New journalism masterclasses with Denise Watson soar to capacity
Aspiring journalists seeking practical experience in the field filled every seat of a new masterclass series offered by the Charles Center within just hours of its announcement Aug. 29.
In collaboration with Virginia Media Inc. and through support from the Daily Press, Inc. Journalist-in-Residence Program, the six-part hands-on series hosts 18 students each class over the course of the '24-'25 academic year. The first session, held Sept. 6 in Blow Hall’s Grimsley Boardroom, focused on the fundamentals of reporting.
Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press features editor Denise Watson, facilitator of the series, has joined the growing list of professional journalists invited to campus this year by the Charles Center to help educate the next generation of storytellers and reporters at the university.
Watson, a journalist of over 30 years and member of both the National Association of Black Journalists Leadership Academy and Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Journalism, kicked off the first masterclass by challenging students to grill her in a rapid-fire mock press conference. The purpose? To highlight the importance of posing precise, intentional questions, gathering accurate information, and creating connections in interviews.
“Even if you don’t have a personal connection with the person you’re interviewing,” Watson told students after the exercise, “as a journalist, you create a human connection with people you don’t know, and that’s powerful.”
Watson made it clear that local reporting was foundational to her career as a journalist. Despite being wooed by national publications and watching coworkers move on to larger outlets like National Public Radio and The Washington Post, her heart has remained in Hampton Roads and in the local, grassroots journalism that first inspired her interest in the profession. In short, she prefers to tell the stories that “wouldn’t be on CNN.”
Watson explained that local journalism fulfills critical roles in community formation and cohesion, from covering important issues and events that otherwise go unreported to featuring people and places that form neighborly bonds.
“You always have to remember your goal is to inform and entertain,” Watson said. “Being a journalist means providing all kinds of information to people.”
Watson’s workshop included critical journalism basics, such as ethics, overcoming challenges in the field, and tips for how to paint a dense picture of an event or person in order to engage the reader.
She concluded the masterclass by assigning students a challenging topic to report upon outside the classroom – whether the university’s history of slavery and racism should be included on William & Mary’s campus tours. Inquiring about such tough topics on the fly, Watson said, prepared participants to ask complex questions and gain a variety of perspectives. 
“I was really thankful for Denise for coming in for the masterclass,” attendee Peerawut Ruangsawasdi ’26 said. “There is a real demand for journalism at William & Mary, and I’m glad this class is happening to help engage interested students.”
Watson mentioned that masterclass students were highly engaged and clearly had a desire to learn the craft of journalism. “We need people willing to do the work,” she said.
Watson also emphasized that getting involved with local newspapers, reading news, and practicing writing skills were all necessary steps to successfully entering the field.
Environmental humanities and public policy major Courtney Hand '25, who had no prior journalism experience, reflected on her involvement with the class.
“I was a bit intimidated to take this masterclass at first,” Hand said. “Within the first second of Denise speaking, I immediately felt at ease. Denise has this warm, inviting energy that made the idea of journalism less daunting and more like a community that I was now a part of. She was engaging and talked to us not like students, but as if we were her newsroom.”
The next masterclass, focused on media and ethics, will take place Friday, Oct. 25, with students now encouraged to join the waitlist for the session.
In addition to the new masterclass series, the Charles Center continues to offer other journalism opportunities for William & Mary students, including the annual Sharp Journalism Seminar in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and a range of paid summer internship opportunities in the field of journalism, including a new collaboration with Virginia Media.
Applications for the ’25-‘26 Sharp Seminar will open in the spring, while applications for Summer ‘25 internships will open Nov. 1, with a due date of Dec. 1, 2024.
The journalism masterclass series is the first of several Charles Center masterclass initiatives aimed at creating new opportunities for W&M students to benefit from hands-on learning alongside expert practitioners in a number of fields, according to Charles Center Director Elizabeth Harbron.
"Our new masterclasses, including upcoming workshops in journalism, music, and dance, will add dimensions of mentorship and hands-on learning to the William & Mary academic experience," Harbron said. "We're trying to respond to student interest in these kinds of informal, direct interactions with professionals doing inspiring things in our world through research."
A masterclass series in partnership with William & Mary Arts begins later this fall and aims to create opportunities for students, faculty and staff, as well as community members to meet and learn from a range of performing artists performing on campus. Information on these opportunities will be posted here, along with the '24-'25 arts calendar.
