Before I head out on any broadcast piece, my managers are always yelling this from the assignment desk. If you are not familiar with what a TVU is you should be. A TVU is a portable, wireless electronic news tool that allows you to broadcast from almost anywhere. In other words, it is a live truck shrunken down into a back pack that you can carry to remote areas.
There is no doubt a TVU makes you more mobile. You can go places where you can’t pull cable. Here is proof:
Last October, I stumbled upon breaking news with my photographer. A 50-plus car pileup on I-75 south near Sarasota. We jumped out, left our car and headed toward the heart of the accident. And, if you watch the video, you will see what ensued. We were live in the middle of the pileup and could walk viewers through the scene. Every other station that showed up was a mile away doing stagnant live shots from the shoulder of the road. Instead, we were walking, talking, showing and conducting live interviews. In the end, our coverage ended up winning us a National Headliner Award.
Below is another example. Typically, crews are left going live outside the airport … you usually have enough cable to get you close to the drop off area or arrival pickups. The TVU allowed me to retrace the man’s last steps in the airport.
There is no doubt TVU technology is in its infancy but its potential is astronomical. That being said, there are kinks that need to be worked out before we can say bye to live trucks. If you have ever worked on TVU, you know that your signal is dependent on wi-fi and cell towers. Sometimes in rural areas, maintaining a strong signal is impossible–and there goes your live shot.
Not to mention there is a 4-5 second delay. That means your producer must be on their feet and cue you early…then wait til your package is nearing its end and again cue you. Trust me when I say it can throw you off to work this way.
But, these are all minor issues. I believe the TVU is like the first form of a computer….fast forward a decade or two and now computers can fit in your back pocket. Without a doubt, TVU is here to stay and will only improve over time.
Jacqueline Ingles is a multimedia journalist for WFTS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Tampa, Florida. She specializes in crime and courts in Pinellas County. She writes, shoots, edits, and fronts her own work while doing also doing all of her own web work. Prior to WFTS, Jacqueline worked for almost three years at KXAN in Austin, Texas, as a one-woman-band MPJ. While in Texas, she covered the devastating drought and wildfires. Jacqueline’s work appeared numerous times on CNN during her time in Austin. Jacqueline also worked at WCTV’s Valdosta, Georgia, bureau and at MTV News as a political correspondent during President Barack Obama’s campaign. A native of Chicago, Jacqueline received a masters in broadcast journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She also graduated Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University-Chicago. She held two internships at WBBM and WLS in Chicago. Her print journalism work been published in the Northwest Indiana Times, Chicago Syndicate, Beep!, and the New Mexico Free Press.
Being thrust into the fray of becoming a full-time reporter, fresh out of college can be very stressful. The stress of a new job coupled with an already stressful working environment can be overwhelming and it can be easy to forget why you got into this profession in the first place.
Here are 5 tips to make it through:
1. Striving for perfection. In an effort to try to impress your new bosses, you may try to make every article or segment perfect. It’s OK to make it as good as possible, but at a certain point, you just have to understand that not every thing you do will be perfect. While striving for perfection, it is possible to hurt yourself because you focus on the little things too much and lose sight of the larger issue. There is a saying that sums this up: Perfection is the enemy of good.
2. Explore. On your day(s) off, take in the sights and sounds in the community. This will help you learn more about the area you are covering and interacting with people will help you learn about the community. It is also a good way to build sources.
3. Building relationships takes time. Don’t take it personally if some people are reluctant to open up to you since you are the “new person.” It may take some time to build that relationship, so do not get discouraged. Take care of business and do what you know you know how to d0.
4. Get to know your editors and producers. Knowing them gives you an idea of what they like and will make your life easier. Trust me.
5. Just breathe. When it gets overwhelming, just take a few moments and gather your thoughts. Clarity is a beautiful thing.
Ryan Broussard works as an intern at the Advocate in Baton Rouge where he covers crime and works general assignments on the weekend. He graduated from UL Lafayette with both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He has been an SPJ member 2006. Connect with him on Twitter, @ryanmbroussard.
I’ve always maintained that the hardest part of a journalist’s job is enterprising original stories. It’s even more difficult if you have to do it five days a week. I do not envy the reporters at my TV station.
Presenting new stories daily is part of their job description. I am a newscast producer, so I’m not expected to offer my own original story each day. I feel I do get another pass because I work overnights. Come on, who am I supposed to call at 3:00 a.m. to develop good stories? However, I like to contribute something here and there.
When I talk about original stories, I think of a few things:
1. It’s not from a press release
2. It’s a follow to a story that people might have forgotten about
3. It’s something no one else has even mentioned yet
Despite my work schedule, I do maintain a social life outside of work, especially when I wake up in the early evenings (you read that part right).
