Here's a sampling of some of the various job shadows done by you all. 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?
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I had the pleasure of shadowing
Tati Amare, a reporter on Live in the D, which is on WDIV Detroit, also known
as channel 4. I got there at 9 a.m. and her show goes on live at 10 a.m. She
gave me a tour of the TV station and showed me her morning routine of going
over scripts briefly before the show.
During
the live recording of her show, I stayed in the control room with the producers
and engineers who handle the behind-the-scenes work. They adjusted her mic
volume, and would tell her to scoot left or right depending on the camera
frame. There were guests on her show who own the Mediterranean restaurant, Al
Ameer. The restaurant got a James Beard award, a prestigious award in the food
industry. The owners showed the Amare how to make hummus and she said she could
see why they received the award.
After
this segment, the show was interrupted by a breaking news alert. Anchorwoman
Rhonda Walker came in the control room and told the producers there was an
alert that had to be reported. She went on set and reported the sentencing of a
couple who killed their daughter. The producers were annoyed at the
interruption because they said it interfered with the light heartedness of the
show and that the alert could have waited.
Once back on air,
the show also gave financial tips about when to throw billing and bank
statements away through a quick game. A financial advisor came on the show and
quizzed her through multiple choice questions to give the information in an
entertaining way. Off set, Amare told me that she came up with the game idea to
keep the financial advice segment more interesting for the audience.
When
the show was over, Amare had to record short video clips to promote the show
for the next day. She had to do a video of 15 seconds telling people why to
tune in on Friday. Once she was done recording, the Live in the D team had a
staff meeting, where we ate the food brought by the Mediterranean restaurant. Amare
told me that it is rare that they even have time to eat lunch during their day.
At the meeting, they scheduled guests and filled in the gaps for the rest of
March. Their theme for the month is “Makeover March” where they will focus on
do-it-yourself home repairs, local businesses that have reasonable prices on
fashion items, and how to take a favorite food item and make the healthier
version of it. Once the meeting was over at around 1 p.m., Tati had to leave to
meet with the main producer of the network. She told me I could hang around if
I wanted, but I had to be at my internship, so I could not stay.
I learned a lot
about the fast-paced ways of a live television show and all of the behind the
scenes work that goes into it. Even though Amare is a reporter on the segment,
she still has a part in reaching out and booking guests for the show. She also
has to come up with ideas on what the show will focus on. So, I was able to see
that her job has a lot of work that goes into it that people don’t get a chance
to see.
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I went to Michigan Radio for my job shadow assignment. I contacted Steve Schram, the Executive Director and General Manager of Michigan Public Media, who suggested I shadow Emily Fox. She is a former MSU grad, and current producer and contributor to Morning Edition and Stateside. She was kind enough to take me through what her day looks like at Michigan Radio.
We met at 5 a.m., and I watched her deliver her portion on-air for morning edition. She walked me through the steps of how to update your story information up to the minute as it flows in from various news sources, before you need to deliver the information to listeners. She also showed me how she prepares early morning weather and traffic reports, and keeps a consistent eye on various sources of information for those, in order to consistently update content.
After our meeting, she took me to the newsroom at Michigan Radio, and I got to sit in on a professional session of story pitches. It was really exciting to see journalists pitch ideas, and then get a deadline by which to find a story if there weren't enough existing pitches from the editor already. It was reassuring to see that the process is very similar to what we do in class, and how it is ok'd by the editor. I even got to help Fox with one of her stories about music, because I gave her the info about a band I knew about.
Later, I saw how a radio story was edited right after it was recorded using audio-editing software. I then got to sit in on four consecutive episodes of "That's What They Say," with Rina Miller and Anne Curzan, which was incredibly interesting to hear, as well as see the process of recording the episodes one right after another, instead of on a weekly basis.
Overall, because I am interested in the field of radio, this job shadow was incredibly informative. I really enjoyed seeing people face-to-face that I grew up listening to, and seeing the audio production was very interesting to me as well. I also felt more sure of myself after seeing the process of producing radio in action, because it is very similar to many things I have already done in school. In fact, after the job shadow, I submitted an internship application to Michigan Radio for this summer.
