AJ Jones   Photo credit: Adam Miedema/WCMU

WCMU Public Media (Mt. Pleasant) has announced that AJ Jones has joined its news staff as a reporter.  Jones is a Southfield native and joins the organization after working the last year as a reporter for Michigan Public in Ann Arbor.

At Michigan Public, he covered the UAW strikes, campus protests over the war in Gaza, and general coverage of education, the economy, criminal justice and the environment. He also contributed to guest hosting Weekend Edition. 

In an interview with WCMU News Director Rick Brewer, Jones said "I've always been vaguely interested in journalism. Going back to being a kid, I was the announcements kid when I was in elementary school, and the school paper guy in high school. I went to Southfield A&T, and in high school, the AV Club would tape the varsity football and basketball games, and I would commentate over them. So media has always been something I've been pretty closely exposed to. I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about current events as well. I went to Michigan Dearborn, I graduated with a degree in journalism, and I did a couple internships at WDIV-TV, did a full year at Michigan Public, and now I'm here."

"In the immediate short term, I am quite excited about the election. Needless to say, it's been a lot. I've always liked election coverage. I minored in political science at Michigan Dearborn, and I have always been super interested in how elections work and how coalitions of people work together to build a campaign that can win or lose. Going beyond the horse race aspect of it, there's so many crucial issues in this election that we're discussing, things that I haven't seen yet like airtime in the past, stuff like the cost of living. I think now more than ever, the cost of living for like middle class Americans is such a crucial issue, and as are things like immigration, abortion, etcetera. There’s just so many things happening in this election, and I'm really excited to talk to people about why they feel the way they do."