Recently, the Minnesota chapter of SPJ had a trivia night, and teamed up with the members of the Minnesota Public Relations Society of America. The first five minutes were tough; I didn’t know anybody and didn’t recognize anyone. I put my coat down near a group, and just said hello.
They were all PR folk. Minutes after the standard “where do you work, where are you from” questions, it was already time to announce the trivia teams. A trivia night was an excellent idea, because every team had a least one journo and one PR rep.
In between questions, our team learned more about each other, exchanged business cards, and had a good time (it helped that we took 2nd place). Afterwards, I caught up with the first group from that night, chatted more, and traded more cards.
I have at least three new story ideas from that night. Granted, look at who was there: PR reps. Their job is to GIVE you stories. It’s a match made in heaven. You need stories, they have ones they want you to cover.
I’m sure someone reading this will say, “those PR reps will send your newsroom a press release anyway, so why butter them up?” I argue that the personal connection with these people will give you an edge later. You’ve got a foot in the door and they’ll scratch your back a bit more. Your interaction with them gives them validation for what they are doing, and makes their efforts worthwhile. When you do something for someone, they’ll return the favor (at least, that’s the way it should be).
What I learned from that night is that an easy way to find good stories is to meet with the people who are ready to have a story to tell. Networking events (especially ones with PR) are packed with people who are trying to sell themselves. They WANT to talk to you.
Give them an ear, and see what you find.
Mike Brannen is a morning newscast producer for KSTP, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St.Paul. Before that, he was a producer at KIRO7 in Seattle, where he led the 4:30 a.m. show to a #1 share in the U.S. He received an MA in Broadcast Management from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2010 and received his Bachelor of Journalism degree the year before. He shares more about his life at mikebrannen.com and on Twitter: @MikeBrannen.
Yet young journalists continue to find jobs. Non-profit journalism organizations are hiring reporters and editors fresh out of J-School. Recently, I spoke with three of these non-profit journalists about their careers.
From left to right: Michael Todd, Managing Editor of Hear Nebraska (photo by Rob McLean), Rebecca Thiele, Radio Producer for WMUK (photo courtesy of Rebecca Thiele), Lauren Mills, Digital Analyst and Reporter for IowaWatch (photo courtesy of Lauren Mills)
Lauren Mills, Digital Analyst and Reporter at Iowa Watch
Lauren Mills turned a student job into a full time journalism gig.
She landed a reporting gig at IowaWatch after applying for a fellowship program with the organization– a website that dedicates itself to “producing and encouraging explanatory and investigative journalism in Iowa, engaging in collaborative reporting efforts with Iowa news organizations and educating journalism students.”
Mills started out as a student reporter, but moved up to web manager and assistant editor during her senior year. After a brief stint at the Sioux City Journal, Mills joined Iowa Watch as a digital analyst and reporter.
Aside from reporting, Mills has sit in on board meetings, where she said she gets an inside view on what the organization is doing in various areas. It also gives her insight into how the organization is coming along in funding.
The main difference between working at IowaWatch and a traditional newspaper, she said, is the length of journalism. She said IowaWatch is able to do long-form pieces, averaging one article per week.
Participation is also different, she said. Iowa Watch has a smaller staff than her old newspaper, she said, which lets everyone participate in every aspect of the process.
Michael Todd, Managing Editor of Hear Nebraska
Full disclosure: I’ve made a monetary donation to and have written a few articles forHear Nebraska, a non-profit music journalism website focusing on the Nebraska’s music scene. That’s how I came to meet its managing editor, Michael Todd.
Todd has been with HN since the organization’s early days. He said he really likes the creativity he’s allotted by the website’s co-founders, Andrew and Angie Norman.
“It’s just very open, productive and creative,” Todd said.
He met the Normans, after inviting them on a radio show he hosted on KRNU – the University of Nebraska’s student radio station. After the show, Todd said he applied for an internship with the organization and worked his way to managing editor.
Todd said he focuses most of his energy on producing editorial content, leaving development and conferring with the organization’s board of directors to the Normans. However, he has worked on fundraising initiatives for the site.
Pitching ideas for the website is relatively easy, Todd said. He said he isn’t sure that would be possible at a newspaper that is already established.
Rebecca Thiele, Radio Producer at WMUK
I met Rebecca Thiele while she was freelancing for Patch.com in the St. Louis area. I was a Local Editor, and she had written some news coverage for the site I managed.
Thiele graduated from the University of Missouri in May 2011. She said she was trying to find a job in radio, and the WMUK job looked attractive.
