Mariel Clark

Mariel Clark was raised a TV person, studied to be a TV person, and became a TV person for seven years.  Then she came to Columbia.

“Other parents teach their kids to look both ways when you cross the street. My parents taught me that, but also, you can never shoot too much B-roll,” she recounts, referring to a common idea in TV production that more footage is, at least generally, better.

With a mother who worked in documentary film and a father heading a local news show, Mariel followed their footsteps into broadcast news in college.  Work brought her to local news stations in Montana and Indiana and, as she craved more air time, into freelance documentary production in Tennessee.  Her pieces have appeared on networks from A&E to History International, The Food Network, and The Discovery Channel.

Despite her television successes, Mariel has now decided to shoot for the other shining screen.  At Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, she will be focusing on new media journalism and producing for the web, moving from the last revolutionary technology to the next.

Beyond the screen, Mariel may one day opt for another kind of influence – that of professorship, her “20 year goal.”  In the meantime, she envisions applying her new media talents at a public radio station. “Radio makes your brain figure it out,” she explains, indicating she’ll listen to four repetitions of the same stories in a day simply because the radio is on constantly.  Mariel’s voice betrays recognition of a historic rivalry as she speaks, and she wonders at the irony of her love for radio despite her roots in television.

An avid traveler, Mariel has voyaged from Central America to Norway but unhesitatingly declares Italy her favorite spot. “Being in Italy is like being in a postcard of the five senses,” she says.

She will soon be creating such powerful postcards through her varied, new digital tools.