Matthew Brown, 24, works the political beat for USA Today as a White House reporter
by Annabelle Caraway, Bridget Frawley and Anastasia Van Batenburg
“It matters how you do the work and that you’re doing good work. It doesn’t [matter] if you came from a fancy school or top tier journalism program; everything is changing right now,” Matthew Brown, a White House NOW Reporter for USA Today, said.
He had an unconventional start in the world of journalism. Brown grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and fueled his passion of telling stories by starting a blog and newsletter at Dartmouth College.
In the summer of 2018, Brown became a fellowship intern at the Emma Bowen Foundation in Harlem, New York, a newspaper dedicated to growing young journalists and promoting inclusivity for people of color in the industry.
“It was [a] wonderful experience in terms of opportunities that were afforded to me,” Brown said. “It was getting thrown into the deep end of reporting in New York City, a city that I’d never lived in before … [I was] treated like another member of the team, so that was a great learning experience.”
Through his fellowship, he produced many articles, one of which was noticed by POLITICO, who invited Brown to take part in an internship. As of 2020, Brown currently works the political beat at USA Today. As he adjusted to reporting on a national politics beat, Brown also had to navigate the divisive online world of social media as a journalist. He’s received negative feedback from readers and political figures from both sides of the political landscape.
“You need to lean into knowing what the reporting is on [so] you can stand by [and] have a strong support network of people who are willing to support you in those moments,” Brown said.
“Journalism newsrooms are fickle as we’ve seen in the past year. It’s not a given that they’re going to protect you when you know something is whipped up online coming after you,” Brown said. “In the moment, everyone is seeing red, and there’s not going to be a constructive discussion.”
During 2020, Brown received blowback on social media multiple times for writing stories that political figures didn’t agree with. “There have been many occasions where powerful people don’t like what you report,” Brown said.
Since Brown had graduated from Dartmouth three years ago, he faced both struggles and advantages as a young reporter in a world of predominantly older journalists. The age gap between Brown and his colleagues allowed him to give a new perspective and easily adapt to the online format of news through social media platforms.
“I was in the briefing room for when Olivia Rodrigo was in the White House, and it was clear that these reporters and photographers did not know who they were trying to ask these important political questions about, and I was sitting there like, I just want to ask if Biden actually listened to SOUR,” Brown said.
Brown hopes to broaden his political endeavors by potentially running a campaign trail and reporting on issues outside the White House walls. Wherever Brown’s journalism career takes him, he hopes to “broaden political conversations” by learning about the lives and complexities of individual’s stories. “Eventually, […] you might see me writing more about the politics of tech or climate change or things that are going on outside of Washington and how they affect Washington,” he said.
“I want to continue to write about tangible things that are affecting people,” Brown said. “I’m in love with writing and politics, but I think that politics happens in a lot of other places [than the White House].”