Passion for news: Meet Destiniee Jaram, the Courier-Tribune's economic development reporter
Hi y’all! My name is Destiniee Jaram — pronounced Destiny (I get that question a lot). I am the Courier-Tribune’s new economic development & data enterprise reporter. I come from “The Land,” also known as Cleveland, Ohio.
I have spent the past five years reporting in Appalachian Ohio, which is where I discovered the power of and fell in love with local journalism. I have always been called to journalism intuitively. Some would say I am naturally a perfect fit for journalism: a friendly, inquisitive, compassionate, curious, detail-oriented, perfectionist.
As a teenager, I remember binge-watching the news coverage on Michael Brown, an 18-year-old fatally shot by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in 2014, for hours. I felt frustrated, bored and confused as to why the reporters, after 36 hours of coverage, had seemed to ask the same five questions over and over.
The questions focused only on what happened or what was happening, something the 24/7 news cycle had already established. I was hungry for depth and nuance, for the context of the communities that these deaths occurred in; I thought I had better questions to ask.
As the 15-year-old daughter of a working-class, single mother, I did not realize I could ask the questions until later in my life.
It was nearing the end of fall 2017 and my friends had started asking me, “Where are you going?” I looked at them blankly and replied, “To my next class?” I quickly learned, to my dismay, that they had meant where I was going to college.
So, I sat down in my high school’s library each lunch period for a week and began applying. This, of course, meant I had to pick a major. In a comical and almost destined way, I chose journalism for the simple fact that I did not want to do STEM, teaching or fictional writing — so I chose journalism, the only rational choice left.
I applied to Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Journalism to me is both a public service and a privilege. My job as a reporter is to inform the community of critical information readers need to know about. It is a platform to serve the community I am reporting in and protect the communities by holding those in power accountable.
It is also a tool to uplift underserved communities through accurate and dynamic reporting that highlights the complexities and championships in a community. It is a privilege to be trusted with the personal stories, information, concerns and accounts of our readers and sources, and I take that seriously.
My goal as a reporter is to serve the Randolph County community. I plan to dig into how the community functions, highlight the culture and tackle its challenges through my reporting at the Courier-Tribune.
I look forward to covering the Randolph County community and exploring my new home in North Carolina. If you see me around town, please say hi. I love to talk and I love tips for both stories and the area.
Destiniee Jaram is an Economic Development & Data Enterprise Reporter. She is always looking for tips relevant to the Randolph County community. Contact Destiniee at DJaram@gannett.com, follow her on twitter @DestinieeJaram, or leave her a message at (336) 626-6106.
This article originally appeared on The Courier-Tribune: Destiniee Jaram joins Asheboro newspaper as the economic reporter
