JRN 200 @ MSU is fun!: December 2013

Here's a sampling of some of the various job shadows done by you all (this will be updated as job shadow reports are turned in, so please check back frequently). Take a look and see what you can learn from everyone's visits. There's a lot of good stuff here to help you decide what you want to do with your lives; what you need to be doing to get there; and what to expect when you do get there.

Please give each one of these a quick read, will you?

*****

On November 22, I did a job shadow/asked a lot of questions of Brian Calloway, an MSU sports writer and copy editor for the Lansing State Journal. What I did was I met him up on the fourth floor of Spartan Stadium for a Mark Dantonio press conference, which was then immediately followed by a Tom Izzo press conference followed by brief press conferences with Michigan State basketball players Keith Appling and Denzel Valentine.

It was pretty cool. It’s an experience that I’ve had before but on this day, with gaps in between the coaches and players arriving, I had the opportunity to really see how Brian does his job and ask him a lot of questions about how he got to be where he is today.

Brian is a 2005 graduate of Eastern Michigan, where he majored in journalism and he said that when he got to Eastern Michigan, he joined the school newspaper the day he stepped foot on campus, and has been covering sports ever since. Also, what I learned from him telling me this is that it is really important to get experience in journalism really fast, because it certainly appears to have worked out well for him. This also gives me a little bit of reassurance that I’ve gotten going on doing some stuff even though I realize that you can never be satisfied and that I know that it may be time to take another step.

Another question that I asked Brian was, being a guy on the MSU beat, how does he keep himself busy in the offseason? His response was that it is tough sometimes to do that because there aren’t any Michigan State sports in the summer. He said that him and his fellow Michigan State beat writers at MSU (Chris Solari and Graham Couch), will think of a project to do over the summer to fill their time. The one that he said that they did this year was a project where they researched how much every college spends on athletics. Other than that, Brian joked that he likes to just use a lot of vacation in the summer.

As for how Brian works the press conference, him and all the other reporters have laptops and are all tweeting out some things that Dantonio or Izzo says. Some of the reporters even are writing stories virtually as the coaches are talking. The MLive guys, for example, are crazy. It seems like they must write 12 stories a day on almost every little thing the coaches say and you can hear them just typing away at the speed of light in there. It’s just insane.

Another thing that I see take place at the press conferences sometimes that is pretty neat is that all these reporters from different media and publications work together on things. After recording 30 minutes of an Izzo press conference for example, they will get a group of ten reporters each to transcribe 3 minutes of it so they all have a complete transcription to use to pull quotes from to write stories.

One more thing I saw that was pretty cool was how all the Lansing State Journal reporters work together and really coordinate on who is writing what. It was just really cool to listen to them bounce ideas off of each other and say things like “I was going to do this….” Or “Alright, so you’ve got this….”

*****

I spoke to Mike Griffith from Mlive.com on the phone. He is a sports reporter and a Michigan State University beat for the Website.
    Mike started by telling me about his day. He said he usually spends the whole day outside of the office gathering his information for the stories we will write for the next day. Mike comes to games, press conferences, one-on-one interviews with players and coaches, and many more places to find out what he will be writing about and what is news to the audience. Later in the day, about 9 p.m. - which was when he called me – he said he was at the office and finally putting the stories together and finding the way that it most interested him and that it would most interest the audience.
    With all the technology now-a-days, Mike told me that it is much easier to be able to change a story and make it the way you want it to be. What is difficult to figure out is the angle, and the interesting fact about the story that will end up shaping your whole story. He said, for example, that is he is interviewing Connor Cook about his supposedly bad passes lately, the story starts out simple like that, but if during the interview Cook said that it is due to a relative's illness, the story quickly has to shift angles and he could potentially write how this is affecting Cook and what it means to the player. No matter what happens, journalists must be able to change their angles and story fast – and technology helps with that – but more importantly than changing your story, if you do not have an exact idea of what you want to write about, you just have to brainstorm something and write it down, because no matter what again, you can always go back and change it.
    You also always have to put your personality in the story you are writing – but not forget to leave out all opinions – because personality is what will make your story different from another reporter who will write about the same thing; it makes your story unique.
    Mike said that to be in the journalism industry, one must be able to accept relocating like it is their second nature because it will happen a lot. He has been to many different places, such as Tennessee, Alabama, Hawaii, and many countries in Europe to cover the Olympics. That does not mean it is hard for him; he had to miss many Holidays that he would have spent with his family and even many of his children's birthdays, but that is his job and it is his passion, therefore he does whatever he can to continue doing what he loves.
    On another topic, Mike told me that experience is what will get you where you want to go. He said that once when he had only a year of broadcasting experience, the station he was at put him to do a broadcast that would be aired almost nationally. He said he knew he would be humiliated, embarrassed and that the piece would be bad, but he took it and did it anyway, because one of his peers said that if he did this one, he would never be nervous again about appearing on live TV. So the next time he went on to do a broadcasting piece airing nationally on ESPN, he knew what he was doing and was not nervous as to what others would think, because he was prepared to do this one.
    Another thing I learned from Mike is that the audience journalists reach are limited, because journalists do not have a view from every person and place; their perspective is limited. Therefore, journalists must be very open-minded and he said that I have a huge advantage over many people in the job because I have lived in Germany, Brazil and the U.S., and that I can also speak Portuguese, English and German. Broadening one's perspectives and views is what will get journalists to be credible, known and taken seriously worldwide.
    Relating to that, he also said that I will probably not be living at a middle class wage until I am in my thirties, but that if this is what I want to do, it will be worth it to have passion to do my work and be rewarded later in life.
    At the end of our conversation, Mike surprised me by saying that he wanted me to keep his phone number and contact information, because during the spring Basketball games, he would like me to call him and arrange for me to meet him. I am hoping to ask him if I could job shadow him at one of the games and get more insight in the sports world of journalism. He also said he would be able to help with whatever question or problem that I have in the future because he knows how much young journalists need insight in a subject matter that they are not as familiar with while they are learning.
    Lastly he said to me to do as much as I can, even if it looks and sounds like the dumbest thing in the world, because those will get me ready and prepared for the really important things and experience and practice will make stations, papers and everyone take me seriously sooner in life.

