Josh Landon Visits EMU

News Anchor Josh Landon visited Sponberg Auditorium on Wednesday to give advice to future journalists. Landon, an anchor for Fox 2 News, talked about his journey to his current job and answered questions from student journalists and broadcasters. Landon, an EMU graduate, shared his enthusiasm and knowledge with students.

Like many EMU students, Landon's career started with an internship.

“I ignored the rejection and kept on going, because [I knew] someone will say yes. I applied to channel 2, they sent me to channel 4. Then they sent me to channel 7 who finally gave me a chance.”

Josh Landon

This sparked a lot of conversation from the audience who, after his initial story, wanted to know what to expect in the field of broadcast journalism.

A student interested in broadcast news asked how many hours to expect when working in the field. Landon explained that although it seems difficult now, the hours (which generally start around 4 a.m.) are not an issue. You'll adapt to them as you get more experience in the field, since they are just a part of the job.

Dominic Sevilla

John Landon speaking to the crowd at Sponberg Auditorium.

Another student asked how to advance in such a competitive market. In order to move forward, Landon said, you need to be constantly improving on yourself and asking for feedback. This will show off your work ethic to people who matter. It will eventually give you better relationships, because of how dependable you are.

“I moved from the internship at channel 7 to a local channel in Lansing. They [channel 7] could have easily choose a student from Michigan State. But I got in, because I was the one willing to drive an hour every day to get to the station to do the best work I could.”

Josh Landon

Landon, who now works for Fox 2 Detroit, explained how he was himself in a way that is hard to pull off in other markets. Detroit has an edge to it, with it has history and a notoriety. This being the case, having moved back to the area he grew up in as a child let him connect to the city better than an outsider moving into the Detroit news market. This enabled him to tell some stories with more passion and conviction.

One noteworthy story he covered in his series, Detroit’s Most Wanted, shows Landon going back to his childhood home while investigating the rampant illegal dumping plaguing Detroit neighborhoods. The emotion conveyed when he saw his own house with trash and run down cars just sitting there was powerful. He was able to give his commentary on it because of how close he was.

“I just walked around and told him what I thought. My photographer said we need to start and end with that right there.”

Josh Landon

This event showed students how rewarding this field can be and they could not have been more thankful for the experience as many walked up afterwards for photos and handshakes.