Robin Kemp on Mitch Leff’s 4 Questions Journalist Spotlight

You probably know Robin Kemp’s work as a crime and safety reporter (who also did a lot of general assignment and government coverage) for the Clayton News. You might know that she has worked for numerous print, radio, TV and online media outlets throughout her career, most notably as a writer for Cable News Network from 1989 to 1996.

Now, Robin’s work with The Clayton Crescent, and her mission to bring substantive news coverage to underserved areas and communities of metro Atlanta’s Southern Crescent, is drawing attention from others in the profession, as well as strong support from local readers, who have donated money from their own pockets in these difficult times to back her startup.

Robin recently was a featured speaker, along with Eric Jackson, on an Atlanta Press Club panel on covering COVID-19 and moderated by Maggie Lee.

Public relations guru Mitch Leff of Leff and Associates interviewed Robin about the Clayton Crescent and why she’s taking a different approach to covering news in Clayton County and the Southern Crescent:

(Ever the editor, Robin would like to note for the record that she misspoke: of course, the Clayton County Police Department also has jurisdiction over Conley in Clayton County and, of course, the Texas Tribune, not the Austin Statesman, is the nonprofit news site she was thinking of!)

Before Robin started The Clayton Crescent, she was a guest on the national podcast 435 Voices, hosted by The Project to Find America’s Bill Craib of the Human Capital Institute, talking about Georgia’s 13th Congressional District:

In 2019, Robin attended the Poynter Institute‘s A Journalist’s Guide to Covering Jails workshop at Loyola University New Orleans’ School of Mass Communication, held in cooperation with the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice and the Free-Dem Foundations.The workshop focused on ways to break out of mugshot-driven crime reporting to address larger issues related to criminal justice and incarceration, which is a major focus of The Clayton Crescent’s mission.

Robin, a lover of media technologies, gratefully acknowledges the Poynter Institute’s previous investment in her during the Hands-On Backpack Journalist Workshop, as well as previous workshops with Investigative Reporters and Editors and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. She is pouring everything she’s learned over her career into building The Clayton Crescent to serve this community.

Why? We deserve it.

Help spread the word about Clayton County’s first nonprofit news source! Share this and other stories on your social media networks. Click through those social media posts and check out the stories, podcasts, and other multimedia we make just for you on this website. Donate to our Phase One fundraiser on Facebook or GoFundMe. When Phase Two starts, please support us with your membership so that we can hire more people to cover Clayton County and the Southern Crescent the way it ought to be covered. Send us news tips and let us know what’s happening behind the scenes. We are here for you–not for shareholders thousands of miles away–and we appreciate your support!