*****

My job shadow was with the IMPACT radio station. The interesting thing about IMPACT is that within the station, there is a segment called Exposure. Exposure is an aspect of the station that deals with interviews among growing bands and interviews with people who want to have a voice on current events. Generally the Exposure segments would last five to ten minutes. While I was at IMPACT I shadowed the news director, Gabby Saldivia. She started off by giving me a run down of the daily schedule at the station and how things work. First we went into the control room where I was able to play around with the controls and listen to how all the different controls affected the sound. After, she showed me more of the online work with IMPACT. Everything that is submitted, edited, and revised for final drafts goes through a Google document form, drive. Also through drive Google is the agenda and minutes sent out weekly. Every Monday night they have a staff meeting and go over the positives and negatives of the week. Every Tuesday night there is an Exposure. While I was shadowing I got to listen in on this Exposure interview. Unfortunately, this was pre-recorded so I was only able to hear one end of the interview. The exposure director, Abbie Newton who was also the voice of Exposure gave me a script to follow along with. Through this script I learned all about how everything is timed to the exact second and all of the pauses and breaks they have planned within one interview. After this, I got a full tour of the station. While I was walking around I noticed a certain comfort a lot of the employees had together. They were somewhat like a family. I thought it was neat how the sound in the control room was directly transferred through sound waves to the Exposure room. The Exposure room was similar to the control room with all of the keys to control the sounds but also had a microphone and seating. The exposure room is where bands like FUN played and were recorded. Next, I got a chance to see the radio room. Outside of the room a sign would light up red if they were on air, signaling not to come in and turn off the second they weren’t live. While I was in there, Mars Woodbury, the music director showed how they control what songs go on the radio and when. I even was able to choose a song that directly went on air. After, we went to the video production room, where I met Colin Marshall, the video director. Marshall was editing interviews and I got a chance to watch a pre- recorded interview and learn some editing techniques. In the storage room, they had hundreds of CD’s that were piled and stacked on shelves. Every Sunday at the IMPACT, one of the directors will offer to listen to a CD on bands on the rise. If they like it they will show the other directors live on IMPACT and all of them state their opinion. This is more like a radio talk show. From this job shadow, my interest within the field has truly grown. Having the opportunity to be hands on and really get a good understanding of what my career would be like was extremely beneficial. I was able to ask so many questions, learn new things and really become familiar. This job shadow not only taught me so much about Broadcast journalism but even about myself. I was able to see where exactly my interests are in the field and possibly in areas I never expected

*****

During my time at HOMTV-21 in Meridian Township I had the pleasure and privilege of working with a lot of talented people. One of these talented individuals is reporter Missy Sebring, who was kind enough to let me interview her about her experience.

I met with Missy at Grand River Coffee on Tuesday December 3^rd to conduct the interview. The interview really put things into perspective for me as a student at junior status. Being this close to graduation I need to start gaining the valuable experience that will get me a job after I my time at MSU.

Sebring is a senior at Michigan State University, graduating this spring with a journalism degree. She has no definite plans for after graduation, she does hope to travel to Europe before she starts her career. As she describes herself it is clear that the character attributes that she possess make her a born journalist.

“I am a hard worker and very curious about everything, I’m always investigating people in my social life and it just happens to be what my job entails,” she said.

Sebring says that she went into the internship with the hopes of one day becoming a news anchor, but the more that she works with the news the more she likes the process of reporting.

“I love being able to creatively put together a package I am proud of and display all of my talents, being an anchor would take away from that aspect,” said Sebring.

As a reporter at HOMTV Sebring completely delved into all of the responsibility, and the heavy workload.

“On average this semester I worked 20-40 hours a week; learning the production aspect of things, working my own camera, shooting my own stuff, and filming my own standups,” she said.

During her many hours she covered a variety of story topics including the Alzheimer’s Walk and It’s a Breast Thing in Lansing to raise money for local cancer survivors.

However Sebring says that the most interesting story she worked on really moved her as a person and a journalist.

“The most interesting story I worked on was when I got the opportunity to interview a mother who lost her son in 2007 to anorexia. She turned his story into a book, and got the ball rolling on an eating-disorder therapy center located in Jackson, Michigan,” said Sebring.

Part of being a reporter at HOMTV-21 is on airtime. Sebring said she had never been on air before, so initially the idea of it was daunting.

“I used to get crazy butterflies before I would go on air, but the more you do it, the more you get used to it. It’s weird to film yourself in front of people, because they love to stare, point, and distract you,” Sebring said.

She said that the biggest surprise during her time at HOMTV was the amount of time it took to complete an assignment.

“I was surprised by the time it takes to put something together, but I am also noticing how much faster I am getting just from doing it so much,” said Sebring.

During my own time at HOMTV I learned a lot as well. It’s one thing to be in CAS and take a video assignment and have the opportunity to redo it; but when you’re recording an interview that is going to be aired on television it’s a new level of intensity. Having the chance to pick Missy’s brain about her overall evaluation of the semester helped me realize that things don’t stay grueling forever. It’s all about going for it, being professionally assertive, and taking the risk.

*****

On September 23rd, I had the opportunity to spend time with Monica Mercer, an accomplished journalist and now associate editor at HOUR Detroit Magazine in Royal Oak. While first sitting down with Mercer, I learned a lot about her professional background.

Mercer attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where she studied English and Russian. She then went on to earn her masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Her professional experience includes working as an editorial assistant at the Denver Post in Colorado and a staff writer at the Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee. She has also reported in many different countries such as India and Moscow. She most recently traveled to Kenya, Africa to write a story for HOUR Detroit Media.

When asked about her keys to success, Mercer said the best thing to do is be push yourself and learn how to make connections in the journalism industry.

“If you really want to be in journalism and be a writer, self-motivate and pursue,” Mercer said.

Mercer’s passion for journalism however, wasn’t always so clear, as she said she did struggle with uncertainty while an undergraduate student at Southern Methodist University but that it became much more evident when attending graduate school at Northwestern.

As for her writing tips and skills, Mercer said she doesn’t feel it is necessary to follow requirements, but that she likes to keep things more free-flowing.

“It’s an organic process,” Mercer said. “You get better as you go.”

Admittedly, Mercer also said that finding a job as a journalist can be challenging, and therefore keeping connections with others and staying in contact with them is crucial to success.

Not only did Mercer share her some great advice with me but she was also able to introduce me to a few other staff writers as well as HOUR’s art director. I was even able to meet a writer who graduated from MSU with a degree in journalism. She took me to each different designated area for each department of the newsroom, allowing me to see how the typical newsroom setting is structured and how everything flows.

Something else that Mercer was able to show me, was the process in which a story went through after a writer is finished with it. The rough is put through a series of folders in which it is fact checked and edited with the help of several others. Once the story is final, it is put in another folder so that the art department can place it on a page and begin designing. Seeing the fact checking and editing process allowed me to see how serious it is to make sure everything is correct before a piece is published.

Lastly, Mercer allowed me to look at a copy of HOUR’s latest issue before it was even on the shelves. She flipped through its pages and I was able to read a few of her newest stories.

