Reporters: The Love/Hate Relationship

In the life of a reporter, everyday is different. Each day, we cover different stories in different places and interview different people. That's the beauty of the job. It never really gets old because the day-to-day routine is never exactly the same. This is a common reason why many people in this industry choose to be in this industry. That being said, each day leads to a variety of feedback from viewers.

Depending on the story or the coverage, people seem to have a love/hate relationship with reporters.

For instance, in my two months of work, I have received two emails from different people, thanking me for doing a "wonderful" job on my story. People who emailed me to say my story was well-balanced, included all the details, and that I am a "great" reporter. I am not telling you this to brag, but to explain the "love" part of this love/hate relationship.

And then there's the hate:

Now luckily, nothing this serious has ever happened to me. And I sincerely hope it never does. However, as many times as I've received positive emails about my reporting, I've also had people come up to me, yelling that I should "find something better to cover" with my time. People have questioned where I've gotten my facts and sources. I've been given dirty looks, watched, and stared at.

It's not a good feeling when things like this happen, so when they do I remind myself of the good emails. I think about what I'm doing and how my role as a journalist gives me the right to cover important stories and sent out crucial information to the public. No matter how unnecessary some people think it is for me to cover a particular story, as long as it better informs the public, I know I'm doing the right thing. And their dirty looks or middle fingers won't stop me from doing my job, and doing my job well.

The Standup Struggle

You know when you're watching the news, and the anchor says "Our reporter so-and-so has more on this" and then you see a story that a reporter put together that day? Well, that's a package. You hear the reporter's voice, telling a story, you watch a bunch of video, see interview clips, and somewhere in the middle, you see the reporter. He or she motions to something, thereby telling us something while simultaneously showing it. That's a standup.

It's the reporter's shining moment within the package. An opportunity to be on camera and get creative with his/her story telling.

However, sometime's shooting these standups can get difficult:

See what I mean?

This happened to me last weekend when I covered the Wine Festival at Watkins Glen International. It took me more tries than I'd like to shoot a good standup, and that's when I realized a group of people had surrounded me. They were laughing...but not at me. Some guy behind me was in my shot dancing with his shirt off. Thanks, rude guy. I yelled at him as nicely as I could. As a reporter, I can't afford to be seen as a mean person, but at the same time, I have a job to do. And I can't have my work hindered just because some guy tasted too many wines.

So that's my rant, people. Respect a reporter when they're shooting a standup. After all, we don't bother you while you're at the office, right?

TV Station Competition: Friend or Foe?

I've read countless articles about TV network competition -- the inherent rivalry between ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. And then there are the cable stations -- MSNBC, FOX News, CNN. Between ratings, viewership, and content, it's clear that people have a lot to say about how each station conducts its news programming. And if these networks are constantly vying for attention, there's no way the people who work at these stations could possibly get along, right?

Well, that's questionable.

That may be the case in large market likes NYC (market #1) or LA (market #2) , where a high concentration of viewers makes the competition more intense, but from what I've seen, this isn't necessarily the case in small markets.

For instance, I work for YNN (Your News Now), a 24-hours cable news network featuring local news from the Central New York/Southern Tier/Northern Country area. I work in the Elmira-Corning bureau (market #176), where we compete with WETM (the local NBC affiliate) and WENY (the local ABC affiliate).

In the five weeks I've been here, I've made friends with people from both WETM and WENY. Since we all cover the same stories, we inevitably run into each other, and over time, those run-ins turn into friendships. I exchange phone numbers with reporters from the other stations and hang out with them when I'm not working.

Needless to say, in a small market, in which the reporters are generally young, fresh, and still very much in the learning stages of the industry, the competition is not so much "competition," but more of a friend. We understand each other by understanding the nature of our jobs. For reporting newbies like us, sometimes it's more important that we report on the most newsworthy events rather than worry about our stations' ratings.

The News Never Stops...so my work doesn't either

It has been five weeks since I began work as a TV reporter for YNN (Your News Now, the 24-hour cable news network for Central New York). In those five weeks, I have had the opportunity to cover a variety of stories, some light and fluffy, others interesting and political, and others sad, violent, or gruesome. One thing I've learned since I've started is that's what reporting is all about. You never know what your story's going to be, and you have to be ready to adapt and cover any sort of piece that comes your way.

The fact of the matter is the news never stops. It is a revolving door of random happenstances and as a news reporter, I must be ready to cover whatever comes my way...

I work in Corning, NY, a small city about 20 minutes west of Elmira and an hour west of Binghamton. It's not the most exciting place to cover news stories, but it allows me -- as a new reporter -- to learn, make mistakes, and get creative with what I do. There are some days I really have to think about what I'm covering, or what I'm going to cover, and how I will make it interesting and informative to the viewer. There are other days where the stories speak for themselves, and putting it together is simple.

