By: Ryan Broussard

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.

By GenJ Guest Blogger Robert McLean

Lay offs, furloughs and buyouts have hit the journalism industry hard in the past few years. Even The Grey Lady – The New York Times – hasn’t been immune from the profession’s transition into the 21st Century.

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.

Mills and I met at the 2012 SPJ Region 7 spring conference in Ames, Iowa. She was in her senior year at the University of Iowa, and had just completed a project on nitrogen pollution in the Gulf of Mexico for the non-profit news site IowaWatch.org.

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 for Hear 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.

For instance he took a lead roll in posting social media about the Give to Lincoln Day fundraising initiative, where the organization raised more than $10,000.

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.

The call of the north, however, was too strong to keep her in Missouri. She took a radio producer position covering the arts at WMUK, the public broadcasting station at Western Michigan University.

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.

By: Jacqueline Ingles

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?

I found what I was passionate about in Austin.  Here is my crowning glory package that did appear on my demo real for Tampa.

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.

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.

When it comes down to it, I love journalism because no two days are ever the same. As a journalist, you wake up every day not knowing what the day will bring, but you know it will be interesting. I am not the type of person who can sit in a cubicle all day, every day and partake in a monotonous life.

I get bored easily. Very easily.

After I decided that marine biology was not for me (it is not as glamorous at TV and movies make it out to be, trust me), I thought about what would interest me. After some careful thought (and a few beers), I decided on journalism and haven’t regretted the choice.

Journalism allows us to interact with everyday people in a different way than others can. We get to learn things and get access to things other people working normal jobs can never dream of. As a journalist, you get to talk to the movers and shakers that normal people only get to see on television or read about in your articles. Journalism is the dream job of the curious.

As I learned in my journalism classes in college, there are stories everywhere you look, you just have to know how to spot them. You have to be curious and inquisitive and as someone who looks for the meaning behind things, journalism is the perfect outlet for me.

Being in SPJ is great because professionals are always more than willing to share their experiences with students. Talking to various professionals, I often hear that one good thing about being a journalist is that when they go to social functions, they are often the most interesting person there.

And when people label you as an “interesting” person, then you know you have something going for you.

As a student who is about to graduate and is currently looking for a job, I know how difficult it can be to keep your enthusiasm while trying to find a good job, but you just have to keep trying. Do things like write a blog or try to find a freelancing gig to keep your skills sharp. Because once you find that right job for you, then you can turn that passion and curiosity into a paycheck.

And a paycheck always helps, because where else can you get paid for being curious?

Ryan Broussard is currently on his M.S. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Journalism at UL Lafayette. He graduated from UL Lafayette in Spring of 2009 with his B.A. in Mass Communication. He currently works as a freelancer covering high school sports for The Opelousas Daily World.

I love my job as a newscast producer because…

Each day is different.
It is unpredictable.
An average day can turn into chaos in seconds.
I feel an adrenaline rush when there is breaking news.
I get to witness history.

I work with smart, clever people.
I know a little bit about everything.
I know things before most people.
I help people feel confident about what’s going on in their world.
It’s funny when people say “did you see it on the news?”, because I always say “yes.”

Every morning is a competition with other stations.
There’s a lot of satisfaction beating them on a story.
The next day I get to find out if people like my show better than the others.
I get to learn what people do and don’t like about news.
What I write gets people to stay through commercials.

I’ve met Drew Carey.
I’ve met Scott Pelley and Russ Mitchell.
I’ve talked to Charlie Rose., Erica Hill, and Gayle King.
I’ve been on top of the Space Needle.
I know there are many more stories to come, because I’ve done this for only 3 years.

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.

Most of my friends don’t get it. “Why are you following (insert elected officials name here) around?”

My family still sometimes doesn’t understand why when they watch a story I produced they don’t see my face on camera. “That was great Lynn, but we didn’t see you. Was that the correct link?”

And on first dates, let’s just say, they seem to think it means I work with James Bond. “So, you go undercover all the time? Hide out in vans? Cool!”

And the reality is my job is cool (or at least I think so.)

I get to write, research, shoot video, play with new interactive web tools, ask questions that make people uncomfortable but provide answers for the community and most importantly make a difference in people’s lives.

Everyday isn’t perfect and some days are more frustrating than you know: all I want is the answer to what you think would be a simple question, but after being re-directed to eight different offices, leaving voicemails and waiting for return phone calls, a day can pass by and you still may not have the answer.
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CNN is like family to me.