Overall, I really enjoyed spending time at HOUR Detroit, as I was able to connect with other professionals and see a functioning newsroom during its business hours. I also loved seeing the latest issue of the magazine and see how much she was able to contribute to it. I feel as though I really benefited from this experience as I am still in contact with Mercer and email her when I can. Ultimately, I hope to use this job shadow as a spring board for a future part time position or internship over the summer in an effort to build my resume gain more experience

*****

For my job shadow, I went to the Detroit News. Originally I had set up my job shadow with the presentation editor, Rick Epps. I met Rick at the Society for News Design annual conference in Louisville last month and was very excited to be meeting with him again for the shadow. When I arrived at the News, however, Rick informed me that I was going to be sitting with a few different designers so I could get a feel for how the design floor really worked. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. I have a huge passion for design, and even though I am more interested in magazine design, this was still sure to be an awesome experience for me.

I arrived at the Detroit News shortly after noon, where Rick met me in the lobby to take me upstairs to the design floor. From there, I met a few designers, and then sat with Rick in his office to talk a bit more in depth about himself. Rick told me that he went to Michigan State, where he originally was interested in writing but then transitioned into design during his third year. After working out of state after graduation for a while, Rick was naturally drawn to return to his home state, so he now has been working at the News for the last 18 years.

Rick talked to me about some challenges that he and the staff encounter, which I found to be a little relieving. Rick mentioned that it was difficult for them to make time to critique and then make the improvements with the deadlines they are on. With me working at VIM magazine, I completely understand how tough deadlines can be, and it was comforting to know that I’m not the only one struggling with this. Rick also said he tries to make sure that budgets and content are received early enough so the designers have enough time to work, which I also understand thanks to the magazine.

After chatting for a while about struggles with communication – he said that the better communication with editors, the better the pages will be – and some bonding over our love for the Spartans, Rick handed me off to Carolyn Chin Watson, who works on the automotive, features and 1A (front) pages. Carolyn graduated with a journalism degree, doubling in broadcast & print journalism, from Wayne State University, so she said the Detroit News was perfect for her since she lived nearby. She is also the current Mich. chapter president of the Asian American Journalist Association. Carolyn talked to me about the automotive section called “drive” that comes out on Thursdays, and said that those are the pages she’s most proud of in comparison to the 1A pages because they are so basic that they will shine. As much as she likes working on the 1A pages, Carolyn said she prefers to work more on the drive and features sections because 1A requires you to work grueling shifts and basically sacrifice your life. I sat with Carolyn for about an hour, talking about the stress of working on deadlines as well as me receiving some Photoshop pointers.

Carolyn then passed me to Diana McNary who works on the “your money” and “homestyle” sections. Diana said she originally started off at the copy desk, but then saw how fun design was and transitioned into that. Diana and I looked over a lot of her work from the past few years; she showed distaste for her earlier works, which I can completely relate to because I always end up disliking things I worked on long before because I know my skills have gotten better since then. Diana said she really loves her job because it’s different every day and she gets to be creative, but there are always those days where she’s got nothing to do. Such as when I visited: Diana was waiting for a budget to come through before she could begin working on her pages, so I didn’t get to see her design much.

After talking with Diana, I sat with Antone Amye who works on the weekend section titled “GO!” Antone’s section is probably my favorite section out of the entire newspaper because it has bit more of a magazine feel to it, and it is more colorful and has more relevant information to me. Antone went to College of Creative Studies in Detroit and studied art direction. I feel like I connected the most with Antone because I could understand how difficult it can be when you don’t receive art with an article, or when you’re working with an editor that has a different taste than you so you have to compromise. I encounter a lot of that while working at the magazine, so Antone told me that it was key to be able to understand the editor you’re working with so you can know their style, and be able to produce something you know they’ll like.

Despite the fact that I ultimately want to work at a fashion magazine after graduation, I really enjoyed my time at the Detroit News and I feel as though I learned a lot because there are a lot of things that are universal between the two mediums. I am very appreciative to have had the opportunity to make the connections with these designers and to have a glimpse of their world and to see how my life as a designer could be, even if it was just for a few hours.

*****

I followed Brian Calloway of the Lansing State Journal at the Michigan State Women’s basketball game against Canisius on November 14 for my job shadow. Calloway is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and came to Lansing after working at the Daily Telegram in Adrian, Michigan. He worked at his college paper, the Eastern Echo, as well as writing freelance articles for the Detroit Free Press. Calloway is currently a sports reporter and copy editor at the Lansing State Journal and covers Michigan State football and women’s basketball. He wil assist in covering other sports, but those are his main ones.

Calloway gave me the option of either shadowing him at a press conference or at a game, and he recommended the game because I could get more out of it. I met Calloway at the door at 6:15 p.m. and he had a press pass waiting for me. He then took me down stairs and showed me the media room. This is where members of the media work on covering the game and where the post game press conference is held. There was food and drinks set out for the members of the media on one table and a set of media handouts on the other. Calloway explained that he picks up one of each of the packets before each game. The packets consist of game notes about each team playing that day.

Next, I followed Calloway down to the court where I sat at a table with him for the game and he explained the process he goes through when the game is going on. Before the games, Calloway makes sure he looks through the game notes provided. He recommended this because it is a good place to find information to write a story about. Once that is done, he opens a word document to write notes on during the game. Calloway said that as the game is going, he likes to have a document open to put down important parts of the game that could be helpful in his post game recap. During the game, Calloway talked me through how he tweets about the games. For women’s games, he said he tweets updates at the media timeouts because there aren’t as many people following the game, but for men’s games, he updates them frequently. Tweets usually consist of the score and a little bit of information about who is doing well for either team. Calloway also recommended keeping a live tally of the score of the game on paper. When he does the game, he takes the score and who scored each basket. He said this helps to put things, like key runs in the game, into the final story because you have the notes of it written down. Calloway also recommended using a game tracker online to help with the writing. He uses the game tracker on MSU’s website and he said it has helped him with writing his stories a lot.

Near the end of the game, one of the members of the staff came around and asked each media member who they wanted to speak to after the game in addition to Suzy Merchant. Calloway asked to speak with three of the freshman on the team. Once the game ended, we headed back to the media room. At the door were new packets with the information from the game that had just been completed. The press conference was held at the other end of the room and I followed Calloway over there. He talked with me about the questions that he was thinking of asking, and asked if I had any others that I thought would be good to ask. After a hort wait, Suzy Merchant came to the podium and answered the media’s questions. Calloway used a recorder for the audio and his iPhone to take some short videos. When that finished, the media moved over to some circular tables where some of the players sat and took questions. After Calloway asked the necessary questions, he retrieved his laptop and set out on writing his story on the game, and my shadow was over.

Overall, the job shadow was very helpful. In the future I want to cover sporting events and this helped me realize what is involved. I have been to numerous games, but never as a member of the press. It helped me realize what goes on behind the scenes and I got some tips on how to successfully complete the necessary steps. This job shadow will be quite beneficial to my career moving forward.