But every once in a while, a completely crazy story will come along, and those are the most exciting, nerve-wracking, and educational. Last Sunday night, on Father's Day, a murder took place in Bath, NY (just 20 minutes away). My co-worker received a call from our news station at 3:30am to come into work and cover. I normally don't go into work on Mondays until 2pm, but I also received a call and was in the office by 11:15am. It was a 12-hour day for me, and a 15-hour day for my co-worker.

Needless to say, it's not everyday a murder happens in such a small town, so when it does, it's a huge deal. In this case, police say Bryan Ashline, 23, stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Trieste Clayton, 25, and their 3-month-old son, Xavier Ashline, to death. A double homicide...my fourth week on the job and there I was covering a double homicide. It was horrifying for multiple reasons:

• I had never covered anything like this in my college reporting days.
• I still don't have much knowledge of the local legal/judicial terms, which meant I didn't know the jargon being thrown around.
• I was 10-feet away from an alleged murderer who still had blood underneath his fingernails.
• I had to interview close friends and loved ones of those who were murdered and couldn't stop crying, along with angry people cursing, screaming, and wishing the worst on Ashline.

That day was a real shock into the world of news. I had to be able to go with the flow and deal with emotionally fired-up people. I also had to sensitively cover a gruesome, violent story and be sure to use the appropriate words so I wouldn't get in trouble journalistically.

But besides that, I also learned that where the news is, so I am. It didn't matter that I wasn't supposed to come to work until 2pm. I got the call from my assignment editor while I was driving to the gym, and I simply had to turn around, change my clothes, and go to work instead. As a news reporter, the news owns me. My work revolves around it. I will move my schedule around however necessary to be where I need to be when I need to be there. The news never stops, so my work doesn't either.

**Fun fact: In the midst of writing this blog post, I received a call about an interview I was trying to set up. After making a few more calls and trying to plan ahead for a feature story I'm working on, I made plans to go into work 3 hours early this Wednesday. That's just the way it is.

The Difference Between a TV Reporter and Print Journalists? THE BEAUTY OF VIDEO

In the midst of training for my new job as a Video Journalist (TV reporter) at YNN-Syracuse in the Corning, NY bureau, my friends asked me, "Why do you need to train?" It became clear to me how unclear it is to others exactly what my job entails. This is why I feel as a journalist -- one who informs and communicates to the public -- it is my duty to explain what separates the role of a TV reporter from a print journalist: VIDEO.

As a journalist, writing is an essential skill. Before I was hired, I took a 90-minute writing test. From that, my bosses determined I had already acquired this skill set. But they didn't expect me to start working immediately to produce multiple news stories 5 days a week. Their mentalities were as follows:

"As long as you can write, great. We'll teach you the rest."

And teach me, they have been. During my time interning with YNN and studying at Syracuse University, I've learned to use multiple cameras and operate various video editing programs. But that doesn't mean I know how to use every kind of camera and every kind of editing program that exists.

You see, a video journalist in a small town must "one-man band," which means not only must I know how to write, but I also have to record video of myself, my interviewees, and other things that pertain to the story, then come back to the station, write the story, voice the story, and edit all those little video pieces together...MYSELF. I don't have a camera crew, nor do I have a video editor. Everything that airs on the evening news is something I've put together completely on my own.*

I have to make sure the people I interview speak clearly and well. I have to look put together and appropriate to appear onscreen myself. But most importantly, I have to get the shot. When something happens, I have to be there, and I have to get it on video; otherwise it's useless. If I miss an event, or the audio on my camera isn't working, or my video is blurry, too dark, or too bright, it's a complete waste. What airs on TV not only has to be newsworthy, but it also has to look good.

So far this week, I've spent two days learning how to operate a camera. I've learned all over again how to frame interview shots correctly, how to light them, how to prepare the camera for shooting both inside and outside. Re-learning all the techniques I learned in class two years ago -- and then some -- is proving to me how crucial the video is. After all, a picture is worth 1,000 words, right?

So, friends, that is why I'm in training. That is why I'm not immediately covering and producing stories on my own yet. It's a process, a learning curve. I probably won't be covering stories on my own until later next week, and I'm okay with that. I understand that in my business, the picture is as important as the story. It's all about the video, and I'm just doing my best to capture it the right way.

*NOTE: This is not to say that every station and every reporter operates this way. Reporters with seniority may always get photographers to go out and shoot video for them. In larger stations in larger cities, many reporters do get help, but when you're in your first, second, and maybe even third job, you're generally on your own.