That's What They Say: http://michiganradio.org/programs/thats-what-they-say#stream/0
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On April 16 I had the pleasure of being able to job shadow Alexis
Rosado of WLNS Channel 6 News. I did not spend five minutes in the WLNS
building before we were heading out the door to start covering all the weekend
events. It happened to be the Saturday before Earth Day so we were assigned to
cover multiple recycling events happening around mid-Michigan. Rosado was the
only reporter this day so she was doing double duty. As she filmed b-roll for
the 6 and 11pm news I was able to see how the camera works and what shots work
best. We shot multiple interviews to serve as soundbites for the show. I had
the chance to ask a few questions myself. Back in the studio, we had to write
the scripts for the show, edit the footage into soundbites and then create an
online version of the story. This all had to happen by 6pm when we went live.
I think this job
would be a great fit for myself because of the chaos. 10 minutes before we went
live the producer said there might not be a show due to a technical glitch. I
live for that kind of intensity. It keeps me on my toes and constantly pushes
me to be a better journalist. I think the biggest lesson I learned was that you
have to learn to do it all. You’re expected to be the cameraman,
photographer, reporter, writer, editor, etc. In order to be able to do this job
one must be able to perform under the pressure and know how to do everything.
That’s why I think I can do this for a career, I feel up for the
challenge.
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I job shadowed Brian Calloway, he is the lead prep sports reporter for the Lansing State Journal. He also writes on some other sports. He has covered the MSU women’s hoop team a lot this past season. I got a chance to watch Brian report on a district semi-final game at East Lansing High School. I watched the Grand Ledge vs. Lansing Eastern game with him on March 9.
When I first I arrived we talked a bit about where he came from. He was raised in Coloma, MI which is in the southwest corner of the lower peninsula. Then he went to school at Eastern Michigan University. He wrote for EMU his entire time studying there. He also wrote for a publication in Adrian, MI before working at the LSJ.
Once the game started we talked about the game mainly, along with how he writes outlines a game recap. He explained a difference between covering a college game and a high school game. The main difference being you can always look up stats and game logs for a college game. But in a high school game that information isn’t nearly as accessible. So he keeps track of who scores and keeps track of the runs in a game by hand. It looked like a lot of work!
I asked him about what he thinks are the most noteworthy things to mention in a story for a game recap and he said you have your obvious things like leading scorers, stingy defense, great shooting, etc. But he also said that unusual happenings are often something that should be brought up like a bench scorer giving a spark or an unusual run during a game. After the game I got to see him interview a player, it was Al Horford’s little brother. I wasn’t aware he played for Grand Ledge, that was interesting. He asked him about the game, their next matchup and if he was talking to colleges about playing at the next level. He also took pictures during the game and video.
It was cool to see him doing all of the different facets of reporting. That is pretty much what comes to mind if you have any questions about it feel free to ask. Here is his contact info as well.
5174898069
For my job shadow, I followed Matthew Miller at the Lansing
State Journal for a few hours.
We went to his desk which was full of papers and books. I
pulled up a chair and he began editing an article, showing me his red and
yellow highlighting method. He prefers to send them back to the journalist for
them to see the mistakes (red) and suggested changes or rewordings (yellow).
It's better than outright changes with no conversation between the writer and
editor, he said.
Miller’s title is Story Coach, but that basically means editor.
For the next two hours, he edited five or six articles and showed me the
software used to upload them to the site. There was an editors' meeting near
the beginning, so I wandered around for a bit. The LSJ newsroom was typical,
with clusters of three or four desks, a police scanner going off occasionally
and a large screen near the front showing the online traffic for the website's
articles. Miller said sports consistently stay at the top.
I asked Miller if he knew he wanted to be a journalist and he
said no. He went to school for engineering, but when his father lost his job,
Miller switched to religious studies because it was the least amount of time to
a bachelor's. He wrote for the school paper and gradually got into journalism.