*****

On Tuesday, November 26, I spent the morning at the Great Lakes Echo newsroom to observe the typical day of environmental journalist Evan Kreager. We arrived at the newsroom – on the third floor of the Communication Arts building – at about nine o’clock in the morning. Right off the bat, Evan asked me to tell him about myself and what I hope to get out of my career. He informed me that I would need to be prepared for those questions in any professional meetings or interviews in the future.

Once he had learned about my goals, he talked me through a day in his life. He explained that The Great Lakes Echo operates through a Wordpress blog, and demonstrated how his completed stories are submitted to the “drafts” section of the blog, where editor Dave Poulson then makes final revisions and publishes the work. The story Evan was currently touching up covered the issue of offshore wind turbines in the Great Lakes. A report had recently been issued that stated that windmills do not have as significant an affect on the health and safety of birds as originally anticipated, so Evan researched both sides of the story to attempt to provide balanced information. To do so, he contacted both an environmental advocate as well as a man affiliated with the turbine company.

Although he let me listen in on one of his phone calls on speaker, he said that he is self-conscious when others are nearby during an interview. He admitted that he used to be extremely shy about calling strangers for their opinions and expertise, which really resonated with me. When I told him that that was one of my biggest challenges with journalism so far, he assured me that confidence is something that comes with repetition and experience. Besides phone interviews, Evan said that another aspect of reporting he struggles with is simply generating story ideas, which I can relate to as well. To combat this, he reads as much environmental news as possible, confers with his editor and colleagues, and utilizes an RSS feed.

Fortunately, one of his colleagues came for approximately the second half of my job shadow. As I sat at Evan’s desk, I was also able to watch his coworker devise a logo for their new drone research methods. This was especially intriguing to me, considering that I am also interested in visual communication and design. I was able to refresh some Photoshop skills that I had learned in an online class this semester. A responsibility that both of the environmental journalists share are news blasts or short clips that are featured in a sidebar of the blog. Evan said these blurbs are just to get word out or catch a reader’s eye; they don’t require any phone calls or extensive searches for neutral experts.

Overall, job shadowing an environmental reporter for the Great Lakes Echo gave me a much more acute understanding of the expectations in such a field. Evan completely understood when I told him that I was still trying to decide between journalism concentrations, and responded that he too was entirely undecided during the majority of his time as an undergrad student. His advice was to simply get involved and learn my preferences by trial and error. He said that a wide range of ability can never hurt – and is actually precisely what many employers look for these days.

*****

For my job shadow, I spent an afternoon with Detroit Free Press columnist Joe Rexrode and was able to observe a typical day he would spend during the week for the college football season. Joe covers Michigan State everything for the Free Press and also the Lansing State journal and is one of the leading Michigan State sports writers there are and is also one of the people I follow very closely in terms of people who have the type of job I’m shooting for in the future, so it was very informative and helpful for me to see how he went about himself.

Joe was quick to respond to me and was also very willing to let me tag along with him, so when he emailed me back I was pretty excited to go see what his job was all about. I went with him and sat during a Mark Dantonio press conference on a Tuesday morning after class, but instead of being a normal press conference, it was one during the time when the football team’s play was under heavy scrutiny, so seeing how things were done by not only Joe but all of the journalists was very interesting. Joe and the other writers had to as some tough questions and it was awkward at times, but they did a good job of asking questions that coach could answer with a good response. Another thing they did that we have practiced in class quite a bit was live tweeting the press conference to their followers, which I thought was interesting that they were using stuff we were practicing as well.

After the press conference concluded, the writers and Joe discussed some of the topics that were brought up by Dantonio and what they thought of it and how they were going to go about it in their articles. Before they went to write their articles, Joe and Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch went into the parking lot of the stadium and recorded a five minute video recapping the press conference and what they thought of the stuff discussed, as well as giving their insight on the upcoming football game and what they thought was going to happen.

After that, we got into a car and Joe was kind enough to take me with him to Hobie’s for lunch and to show me what they do typically after a press conference. Along with Joe, there were writers from the Lansing State Journal, SpartanMag and the Detroit News there all working on their individual stories. Joe sat down and looked over his notes and decided to write his column on the quarterback situation, which at the time of this job shadow was the hot commodity in the Spartan football world. He finished up his column then discussed with some of the other guys other potential story topics they could write about and other things they needed to get done for their respective employers throughout the week. It was a nice and relaxed environment, with lots of discussion and humor, which I thought was really cool.

This was a really cool experience for me as an aspiring sports writer, because anytime you can sit down with one of the best writers in the state of Michigan and picks his brain about how to be successful in this field; it is going to be a good experience. Joe was able to give me some very helpful advice as for what I should do doing during my time in school, like making sure I can get newsroom experience, which he said would be the most helpful too. He also said things like making sure I’m well rounded and can do more things than just write recaps of sports are important, things like making videos and covering live events, and many other things.

*****

On Friday November 22, 2013, I went to ABC 12 News station in Flint Michigan and shadowed Lori Dougovito with Jordan Jennings. We got to the station at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, which Lori said was a really, really slow time for her and the station. Lori had a video to edit, so we sat with her in an editing bay and watched her. She used Aurora Editing to make the video and AP ENPS for the writing, which is how she put together her video after going out into the field to get the footage and interview. The story was about an elderly who had her house broken into and her car stolen, and then OnStar was used to track the four suspects responsible for that (and similar robberies in the area) and find the car and stolen objects. Lori said that she felt bad we were watching her edit such an uninteresting story, but Jordan and I were grateful to really see the real-life journalism being processed: not everything is exciting and big news, but there’s always something to report.

Dougovito said that she has worked at ABC 12 for six years now and before that was in Lansing, and before that in the Upper Peninsula at other stations. She said that she got into it by interning at channels nine and 10 where they paid her and gave her a camera to go out and make small stories that got aired. She said that she really loved that experience because it gave her the hands-on that she needed, which she said that ABC 12 does NOT give to interns at the moment. What she did say that surprised Jordan and I was that she wouldn’t have, nor would she now, intern at ABC 12 because the interns usually sit around and don’t do anything like the experience she got interning.

After about an hour and a half in the editing bay with Dougovito, she finished the video at about 1:05 long with the intro for the teleprompter and her lines for after already written up. The video was to air on the 5 o’clock news. Dougovito said that stories are usually more than 1 minute long, at least 1:00 to 1:15 typically.

The editing bay was really small and personal, with three computer screens and two keyboards, one for editing and one for writing. The editing keyboard Dougovito used without looking at. She clipped and moved and glued together her video story very smoothly and quickly, it was really mesmerizing!

