What We Call The News!

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

Leave it to JibJab to put everything in perspective! I love this video not only because it's hilarious, like most JibJab videos are, but it's also so true. And it brings up a subject that I've been thinking about for awhile during all the job search insanity.

What has news become today? It's so suffocated by money and politics that a lot of the really important stuff gets pushed aside. That's not to say that I don't think the news does good things. It definitely has its redeeming qualities. But I think it could do so much more.

Maybe that's where this new era of news is leading to. Taking some of the power out of the hands of the few and putting it in the hands of the masses. Hopefully this will help relieve some of the business and politics that so consumes the news business. I mean, look at PBS. They have some high quality programming and they don't have to deal with the money/politics issue quite as much.

Down the road, I want to do something meaningful. I realize that I might have to start out reporting on the fires and shootings and scandals, but eventually, I hope to be involved with better stories that actually help people. There are so many issues going on in the world and even in our own backyards and I wish the news would do more in bringing those things to the public's eye.

Career Day--So Worth It

Today Mr. Weaver, Leanne, and I went to the West Pacs Arts Career Day at Grove City College. It was more beneficial than I thought it would be. There were some great speakers, like the founder of Sports Illustrated TV Ted Shaker and KDKA Traffic Reporter Jim Lokey.

But the person I got the most out of was Scott Baker, former WTAE anchor and co-founder of soon-to-launch breitbart.tv. Scott had a lot to say on citizen journalism, my topic for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research . He is on the cutting edge of news. He and his co-founder Liz Stephans are launching an interacting website for news (breitbart.tv). It sounds incredibly interesting and really re-iterated what I’ve been thinking lately—that I need to seriously consider internet positions in my job search. Whether that be at a cutting edge site like that one, or as an internet reporter for an established station. I’m not in this for the fame (and clearly not the fortune) so I don’t care if it’s “just” for the internet because that’s where it’s going and where there's opportunities and I want to be a part of it.

Mr. Weaver always says we don't hear advice when they come from him, so he tries to get professionals to tell us the same things so we actually listen. I think he's right. Ted Shaker said something I’ve heard a thousand times but really connected with today. He said to not be afraid to just make a choice when it comes to taking a job because these days no one has lifetime careers. Make the decision on something you can stand to do for now. Don’t think of it as a lifetime commitment.

Then one of the other professionals said something else that hit with me. Don’t wait for the stars to align and for everything to feel right for you to make your move, in whatever you’re doing. In this business especially, you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Basically, it’s all about taking risks. Be a risk taker. Just dive right in—and hopefully there’s some water underneath.

Field Trip to WTAE!

Last week the capstone class got to head on down to Pittsburgh to visit one of our alums at WTAE, Sarah Bowers. I remember Sarah from when I was a freshman. She was that super-cool senior who was so good at everything broadcasting. I was always thinking how I wanted to be just like her when I was a senior! So it was so great to see her in action.

Sarah's really made a place for herself at WTAE even though she's not a reporter, which is what she first set out to be. I asked her if she's wants to get on-air and she looked at me and said, "You know what? No. I'm happy where I am right now." It was so nice to hear that even though she left college thinking she wanted one thing, she just fine--even happy--doing something else. That is definitely a relief in these planning-for-life-after-graduation times.

All in all, it was great to hang out with my other broadcasting buddies, see a real news station, and speak with some great professionals. Every time I hear from someone new, I think of other possibilities for my future. So the job search will continue...

Spring Break Update

I’ve been pretty busy this break trying to figure out job things. I went into the city on Sunday to visit a friend and stopped by the Today show studios to say hi to everyone I worked with last semester. Then on Monday, I called one of the producers I’m friends with to talk to him about what I should be doing right now and he helped me out a lot. I told him about my thoughts of looking towards non-news jobs as well and he has a few contacts of his own that he’s going to introduce me to. He also said that many employers are now looking for personal websites, in addition to or instead of the resume reel. I’ve been working on putting one of those together as well. He said there are a lot more jobs out there for web producers/web correspondents than for TV positions.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Network TV news is definitely changing these days and I feel like I need to look towards the future with this job-searching, so I’m widening my search to internet positions as well.

I also figured out how to update my resume reel on my laptop, so I've been working on that as well. So that's three things from my to-do list (contacts, job search, resume reel) that I've worked on already.

Now I have to get on the "pass class" thing and do some homework!

Where is the time going?

It’s spring break! Halfway through the spring semester of my senior year. (gasp!) From here on out, it’s on! Here are a few things I need to get done:

• Resume Tape: My number one priority right now is getting more stuff for my resume tape. At least another package and some more stand-ups.
• Career Fair: I also want to have a resume tape and a paper resume updated and ready to go to the career fair on March 28th. It looks like they’ve got a good line up of employers going, so I might as well take advantage of it.
• Contact the contacts: I need to re-connect with some of my main contacts just so they don’t forget who I am!
• Radio Resume Tape: I’m not thrilled about this one, but I feel like I should have a radio news resume tape ready just in case.
• Career Search: I want to continue to look at my options, as I’m considering looking at non-news places now. I just want to see what’s available in my area.
• Pass Class: I suppose I also ought to do my homework for my regular classes. The whole passing-so-I-can-get-a-degree thing always seems to fall at the bottom of my to-do list, but at least it’s getting done.

That’s quite a list and I’m sure it’s missing something, but at least it’s all definitely do-able. Here's to an awesome finale to my college career!