She said the organization is very good about keeping the news department separate from fundraising and other nonprofit aspects of the organization.
“When we need someone to do on-air fund drives, the news people are pretty much the last pick,” she said.
However, she’s not totally isolated from all aspects of the non-profit model. For instance, the show she produces has underwriting from the Richmond Center for Visual Arts – an organization on which she might report.
Thiele said when an opportunity to cover the organization arises, she asks herself if she would cover that story if the organization wasn’t underwriting the show. If the answer is yes, she pursues the story.
Rob McLean is a Digital Managing Editor with Hearst Television. He has been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists since 2010 and a member of the Online News Association since 2012. Interact on Twitter: @robertmclean.
Not a day goes by where I don’t here an intern say, “I want to make it to market one, New York!”
New York City, the number 1 market in the country
Broadcast news is comprised of 210 markets. Many newcomers to the industry look at anything 150+ as the bottom of the barrel. There seems to be a constant rush to make it a to a top 50, then make it to a top 20, then make it to a top 10 and if the broadcast Gods are happy, make it to network.Calm down budding broadcasters!
Glendive, MT, the number 210 market in the country
Many people overlook that it is not the market you work in but the news you cover. In my personal experience, no one wanted to work in my Valdosta, Georgia, bureau. Sure, we were connected to Tallahassee, market 105. In reality, we were market 140. But, guess what? In the year I spent there, we had six homicides in less than eight weeks, historic flooding and a horrific crash on I-75. Not one reporter in Tallahassee had those reporting opportunities and experiences. After one year, market 47 called and I was on my way to Austin, Texas.
Jacqueline Ingles reporting from scene of washed away road.
One of the markets I always like to point to is El Paso, Texas. A border city, for a long time it was ranked market 99. With the international news coverage opportunities, national stories including boarder wars, drug related issues, etc, those reporters and anchors are launching out of that market right into top 5 jobs. So, the next time you snub a low ranking market job, rethink it. Instead of looking at number, ask the following questions:
1) What types of news does the station cover?
2) Is there a variety where I can cover a lot of different topics on a daily basis?
3) Is there room for creative and storytelling or is more of a nuts and bolts market?
4) Is there room to push yourself and do stories you are passionate about?
As a one-woman-band, I knew I had to work harder than a two man crew. But, pounding pavement, thinking outside the box and creativity led me to an exclusive that left other stations in the dust.In other words, I was in a market that gave me opportunity. Opportunity and experience are what you should look for because as you rise in markets (which you will), the opportunities lessen and you are more tied to a specific role and a specific beat.
Jacqueline Ingles is a multimedia journalist for WFTS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Tampa, Florida. She specializes in crime and courts in Pinellas County. She writes, shoots, edits, and fronts her own work while doing also doing all of her own web work. Prior to WFTS, Jacqueline worked for almost three years at KXAN in Austin, Texas, as a one-woman-band MPJ. While in Texas, she covered the devastating drought and wildfires. Jacqueline’s work appeared numerous times on CNN during her time in Austin. Jacqueline also worked at WCTV’s Valdosta, Georgia, bureau and at MTV News as a political correspondent during President Barack Obama’s campaign. A native of Chicago, Jacqueline received a masters in broadcast journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She also graduated Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University-Chicago. She held two internships at WBBM and WLS in Chicago. Her print journalism work been published in the Northwest Indiana Times, Chicago Syndicate, Beep!, and the New Mexico Free Press.
I love my job because the four walls of my office aren’t these off-white pegboard walls, a former darkroom and a door frame with no door (I should install a saloon door, huh?) The real walls are the Nottoway River, State Route 288, Fort Pickett and the Surry County line.
Between those walls, almost everything is fair game for capture with my trusty Nikons for our newspaper, The Progress-Index.
It goes without saying that every day is different in journalism. Will I wind up triple-booked at 5 p.m.?
Am I under-dressed for a meeting with the governor? (Nah. That’s what the jacket in my car is for!) Will I go to bed pondering about the fate of a shooting victim?
Last week, I followed a farmer through fields of drought-stricken crops; donned a life vest and rode in a john boat to a national wildlife refuge to meet a group of high schoolers and science teachers on a week-long canoe trip; played paparazzi (a polite one, albeit) when a movie crew came to town; visited training units at the local army base, including soldiers loading a massive C-17 plane; spent an hour in 95-degree temps at a fatal accident scene; and let’s not forget the opening game of the big youth baseball tournament.
I enjoy the challenge of busy days and challenging myself on the slow ones. There are just so many stories these four walls hold.