I learned a lot just by shadowing for a few hours at a News Station. It reminds me of JRN 200 only, of course, much much quicker for getting things done. A question that Jordan asked was how Lori gets her topics or stories to follow/report, and Lori said she usually does crime stories so is always in touch with the police station, but if she didn’t have anything to do ABC 12 would most likely have a story for her. The job requires lots of spirit and personal motivation, like I’m sure any career in journalism, and a LOT like I learned was needed to be successful in Jrn 200 this semester!

*****

I was giving the opportunity to follow a day in the life of Michigan State University’s very own Al Martin.

Al Martin graduated from Michigan State University in 2012 with a degree from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. He is originally from Detroit and has had a passion for sports journalism since high school after being editor of his school’s newspaper. Martin then became a sports reporter at channel six WLNS-TV in Lansing, Michigan. Now, Martin works for WKAR, a public media for Michigan State University. He joined this station in April of 2013 to become the host of Current Sports, the sports talk show. Martin does other jobs for the WKAR media group, for example hosting the radio talk show host. In his short career, Martin has been able to talk to multiple local sports stars, such as T.J. Duckett, Sally Nogle, Carlton Valentine, Morris Peterson, and many more.

My job shadow with Martin took place on October 8th, 2013 beginning at 11 a.m. We decided to meet at the original Spartan statue that stands just inside the stadium because the “Dantonio Pressers”, press conference with MSU’s football coach, are held just up stairs. Most press conferences for all sports team coaches and players are held in the Huntington Club in Spartan Stadium. After walking in, Al and I grabbed thick paper copies of Big Ten football records and statistics. He then set up his audio recording and reminded me to “always have fresh batteries.” After sitting down I noticed the room began to fill up and everyone knew Mr. Martin. He introduced me to a couple of “Michigan State sports guys” and that is when I realized everyone in this business communicates quite often. MSU men’s soccer coach, Damon Rensing, was introduced first to talk about his team. Then MSU volleyball coach, Cathy George, spoke about her team as well. And finally, Coach Dantonio walked into a room of sports critics and questions. While sitting in the middle of questions being thrown on to Dantonio, I became aware of the relationships journalism must build with colleagues and even the people they interview and question. Dantonio, Martin, and the numerous other journalists were laughing, poking fun, arguing, and agreeing on a variety of different question and all of that felt strangely comfortable.

From the press conference, Martin heads straight over to WKAR studios in the Communication Arts and Sciences building. He described his busy schedule of multi-tasking, deadlines, and piling up the amount of items on his plate, yet he was remarkably calm and relaxed while explaining all this stress.

At the radio station I learned about the amount of work Martin does to create the outcome of well-produced radio and television shows. Martin writes a script for every radio show. Keep in mind, the Current Sports radio show is held every weekday. Although Martin does not read off of the script, it is a guideline and reference to himself and his coworkers. Martin also finds guests to come speak on the television show or call into the radio show. After researching each guest’s past career, he comes up with ten to 12 questions to ask them throughout the production. Martin and WKAR have also just started to come up with campaigns and fundraising ideas to bring in some income. Martin is sure to watch every local high school, Big Ten college and professional sports competition he can, primarily focusing on Michigan State sports. And on top of all that, Martin must maintain the wonderful, inviting personality throughout the production with the little to no sleep he may or may not be getting. He reminded me that “just because they’re not calling, doesn’t mean they're not listening,” when referring to the listeners or viewers of any show.

The best advice I have received thus far in my career was given to me by Al Martin on this day. He told me that it pays to be organized, yet to always be ready for the unexpected. That stuck with me because of the personality and work ethic I have. Both Martin and I are planners and organize as much of our lives as we can, but this business fights back with changing of deadlines, unreliable sources, and unexpected and important events added to a story at any given moment. Knowing Martin has been this successful after one year of graduating from college brings me a peace of mind.

*****

On Monday, Dec. 2, I job shadowed Assistant Editor Jewel Gopwani at the Detroit Free Press. Jewel has worked at the Free Press for ten years and is currently part of the Opinion desk. Prior to her job as assistant editor, Jewel worked as a suburban reporter at the Free Press. Jewel explained to me that “editorial” at the Free Press generally refers to the op-ed section of the paper, and she got an interest in this section because she wanted to be able to voice the opinions of others in the Free Press. She also was interested in the politics and issues of Detroit, which is why she switched from business reporting to op-ed.

I arrived to the Detroit Free Press at 11:50 a.m. to meet Jewel for lunch before I began my day of job shadowing her. Jewel immediately made me feel comfortable upon our meeting; she began by showing me around the office and introducing me to her co-workers. Jewel took me to the part of the office that deals with all aspects of the Internet for the Free Press. There are large T.V. screens surrounding this area; all of the screens displayed the Free Press’s website and social media accounts, their competitor’s websites, and the statistics of how much traffic their website receives. What I found most interesting was the statistics screen; this screen displays how many people, in both numbers and percentages, view their website and specific pages. There are also ways to track how people got to their website, either through Google or links off of other websites, and which pages receive the most traffic.

After a brief introductory to the office and employees, we headed out for lunch. We ate inside of the Fort Shelby Hotel at a restaurant called DoubleTree, which is practically right next door to the Free Press. Although I had just met Jewel a half hour ago, she offered for me to try some of her sushi and picked my brain about my experience with journalism thus far. We spent the whole lunch talking about ways that I could improve story topics, how to get in contact with sources, the ethical concerns of journalism, and how she got to where she is today. We also got on the topic about how important it is to have the knowledge of how to use technology in journalism and be able to put together videos. Jewel was impressed when I told her that we are currently working on multi-media projects in JRN 200 and she said that the Free Press also uses iMovie to put together their videos.

Once we got back to her office, Jewel gave me two op-ed stories submitted by advocacy groups that I could fact check and proofread for style and spelling errors. One story was about a lieutenant on the Joint Task Force for the Guantanamo Bay Prison, and the other was about the sequester, written by the presidents of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. While I was fact checking stories, Jewel was working on a budget for the op-ed department. Jewel said she works on the budget every day, which determines how much space will be needed for each story in the print newspaper for the following day. After the budget is finished Jewel attends a meeting around 2:30 p.m. with other editors to discuss their budgets.

After fact checking those stories, I attended the budget meeting with Jewel. We sat around a large, oval shaped table in a conference room and each person took their turn explaining what stories their department was working on. Assistant Managing Editor for Presentation and News Desks Robert Huschka sat at the head of the table and gave his input on what stories will be put on the front page of the next day’s paper and how much space will be allocated to each story once everyone finished sharing what their department was working on. It was really cool to see what goes on behind the scenes and hear the editors discuss what stories were important and what they needed to improve on.

