Job Shadows: What You Saw, Part 5

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 as they come in, will you?

*****

            For my job shadow I had the opportunity to shadow Whitney Martin who is a co-anchor for WIFR channel 23 news in Rockford, Illinois. When I first got to the news station I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Whitney made me feel right at home by introducing me to everyone. She took me back to her cubicle where other reports were sitting at their desks writing and editing segments for that nights news.

            Whitney sat me down next to her and showed me how she writes and edits the stories that she will report on later that evening. I was passed around throughout the day to different reports and producers to get a look at what they did on a daily basis. It was really interesting to see how everyone helps out and how everyone works together to produce the story.

            For the 5 o’clock news I was able to sit in the studio and watch the anchors report. It was really fun to be in there and be able to watch them. However, it was interesting to witness the craziness that goes on behind the scenes. People were still writing and editing the news stories right up until 5 o’clock.

            For the 6 o’clock show I was able to watch the segment from the control room. While in the control room, one of the producers let me roll the teleprompter for the meteorologist, which was really fun, and I felt like I had contributed to that segment in a little way.

            After that segment was over Whitney let me sit in the anchor seat and read the 6 o’clock news from the teleprompter to practice. It was really fun to pretend that I was a news anchor.

 Whitney was so great to me and told me that I did really well reading from the teleprompter. She gave me advice that was to try and get as many internships as possible and to ask tons of questions. She also told me that she wished she had been more tech savvy when she was my age and told me to really focus on computer and camera skills. Overall I had a great time shadowing Whitney and gained some good advice! 

*****

I met with John Hendler on July 29th. John Hendler is the News Editor of the Marshall Advisor and Chronicle. Mr. Hendler has worked at the Advisor for 8.5 years. Mr. Hendler spends lots of hours outside of the office interviewing people, and taking pictures. He is in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays because that’s when the stories are due.

                Mr. Hendler has his bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in speech. He wanted to go into broadcasting. He worked for a radio station reading the news. When he was 23 years old he applied for a newspaper job in Virginia and they told him “if we like it we will submit it, if we don’t like it we won’t.” He searched for his article in the paper but unfortunately it didn’t make the cut. Mr. Hendler then worked as a traffic reporter in a plane.

                When we met Mr. Hendler was working on two stories; one about community gardens, and the other interviewing doctors about pros and cons on working third shift. Mr. Hendler explained to me that he works very closely with Marshall Public Schools. He goes to many board meetings, takes photos at sporting events, and writes articles about current events.

                Our town Marshall is a very small close knit town. I asked Mr. Hendler if he has ever felt uncomfortable writing a story, or has had issues with community members following an article he had written. He explained to me it is part of the job. When he writes stories he tries to anticipate the outcome of the article. A section of the Advisor consistence of anonymous letters and sometimes he will receive letters regarding stories that have been published.

                I am currently going to Michigan State University as an education major. Hearing Mr. Hendler’s journey, I realized that someday I may end up in journalism because you never really know where life will lead.