Nikons in hand, Pat Kane covers the stories of the Tri-Cities of Virginia as multimedia editor of The (Petersburg) Progress-Index. Pat joined the Virginia Pro Chapter Board in 2008, stepping up to serve as chapter secretary the following year. After growing up all over the globe as a Navy brat, Pat graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2007 after working four years at The Commonwealth Times. 140-character insights are available @kane804.
I never know where or who I will be working with each day.
I get to wear many different hats.
Each day brings on a new adventure.
Hours are what I make it or as assigned.
I work from home, the office and out in the field.
I make my own schedule.
I am my own boss.
I make sure I’m always on top of current events and pop culture.
I also make sure I’m ready for any assignment by keeping my skills up to date.
Keeping on top of all of the above is what makes me valuable to the companies I work for.
I’ve covered red carpets.
I’ve covered concerts.
I’ve covered protests.
And yes, even a Renaissance fair.
Yet, I still know there is many more stories waiting to be told…I guess I better keep my schedule clear.
Claudia Amezcua is a freelance multi-plaform reporter and production assistant based inf Los Angeles, CA. She is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelors in Communications, and is currently pursuing an Associates Degree in On-Air Radio Broadcasting from Mt. San Antonio College. Ms. Amezcua’s work experience includes anchor, reporter, and DJ at 90.1 KSAK in Walnut, CA, and as a freelance production and library assistant for CNN. You can follow Claudia on twitter by @ClaudiaAmezcua, or visit claudiaamezcua.com.
Lingering in the minds of many TV news employees is a scary question: will TV news end? It’s a question that occasionally drifts into our heads every time stunning new technology is introduced, or something embarrassingly and insultingly bad happens on our airwaves. TV news has survived a lot, and it’s still standing strong.
But something was unveiled in Kansas City in July that you wouldn’t think could end TV news. I’ve always said local TV news affiliates (and networks) will survive and have an edge over other non-TV news outlets as long as they could broadcast faster and with a stronger signal than anyone else.
Google Fiber is a super high-speed and television service. It offers customers 1 gigabit of Internet download speed. According to Jeff Kagan of E-Commerce Times, that is one thousand times faster than the few megabites most of us get from our current cable/Internet providers.
The Internet is the biggest threat to television, especially since the television medium isn’t changing as fast as what’s happening online.
Look back at the last 15 years. What are TV’s greatest additions in the last decade?
TIVO? A glorified VCR.
Netflix? Blockbuster for the lazy.
3-D? Only if I take an aspirin as I’m watching.
Notice how each one is a “luxury” addition to TV. You can watch TV at a bar or an airport or any public place the same way you did 15 years ago without those additions.
Look where the Internet was in 1997. Try not to laugh. But you see the point. Our internet experience has vastly improved over the last 15 years.
So how does speed end TV? Speed makes Internet news sites more competitive with TV. When I talked with Kagan about Google Fiber, he brought up a great analogy. Picture a pie. When TV first began, there were 3 networks all sharing the same pie (which is the audience). When cable started, the networks had to compete with about 15 channels over the pie. Satellite comes along, and pie slices got smaller.
The pie changed even more with the Internet. It isn’t just a TV pie anymore. It’s a media pie. TV and Internet are part of the same pie now that computers and mobile devices force news outlets from different platforms to compete in the same space for the audience’s attention
You’ve seen newspapers, online news media, and bloggers all post video to the Internet. Their ability to stream content as quickly as television is dangerous for us working at TV affiliates. They may soon out-do TV stations when it comes to breaking news. Why bother putting on the TV if the Internet is just as fast? That’s a bone-chilling thought.
I don’t expect a major change to happen overnight where people suddenly abandon TV affiliates. I would get worried if Google rolls out Fiber in other cities. When people realize how fast their Internet experience can get, TV stations better have a game plan.
But, Kagan says this is just a warning shot. Google might not go anywhere else with this, and cable companies might just improve download speed a little more for its customers because Google put some pressure on them. TV can continue without fear, with Fiber out of sight, and out of mind.
Mike Brannen is a morning newscast producer for KSTP, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St.Paul. Before that, he was a producer at KIRO7 in Seattle, where he led the 4:30 a.m. show to a #1 share in the U.S. He received an MA in Broadcast Management from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2010 and received his Bachelor of Journalism degree the year before. He shares more about his life at mikebrannen.com and on Twitter: @MikeBrannen.
We have all heard celebrities during their Oscar acceptance speech say how lucky they are do to what they love. Those speeches always made me want to lose my lunch until I realized on a smaller scale, I feel the same way. It is not the glitz and glamor (both are non-existent in local tv news as a one-woman-band) that keeps me coming back for more.