After this meeting, I went back to Jewel’s office and read some newspapers from that day and discussed journalism a little further with Jewel. Jewel told me that the Free Press has their own style of writing and doesn’t exactly follow AP Style. For example, the Free Press writes “%” instead of “percent” to save on space in their paper. I told Jewel that I had an interest in economics and considered possibly doing business reporting, which is what Jewel started out doing in her career. She had me talk with someone who currently does business reporting at the Free Press and someone who did business reporting in the past at Crain’s Detroit Business. Both of them told me that they did not have experience with anything business-related in college and they taught themselves about the business world and how to report on it. The reporter who did business reporting in the past told me that she is happy that she took the opportunity to do business reporting because once she was able to understand the “business lingo” and how the business world worked, she realized how naive she was to business and it is something important that effects so much of everyone’s life.

Around 3:30 p.m. Jewel and I attended another meeting. This meeting was with three editors from the Editorial department and the Michigan Municipal League. The Michigan Municipal League came to the Free Press to discuss ideas that their company has about how to increase revenues in the city of Detroit. One idea that they had was to invest in a public transit system, like what Minneapolis currently has. The people with the Michigan Municipal League handed out packets to the editors and myself that consisted of information about their projects and how it would benefit Detroit. One of the men from the Michigan Municipal League sat next to me during the meeting and shared with me that he graduated from MSU with a journalism degree and was a journalism professor at MSU for ten years.

After the meeting I went back into Jewel’s office and chatted with her for a little while longer. We continued to discuss journalism and she let me watch over her shoulder as she emailed people who had sent her op-ed stories that she needed information clarified for. She stressed to me how important it is to fact check everything, even though it is tedious, because they cannot run something in their paper that may not be true. I ended my day at the Free Press around 5 p.m., and as Jewel was walking me out she told me that she knows Professor Grimm from when she tried to apply for an internship at the Detroit Free Press in the past. Jewel told me that she missed the date to apply for the internship but Professor Grimm asked her if she would meet him for coffee so that they could still discuss journalism options for her. Jewel raved about how great of a journalist and professor he is and urged me to take a class with him if I get the chance.

My job shadow at the Detroit Free Press was very beneficial and it gave me a better look at what aspects of journalism I might be interested in. It was really cool to see how a typical day goes at a news outlet and I am grateful that I was given that chance. Jewel offered for me to come back again and go out on an assignment with a business reporter to see how their day goes so that I can figure out if that is something I am interested in.

*****

On Friday, November 22, I job shadowed Crime Reporter Lori Dougovito of ABC News Flint. Dougovito has worked there for almost seven years.

It was a low-key day at the station, so Dougovito had editing to do. We sat in a bathroom-sized editing room containing a desk, shelves and three computer monitors. One monitor showed the full-screen video, the other was for video editing and the third showed all written information. This video was about an elderly woman’s house that was broken into in Flint. The thieves stole some of her possessions and her vehicle. Conveniently, On Star allowed police to track down the vehicle and lead to four people being charged. The four alleged robbers may be connected to summer break-ins also. Dougovito uses Aurora Edit HDR for video editing and AP ENPS for written portions. This is called linear editing, and is the same manner of editing as when I use iMovie. The written part is mostly database information – she submits notes about the video. For instance, her videos are usually about one- to one-minute fifteen-second videos. This one was originally about 59 seconds, but then changed to 1:05, an alteration she had to submit in her notes. Accurate programming depends on every tiny detail being noted.

The videos Dougovito has to work with are an interview with a disinterested police lieutenant and sub-par b-roll taken by one of the photographers. She is disgusted by how boring and irrelevant the b-roll is. If they don’t enough video footage, they can “look around” Dougovito said. The news station has archives of previously shot b-roll. She found a humorously antiquated clip of a guy pressing a car’s On Star button, which, because that’s all she had to work with, she was forced to use.

In the neighboring editing room, behind soundproof sliding glass door, Dougovito recorded herself narrating the news story. She said she doesn’t like people listening to her record.

She said that she most often writes to video – that is, tells the story by writing around what video she has.

It took her about one hour to edit a one-minute video. She said she makes multiple videos each day.

Dougovito said that this is realistically what a reporter does 90 percent of the time. The exciting part of investigative reporting happens far more infrequently.

When asked what an intern’s role here would be, Dougovito said that interns don’t do much of anything. Even some of those who work here don’t do much, she added disappointedly. “I don’t want to sit around for eight hours and not do anything,” she said.

Being the crime reporter, one of her tasks is to check in with police department each day.

To finish our day, I sat in on the 4 p.m. news broadcast. I observed the news anchors, weather reporters, etc. A few minutes after 5 p.m., Lori Dougovito’s story aired, and then she made live comments using a teleprompter.

While not an exciting job shadow, it was a realistic one. I got to see the process of creating a real news story, from the editing process to broadcast on television. It was an experience impeccably in-line with what we learned in JRN 200, since we have been emphasizing multimedia projects.

*****

On Monday night, November 11, 2013, I job shadowed the lead anchor, Sheri Jones at WLNS TV 6 from 8:30pm- 11:30pm. WLNS TV 6 is under CBS and joint operates with WLAJ, which is under ABC. The joint operating between stations is very recent and just happen this past April. Sheri Jones has been at WLNS TV 6 since she was 23 years old. There was one point in time for three years straight that she was the 5, 6, and 11 o’clock news lead anchor. She is now the lead anchor for the 11pm news but does much more side work for the station.

Sheri gets to the studio at 8pm each night to read over her script, edit anything she doesn’t like, and also talk with her producer about the order they want to cover the news for that night. Her producer writes the basis of the script but she has the final edit of what she wants to say. After she edits it, no one can go back in and do anything to her work. When I was meeting with Sheri in her office, about 5 or 6 times her producer, Jon Adamey, came in to tell her more details about a fatal accident they were going to open with that night.

Each anchor has a “read rating” which is the exact amount of time they have to say a story. The read rating is down to seconds and milliseconds. Sheri went to MSU and her co-anchor, Greg Adaline, went to Oakland University. They have been working together for close to 10 years and are so comfortable on camera that the show is fun and flows easily to them. They both shared with me how they got to WLNS. Sheri straight out of high school interned for them and was offered a job at age 23. Greg on the other hand tried out for Detroit’s FOX internship and was involved with the Pistons before he ever stepped foot in WLNS.

Sheri has to pre-record a tease that plays about 5 times before the news at 11. She also does one live tease of just her announcing what will be coming up at 11, the live tease is usually 10 minutes before the show. Sheri let me practice reading her teases before the show and I sat right next to her and Greg during the live show. The weatherman, David Young, was wearing Nike gym shoes because his feet are not seen during the show. I thought that was something very cool, comfort is key. Everything during the live show is to the second. There is a 2, minute and a half, minute, and 30 second announcement after every commercial and before the show starts. Everything is very structured but the anchors still chat in between commercials and have a blast with it. My dream career is to be in their shoes someday.