The first-ever 24-hour news network in the industry and I share a few traits. Both of us were born in 1980. Both of us were born and raised in Atlanta. And both of us completely lose it whenever snow falls for more than 20 minutes in and around town.

We also both love journalism … right? I do, though I struggle with its state in the realm of public discourse from time to time. And I’ve been thinking for a while now that CNN has been struggling with it to the point of desperation. It tried to stretch itself so thin to meet the supposed desires of an audience more and more inundated with hyperbolic, personality-driven commentary, incessant social media fandom, and outlandish publicity stunts – largely thanks to the neighborhood kids that eventually hit their growth spurts to become CNN’s bullies: MSNBC and FOX News.

Ratings for the network have been reported to be at their lowest point since before the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, an event that introduced the era when CNN set new standards for reporting and made 24-hour news coverage essential to the viewing public. Earlier this month, political correspondent turned-anchor John King had to see his show cancelled and replaced by an extended hour of Wolf Blitzer’s “Situation Room,” complete with the beard that’s as monotone as his voice. For several years before then, the network went through a cycle of prime time shows that all ultimately failed until the network settled on pulling the quasi-network brand Anderson Cooper back to the slot.

But it was the June 28 decision by the Supreme Court regarding the Affordable Health Care Act that the deer that is CNN jumped in front of the oncoming truck. For several minutes as the decision was being read, CNN wrongly reported that the law known as “Obamacare” had been overturned. Granted, FOX News also blew it by delivering the wrong outcome of the SCOTUS decision, but they’re regularly doing things like that – to the point that this May 2012 survey shows that viewers who watch FOX News know less about current events than people who don’t watch TV news at all. And yet, FOX News remains No. 1 in cable news ratings.
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The past four weeks of my life have been a whirlwind thanks to work. Following 2 1/2 years at the NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas, I am now reporting at WFTS in Tampa. These broadcast moves are not easy and your entire life ends up in boxes that you are lugging across multiple states. You can trace my steps from Chicago, to Georgia, then to Texas and now to Florida–I am tired just thinking of all the miles I have trekked!

Transitioning between jobs is never easy. You pretty much end on-air in one market and show up on-air in another market. If you are lucky, you are heading to somewhere you are somewhat familiar with. Believe me, I am thanking my parents endlessly for taking me to South Florida multiple times a year growing up. If you are headed into the unknown, it is like tackling a bear. You must learn the local lingo, what matters, who the go to people are, etc. (Where is the easy button?)

But, there is a way to go about things when closing one door and opening another. Even though I was turning packages and going live while trying to cram in packing, I still found the time to hand write more than 30 thank you notes to people who helped me at KXAN. By the end of the night, my hand felt like it was going to fall off and my tongue was numb from licking envelope glue. I didn’t let anyone know what I was up to and on the sly dropped them in their mailboxes. I tried to reflect on a time we shared, how they helped me or just how meeting them added to my life.

Although I felt ready to take that next step in my career, walking out of the newsroom was bittersweet. Looking at my colleagues made me realize that some had become family members, others frenemies and others mentors. Our business is small and the likelihood is that you will run into a few people again. But, the group we had will likely never be together again.
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I’ve often related landing a broadcast job to winning the lottery. You have to have the perfect combination of attributes to land the job you are applying for. Recently, I was promoted to crime and courts reporter at my station. Thus, my old bureau position (where you work weekends at the main station serving as lead live reporter) became open. I sat down with an individual in management–who shall remain nameless–and peppered them with questions as to what it took to get their attention and what sent dozens of resume in the garbage even before they were looked at. Yes, the position is filled–if you are thinking of applying. Here are some questions I asked and the answers I received.

Q) How many reporters applied?

A. There were roughly 300 applicants. (Jackie’s jaw drops) Yes, you are up against hundreds for these jobs.

Q) Do cover letters really matter?

A. A cover letter can hurt you more than it helps you. You have more opportunity to make mistakes with spelling and grammar. If you have to write one, make it short and sweet. Think less than 500 words.

Don’t use the same cover letter for each job. I had a man apply that gave me a cover letter for a communications consultant spot. Really?

Q) Are there demos you don’t even look at? If so, why?

A. Yes. If I get a letter or email that says, ‘Dear Sir or Madame,’ I toss it immediately into the garbage. Put it this way, you want to be a reporter and you cannot even find out who the hiring manager is or my name? I am immediately not interested and well, you are not worth my time. I threw out dozens of demos because of this. Didn’t even look.

Q) Can I call you?

A. If in the job listing it says DO NOT CALL or DO NOT EMAIL–do not do either. Doing this will just irritate me and show me you cannot follow instructions.
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