This past week, I have been sitting in the media room at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center watching a murder trial via video feed a pool camera person is piping down four floors. The media room is a bunch of sad chairs, tables that have seen better days and a wall full of electrical outlets. But, it is the in between banter at the table among journalists and reporters from differing generations that reminded me why I love my job.
In this group, there is energy and passion. You can see it in the glare of an eye or the way one smiles over getting to be at events and seeing things unfold others won’t ever be privy to. We have encountered numerous instances in this case where the defense attorney has referenced his client’s underwear and the judge subsequently putting it on record that he could not believe underwear was being discussed in open court. Sounds cooky, no? It is something everyone of us here will remember and retell at a later gathering–oh and lets not forget most of us wrote about it in an online sidebar!
Reporters are like a secret fraternity and we all speak the same secret language. When one of our comrades reminisces about a judge that insisted he wore a cowboy hat during all trials in his courtroom or discovering a celibate man of the cloth was secretly married (both things I have heard this week), we feed off it, understand and impulse kicks in. Sometimes I think reporters are born and there is something in our DNA that is different than the rest of the world. Why else would we essentially be starving artists, shop the sale racks for our next on-air look, work odd hours, have tattered shoes, live states away from family and submit to a Ramon noodle budget? (more…)
Something incredible happened this week at the newspaper where I got my start. And what might seem like a small company dispute on the surface was actually a symbol of a larger industry problem.
As a freshman pre-journalism major trying to find his place among the Bulldog fans at the University of Georgia in 1999, The Red & Black quickly became my new home. In fact, I applied to work there before I even moved into my dormitory.
And they didn’t just hire anyone. You had to prove you wanted the job. I was asked to report on three news stories – my own interviews, my own writing. The only experience I had going into these assignments was working on my high school newspaper, which wasn’t exactly an environment that allowed for students to be entrusted with objective news reporting. But I soon became a stringer for The Red & Black – my first real, paying job as a journalist ($6.50 per story … the “big bucks”).
But it was more than that. In the realm of college journalism, working for The Red & Black meant you were one of the cool kids. A byline that read “By David Brandt, The Red & Black” said to any reader, “I chose to report this news and convince you to read this story, because it’s important for you to know.” It was baptism by fire, and it wasn’t for just some school paper. This was a real newspaper through and through. It was real, and its independence was not to be trifled.
Despite the glory of being a part of that publication, it was also a training ground. It was where I first learned about the impact of a lede, how to ensure accurate quotes, and the value of (at least) two independent sources to the objectivity of my work. I didn’t stay at UGA and made a few mistakes while I worked at The Red & Black, but while I was there I took that opportunity to decide whether being a newspaperman was what I wanted for myself. Every decision I made and every experience I had there, good or bad … I owned.
I got more lessons from a semester with the paper than I did from most of my classroom education. And though most of the latter was obtained at a private college after I left UGA, never did I receive a set of parameters like the now infamous memo given to the staff at The Red & Black last week.
And what a greedy list of demands it was, written by a company board member who couldn’t even spell “libel,” according to reports from the RedandDead.com – the result of top editors and others from The Red & Black staff standing up for the integrity of what The Red & Black means to them. They may have walked out, but they didn’t quit – within 24 hours they set up the social media equivalent to a phoenix, and continued reporting on news about the University of Georgia and its community. The service was more important to them than the brand, just as it should be always.
But as I write this blog, it appears that some form of healing has begun. The board member who authored the memo I referenced above has resigned. The demands for content review by personnel other than students have been dropped. And the former editor in chief and former managing editor are, along with others, applying for their jobs again. I hope their status is reinstated … they’ve earned it. It’s a scenario that they may find themselves having to play out again in their professional careers, given the increasingly controlling role of executives and corporate boards over what content is published or broadcasted – or in some cases, what is even allowed to be deemed “news.”
Many young journalists go into their careers eager to find a great “Watergate” experience. Frankly, I hope tomorrow’s students are eager for an experience that these student journalists at UGA had this week … complete with camaraderie, a test of one’s ethics, and loyalty to the great institution they’ve chosen to serve: objective, independent journalism.
And in a media industry where journalism is more and more stained by corporate interests and political favoritism, tomorrow’s journalism students are going to need an example to admire, one that will guide them to an ultimate truth: Businessmen don’t decide what journalism is … that’s a job for journalists.
Long live the Red & Dead.
David Brandt is the Web managing editor for the Institute of Industrial Engineers, where he writes and edits Web content, produces new media projects, and writes for a monthly magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @iamdavidbrandt.