I also met Fred Heumann, the sports reporter for WLNS TV 6, and he was the funniest, most inspiring people I’ve ever met. I am going to apply for an internship with him. I couldn’t be more excited about journalism talking to him. His advice to me was make contacts and meet people. He said talent and skill is important but his suggestion to me was the most important thing is whom you know and what you’ve done. After he gave me this advice, he gave me his contact card and told me to keep growing my contacts whenever I can. It is obvious that a degree and GPA don’t guarantee you a job in the journalism world.

Honestly, I could write about my experience at WLNS for pages. I was so happy and wide awake after getting done with the show at 11:30pm, that I went home and didn’t get to bed till 2am from just being so happy and jittery about the experience I just had. Emailing Fred is the nest thing on my to-do list!

*****

On October 21, 2013, I attended a job shadow in the field of journalism at The Kalamazoo Gazette, which is also a branch of MLive Media Group. I arrived at ten in the morning and greeted the editor-in-chief, Mickey Ciokajlo, who I had also spoken with in order to set up the job shadow. When I arrived, Mickey showed me around the newsroom, which was recently remodeled in the past couple years. Mickey explained that the newer newsroom is a lot more modern with open windows that wrap around the building to allow the community to feel like they are welcome and a part of the newspaper. There are many rooms to allow reporters to do work in a quiet atmosphere if needed, such as conducting a phone interview. For example, the police and crime reporter happened to be in a small room speaking on the phone with a source. There were also a couple large conference rooms and many dry-erase boards from the floor to ceiling for leading discussions and compiling story ideas.

The reporters at The Kalamazoo Gazette write majority of their stories for the online publication at http://www.mlive.com/kalamazoo/ and decide which will appear in the printed newspaper. I followed Mickey around for majority of the morning, watching what he accomplishes for his morning tasks such as completing budget for the day or upcoming week. Most of the reporters tend to keep their work to themselves, speaking to sources over the phone or leaving shortly to conduct interviews in person. Each reporter is issued a very large backpack to carry their personal laptop also used for work among other necessary tools while out in the field. While there are desks for everyone to sit, reporters can sit wherever they feel comfortable. Even Mickey sits among the reporters on his laptop. He explained that reporters generally do a story a day, mostly for the online portion, in which case stories for the blog are not edited at the same level of those for print. While the online articles are looked over and edited for style and structure, once something is in print, it cannot be fixed. The blogs allow for easy updates and the reporters seem like they are moving toward social media and video. Mickey said they are trying to get reporters to start taking videos for their online stories, as well.

Later in the day, I followed the county government reporter, Alex Mitchell, to the Kalamazoo Country Jail to cover a story and take photos on the remodeling of the facility, which was very exciting for me because I had never even seen the inside of a jail. That is when I realized the unordinary and exciting doors the field of journalism opens. I learned that Alex is a 2012 graduate of Michigan State University among many other alumni who work at The Kalamazoo Gazette. He gave me advice on internships and getting through the journalism courses at MSU. At the jail facility, we followed the county sheriff throughout the old portion of the facility and to the new building. I found it interesting that Alex used his own personal smartphone to take video and pictures, which, as professors have taught me, is becoming a common use for journalists. It was nice to see a professional journalist use what we as students have been taught to use if we do not own or have access to a camera.

Overall, I learned a lot during my day at The Kalamazoo Gazette. It was very interesting to see how I can utilize what I’ve learned in JRN 200 in the real world. I will definitely use what I learned in the real world of journalism in my future experiences in the field. I felt very comfortable in the large newsroom and all the reporters were very welcoming and willing to answer any questions I had about the field and what it was like working in an environment like The Kalamazoo Gazette. They make the community their number one priority and that is what I expect from a news organization. They understand people and media are constantly changing, so I like that the newsroom is full of windows to allow the community to feel a part of the organization. Mickey said that I make sure to stay in touch with them as well as let him know if I would be interested in an internship opportunity, which was huge to hear. I did not expect a job shadow to turn into an internship possibility. That is what I love so much about the field of journalism. Any step a journalist takes can lead to something new and unexpected.

******

On Friday November 8, I ventured back to my hometown of Holland, Michigan with two fellow Journalism majors for our job shadow. Shelby Anderson and Matthew Pizzo are JRN 300 students and were in need of a job shadow for Professor Grimm as well. Our destination? The Holland Sentinel. Our meeting was with Dan D’Addona, the Sports Editor of the paper.

When we arrived, it was mid-afternoon around three-thirty or four. Dan had just gotten to work, as he does every Tuesday through Saturday. We entered the building and made our way to his office where he greeted us.

Dan showed us all around the main news floor which was basically just filled with cubicles. We said ‘hello’ to a few other people in the office at time and he showed us to his desk where the magic happens. As far as stuff to look at, there wasn’t much. Because of this, we retreated back to a meeting room where we sat down and shot him our questions.

Because there was three of us, we surely kept Dan talking. I, personally, had a lot to ask, and found out a lot of information from him about the field in general and his job specifically. Something that definitely stood out to all of us, and what he basically started with, was that we aren’t going to make any money. This kind of shocked us all but in reality, at least in a small town like Holland, journalism careers are extremely sparse.

He went on to say a sports writer was just hired in to work below him, and that writer was chosen out of 86 applications from all over the country with a starting salary listed at only $20,000 a year. This made my friend Matt’s jaw drop to the floor. He couldn’t believe it!

Dan was not always the Sports Editor. He has been at the Holland Sentinel for 10 years and was just moved to editor last year. He’s been in sports for the past 4 or 5 but prior to that was moved around to several different departments within the newspaper and covered a variety of different events and topics.

Dan explained that because he was now in sports, his days normally did not start until mid to late afternoon, around the time we met him. He comes in, gets his equipment together, and typically has to shoot off to go cover a local sports event. The events include all the high schools in Holland, as well as Hope College which is in the heart of downtown Holland. After he covers an event, he comes right back to the office and puts his story together for his typical 10:30 pm deadline.

Sometimes Dan has a bigger gig to go out and cover. His most recent more exciting game was the Michigan vs. Michigan State game on November 1 here in East Lansing. A junior at Michigan, Desmond Morgan, is actually a graduate of my high school and is a linebacker on Michigan’s football team. He’s basically a celebrity in Holland and this was why Dan was so excited to be able to cover the game and was hoping to get a few words from him for his story.

