sports intern. A journalism student at Georgia State, Richardson brings a wealth of passion and expertise to the concept of multimedia, digital first journalism. He can be reached at drichardson@covnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @Daniel_Th0mas.