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?
Please give each one of these a quick read, will you?
*****
Up until my job shadow experience I had a completely false idea of what broadcast journalism was. I was enlightened of what it truly meant when I left the ABC 12 news station in Flint. When I arrived to the station, Patrick Wilson, the assignment editor, took me on a tour of the entire building. We were making up time until Dawn Jones, the anchor I was shadowing, came into work. He started by showing me the newsroom where the anchors, reporters, and producers work. Everyone had their own desk and when we walked through there was only about six people in the room; Wilson later told me that this was due to people taking vacations and getting sick. Connected to the newsroom were editing rooms that were numbered. Wilson told me this is where reporters and anchors edited film and recordings. We then proceeded to the control room where two people were setting up for the day. The room was illuminated by the plethora of buttons and controls. After, he took me into the set room where the news is filmed. It was different seeing it in real life versus on television. The desk where the anchors sit is in the center, to the right are a couch and a chair for interviews, and to the left is the meteorology corner. On our way out, Wilson showed me the photography and film room.
Once we finished what Wilson called
the “nickel tour” we went into a meeting room where I was fortunate to sit at
the table where the reporters and producers sat and talked. One man handed out
a paper that was labeled as the daily planner which had a table with several
cells with information in it. The cells contained story slugs, segment,
assignment info, shot time, location, show, assigned reporter, and contacts. During
the meeting producers talked about what stories to run that day, who was
assigned where, follow-ups, and possible leads. I was told that some businesses
in Flint have cut their business hours so now it is difficult for them to
contact people. There was a pile on the end of the table that consisted of press
releases and flyers. Wilson told me this is partly how they get leads on
stories.
After the meeting, I sat at a desk
across from Rebecca Jensen, a producer. She told me that their station has a
low budget so instead of having writers and producers, the producers just write
for the anchors. I thought that this was really interesting because Jensen said
that when she first started studying journalism she did not expect to work as a
producer. She only became interested in producing after she interned with a
station.
When Jensen begins her day she starts from
scratch. The stories that are featured on the news come from what was discussed
in the meeting, from a program called CNN News Source, and from Facebook. She
said she also gets her stories from a tool called A.P. Wire. The stories are
written in a program called A.P. ENPS. In order to follow-up on stories she has
to call people and interview them on the spot. In order to finish before her
time slot of the show she gives herself a deadline and prints the outline a
half hour early. Sometimes, Jensen said, she is writing updates during the show.
“As a producer you have to be very willing to change,” Jensen said.
When I asked her if she has ever made any
mistakes, she said she had but only a few and she tries to be clear and
concise. At the end of our conversation she had a lot of advice for me. She
told me that internships will help me grow immensely and become connected into
the field. I was also told to be very open and friendly to people because it is
important to build a big network of resources who trust you.
When Dawn Jones arrived to the station she was
more than happy to take me under her wing and show me the ropes. Jones is an
anchor for the noon and four p.m. broadcast. She works alongside her co-anchor
Larry Elliot and they rotate tasks every day. One day she will do interviews
and another day she will do radio and a brief. When I asked her what made her
want to do broadcast, she said she fell in love with radio in college and then
switched to live broadcast later.
Jones begins her day by looking over her stories
the producers write for her. If she is doing the radio brief she will read over
the lines and re-write the stories. She did this on Friday morning and once she
printed out the re-written stories, we headed into an editing room. In the room
were three computer monitors, a phone, and a microphone. Jones sat down and
behind closed doors she began to record herself reading the stories. After
editing, cropping, and listening, the story was then sent out to the station’s
radio.
The news brief is what she works on next; the
news brief is a tease of the stories that will be on the show that day. Jones
said she gets to choose which stories to brief on and she has to edit the video
that will appear as well as write a script she reads from. Jones had to edit
her own video and read the script over the video in the studio. She taught me
that reading the script over the video is called V.O.-S.A.T. Jones said she had
to learn how to edit video and that the first video she edited took her about
eight hours to finish.
Once finished with her tasks, Jones does a run
through of the stories she has to read and then puts on her makeup. Jones said
that sometimes there are updates or changes on the stories while she’s reading
them off. The updates are transmitted through an earpiece she wears while
broadcasting. She said it is difficult not to nod or confirm the updates.
When putting on her makeup, Jones told me she
puts makeup on in order to give people one less thing to talk about. She said
that some of her colleagues have been verbally attacked through online
comments. She said that she has to have thick skin in order not to take things
personally. Once finished with her makeup, Jones took me into the studio and I
got to watch the show live. It was exciting watching the director and camera
operator count the anchors down and change up the format. After the hour was up
Dawn stayed later than her co-anchor and meteorologist. She spoke to someone
from ABC headquarters and then recorded a tease for the four p.m. show.
I am glad a job shadow was required for this
class because if it wasn’t I probably would’ve never gone. I was told by
Patrick Wilson to come back for an internship and get experience. Without this
opportunity I still would have had the skewed notion that broadcasting is just
like how it is portrayed on Anchorman.
*****
I job-shadowed Sean Carroll on Monday, March 3rd
at The University of Notre Dame where he holds the position of Assistant
Athletics Media Relations Director.
A press conference was held after the first spring football practice
for the Irish Monday morning. Brian Kelly, coach of the Irish football team,
was the first to speak. He addressed his expectations for the upcoming season
and talked about the strengths and weaknesses he sees the team facing this
year. Everett Golson also spoke at the conference, his first time appearing in
front of the media since returning to the team after a season-long suspension
from the University last year. The press was interested to hear about how
Golson was feeling to be back at ND and what he learned while he was away.
Other players were also present at the press conference,
seated in various parts of the room where reporters were able to go and speak
to them individually rather than speaking at the podium.
Sheldon Day, one of the Irish’s defensive lineman, was asked
to talk about his plans to help fill the loss of two key players at the same
position, Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix. The press wanted to hear about how he
feels to have increased responsibility on his shoulders both as a player and
leader of the defense.
Matthias Farley, last season’s starter at safety who is now
moving to cornerback, was also present. The media was interested in hearing how
Farley plans to adjust to the new role and what he hopes to accomplish during
the team’s spring practices.
Cam McDaniel, one of the team’s many running backs, also
spoke to the media about his visions for the upcoming season and how he feels
he can provide leadership to younger running backs.
Kyle Brindza and Joe Schmidt were also at the press
conference.
When I asked Sean about what he wishes he would have known
during his college years at Indiana University, he responded by saying, “I wish
that I would have taken more advantage of the opportunities that exist on
campus. Even though I ended up in athletic media relations, I never worked in
the office at Indiana– most departments have student workers. If I had worked
in their office it could have given me valuable experience before I even
graduated. Since I didn't do that, I had to volunteer at a couple schools after
graduation in order to make up for my lack of experience.”
Sean said he also wishes he would have explored doing work
with the student radio station. He believes that it would have been an easy opportunity
for him to get experience in a field that he might have wanted to explore,
and that there were a lot of journalism-related opportunities at IU that
he didn't take full advantage of.
Sean said, “I got caught up in the trap of thinking just because
my schoolwork was done that I didn't need to do anything else that could
potentially help me down the road. I think most schools provide great
opportunities for students that can help them boost their resume in a
practical, hands-on way.”
Aside from receiving valuable advice from Sean, it was very
interesting to be able to see the action behind journalism. In class, we learn
about how to write the stories with the information we have and what to do if
we go to a press conference or meeting, but we aren’t able to actually see it. In doing this assignment I was
able to really be thrown into the middle of the real-world excitement of
journalism and observe what was going on and how reporters do their jobs
up-close.
*****