The game began at 3:30 p.m. but Dan was in town at noon to get pre-game interviews. He covered the entire game of course, and stayed after for a while as well. He did get to talk to Desmond, who was not very happy after the loss. Dan left lansing after post-game interviews, got back to his office, wrote his story, and submitted his story just before his deadline of midnight.

Besides just writing, Dan takes his own photographs when needed, and has done some work with video, also. He mentioned he absolutely loves his position because he basically “gets paid to watch sports, and that’s awesome.”

Besides just answering our questions, Dan actually had several for us. He wanted to know what our plans were, our dream job, and how everything in our fabulous journalism school was treating us at Michigan State. I explained how since I was little I have always loved to write and have always seen myself in a big city somewhere writing for something. This is still true to this day - I’m not quite sure what I want to do yet but I know that this is where I belong.

From this experience I made the realization that money is important, but it’s not my number one concern. Dan commented that we must really love journalism if that’s the field we’re in because of the lack of salary that comes along with it, and honestly, I do. Something else I got out of this job shadow was that there’s nothing else I can imagine myself doing. Changing my major has never been on my brain and I don’t plan for it to ever be. I love this major, the school, and everything that comes along with it no matter where I end up.

                     Shadowing Dan and seeing and hearing about a real journalist’s every day life really got me excited for my future in this career and I’m so glad he took the time to meet with us.

*****

Thanksgiving morning, I job shadowed Linda Gittleman, who is a reporter for The Morning Sun, a daily periodical in Gratiot and Isabella counties.
    That morning, Linda was covering an event that took place at the Presbyterian Church in Alma, MI. The event was the yearly Thanksgiving meal the church puts on for the community for free via donations from businesses throughout the area.
    When I first got there, Linda told me that there wasn't a story there. At first, this took me by surprise. If there's not a story there, then why would a reporter be there? Then she went on to explain that just because there isn't an obvious story there, it was the reporters job to find the story. That was the thing that really showed me what it is to be a reporter – finding the story in seemingly boring situations.
    Another thing that Linda taught me was that you couldn't be afraid to approach people. She said that people had the right to be left alone, especially on a family holiday like Thanksgiving, but you have to be willing to just approach someone and ask if they would spare a few minutes for your story. If they refuse, you just move on to someone else. This is the kind of “hitting the streets” that I really need to work on. Right now, I'm kind of afraid to approach people I don't know (though I have done it for my stories) and I realize that if I want to be a journalist, I have to get over it and approach random people on the streets in addition to the more professional interviews I have with experts.
    Something that surprised me during the process was the way Linda took notes during the interviews. In all my interviews I've done this year, I have either recorded, or, if they were phone interviews, typed up what they said verbatim. But I realize that this isn't always an option. What Linda did was jot notes in a notepad, but she did it in a shorthand fashion. I think that this is a great skill to have, but one that would be developed over time with experience, or you run the risk of misquoting someone.
    As for the story-making process, Linda started with the obvious and talked to the people in charge of the event. She talked to the pastor, the man who put the event together, the family that cooks the food, and the volunteers. When that was done, Linda asked them all for people they think would be able to give an interesting story. A lot of names were thrown out, but Linda didn't have time to interview all of them, so she had to pick and choose which ones.
    After getting some names, she asked some people who she personally knew if anyone in attendance would have an interesting story. And it turns out there was a family there from South Africa. Without asking other people who to interview, she would never have talked to that family, and her story wouldn't have been nearly as interesting. This taught me that even though it's unethical to interview your friends and family for stories, they still might be able to point you in the right direction.
    Overall, I'm really glad I did the job shadow. Even though it lasted only about an hour, I got real insight into what it means to be a journalist, and I learned a lot about what I have to overcome if I want to be a successful journalist.
    You can read the article Linda did online at: http://www.themorningsun.com/events/20131128/almas-first-presbyterian-church-packed-for-community-thanksgiving-day-dinner

*****

For my job shadow assignment, I decided to go to the Lansing branch of MLive. When thinking about the different news organizations around the local area, MLive was one of the first places that came to mind. I felt it has a pretty prominent presence in Michigan and many people trust the information they find so they could provide me with some helpful hints about being a journalist.

I mainly was with Brian Smith, the statewide education and courts reporter, but also chatted with Meegan Holland, the statewide news editor. Brian showed me around the newsroom, which they call the hub. The office itself is actually pretty small with only two conference rooms and a row of desks which computers at each seat. However, the hub was full of different colors making the space fun and chic to work in.

While I was there, I learned a lot about a real world news office and how it can function with only a few people. There are only eight full time reporters each having their own beat. Each reporter was responsible for finding stories relating to their beat. Brian said one of the biggest things that made him a more successful journalist was to learn how to type fast and accurate. He said having a fast pace when it comes to actually typing is important to be able to have more time to check your facts. Some things that I observed at the hub was constant communication between reporters and editors, the reporters not stopping at a certain number of sources until they felt they got all the information they need and the planning ahead for future stories.

When talking to Brian about his job, I realized that I related a lot of how he works with how The State News is run. With having specific beat writers who also come up with their story ideas, it made me realize how much of a real world newsroom The State News really is. With the pressure of making deadlines and finding sources when a story is presented, it really opened my eyes to how The State News has prepared me and how I can improve my skills moving forward.

While I did observe how the reporters and editors interact with each other by constantly keeping each other updated about their story for the day, I mainly talked with Brian to pick his brain about why he chose to become a journalist, what to expect when I graduate, how he got his job at MLive and any tips that he could pass down that would help me as a writer. Just talking with him for a while helped me learn a lot.

The first piece of advice he gave me was to build solid relationships with sources for whatever beat I am on because those are the people that will help me get the information I need or lead me in the right direction if they do not know. Out of all the things we talked about, this point was one that he kept repeated and seemed to stress the most. I learned that if I create a professional relationship with my sources I would get reliable information faster and those sources would trust you to do your job even if they don’t want to give you bad pieces of information.

The second piece of advice he gave me was about being unbiased. Brian said after he writes a story and it gets published, if no one gets mad about the article, he didn’t write the article right. He told me that to be unbiased, you want both sides of a story to think you are on the opposite side, thus making it unable to guess your position about a situation. I learned that this is one of the hardest things for a journalist to achieve, but editors and fellow writers will teach you ways to break bad habits.

Finally, Brian’s last important piece of advice was just to have fun with being a journalist. While there are some days where you have to stay late and put some extra work in, be flexible and go where a story takes you. I learned that having fun and investigating stories deeper could make a good story great. I also learned that to find out what is really going on in a community, Meegan said you can’t just find stories on the Internet and you have to go out and talk to every day citizens.

JRN 200 @ MSU is fun!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

JRN 200: That's All, Folks

Monday, December 2, 2013

JRN 200: Your Turn To Grade Me!

JRN 200: Job Shadows; What You Saw