Staci Brown Brooks
If you want a career in journalism in Birmingham Staci Brown Brooks is a woman you need to know. 

Brooks is the director of community news in Birmingham for the Alabama Media Group, the state’s largest news gathering organization. Prior to that she worked at The Birmingham News for several years in a variety of writing and editing positions. She has previously worked at The Tuscaloosa News and the Detroit Free Press, and as an instructor at The University of Alabama. 

On Thursday, she’ll step into that teaching role again briefly as she shares media and web wisdom at our upcoming panel discussion Blogging and the Future of Community Journalism. 

Brooks received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UA, and is currently studying there for her master’s in business administration. Brooks also is a graduate of the Alabama Leadership Initiative and the Maynard Media Academy at Harvard University. 

If you want to know more about how you can use blogging and journalism to be a leader in your community, you can do just that on Thursday, Jan. 10 at our next event. Click here to register. 

There are two questions I asked all our panelists after they agreed to be part of this discussion. Check out Brooks’ responses below: 

What must bloggers who want to be considered journalists do to be taken seriously?

Put accuracy and ethics above all else. Know your current audience and the audience you are trying to develop — be able to articulate what you do and who you try to reach if asked. If you are committed to growing your blog’s audience, you must be committed to assuring your vision for it is responsive to their needs, wishes and patterns.What main piece of advice would you give to folks who want to use their blogs to tell important stories in their communities?


Be passionate about the niche you’ve chosen — or the niche that has chosen you. That’s the one thing no one can teach you; everything else you can learn, if you are willing. Passion can’t be taught and it can’t be faked. Always put accuracy and ethics above all else. And write your hearts out.

If you have more questions for Staci Brown Brooks leave them in the comments section and we will add them to our list of questions for our upcoming event.