Miller likes to collect records, so we talked about music and
music journalism for a bit and agreed getting paid for it is difficult. We
wrapped up the job shadow, and from it, I learned editing seems really
appealing to me. He apologized for how boring it was, but I thought it was
engaging and found it interesting to see his process. I already know I don't
really want to be a reporter, so along with producing news programs, editing
seems like an path I'd like.
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My Job shadow was at Z 92.7 in Flint Michigan. I shadowed radio DJ Brandon McClain also known as B Mac. When I got there Brandon was in the middle of his show, the 3-7 o’clock show. He invited me into the studio, and when I walked in he welcomed me then had to shoot straight on the air. Brandon’s get on air and his voice is super deep that I almost couldn’t even recognize his voice.
Once Brandon got off air he told me more about the company and studio. I stopped him after he was explaining to me the different station and how Z92.7 was ranked, and I asked him why does stations play the same songs over and over again. Brandon made sure to leave that answer at the end of the shadow, just to keep me on the edge of my seat.
Brandon went back on air and right after he offered me water. I gave him a look of hesitation, after sharing a laugh about my look and how Flint water was in shams. So he explained how it was a filter and how the studio is in “the rich” neighborhoods and so the water is fine. I accepted and oddly the water wasn’t that bad. I enjoyed it. He showed me around the building, and showed me the different studios and actually brought something to my attention. I learned that what he does is maybe what I wont want to do, but instead do talk radio. Talk radio is where you sit and all the controls and another person controls music and all I would have to do is talk. Which is exactly what I would love to do.
So we got back to his studio and it was time for him to give away tickets. He had showed me how the phone system works, on top of how he records the contest. He had me be the person to hang up the phone and answer the line. So I would hit the call end button he then says “Your caller number blah blah please call me back” so by caller number nine we got the winner, he talked to her and all that jazz, then showed me how to edit it. He edits the recording and then eventually put it on the air.
So by that time his show is about to wrap up, so while he’s on commercial break he tells me more about music selection and the reason why radios play the same music over and over. It’s because radio stations has a music schedule. And the schedule is pre done, so the more a radio station is playing that song the more exposure it gives the artist. The bracket is all determined by the station manager who makes the list of how many times a song gets paid.
So once he answered that he told me that I am what they look for in internes and whenever I am ready to give him a text or call and they will let me know what I can do to get an internship. So that was fun.
Over all I enjoyed myself on the shadow. Oh also I ran into him at my barbershop in Lansing and just asked him could I do a shadow and he was more than happy to give it to me.
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Matt Mencarini is self described
"Justice Reporter" and "Watchdog" for the Lansing State
Journal. What that means to the layman is that Matt covers the crime beat and
does investigative work in and around Lansing. Matt is doing the work that I
hope to one day make, and covering the topics in journalism that I find most
interesting. Due to the subtle and highly nuanced nature of Matt's work, my job
shadow was more of an open-ended conversation with him as opposed to a
traditional "shadow." Matt's job frequently requires impromptu trips
to the courthouse or last minute meetings with confidential sources, so we
decided to meet in the early afternoon Friday afternoon, in one of his rare
moments of leisure, and talk about his work. I met him at the LSJ offices
downtown, where he was putting the finishing touches on a story on the
investigation into Stuart Dunnings, and then we proceeded to talk over coffee
for a couple hours.
Matt and I had an extremely productive
and enthralling conversation. We began talking about his career and how he
found his way doing investigative work in Lansing. Matt actually went to school
and got his bachelor's in his home state of Illinois and began working in the
private sector right out of college, but he wasn't satisfied. Matt decided to
go back to school and get his master's, and that's when he decided to go into
investigative journalism. It was comforting to hear that someone who's so
established took so long to find what he's passionate about. Matt then briefly
worked in Florida for a small media group before coming to Lansing. We then
talked about the work that he does, and any tips he could offer to me, of which
there were many. Most of my inquiries were about the informal nature of his
work, I.e. there's not an "Investigative Reporting" specialization or
class, so what makes one do this work and do it well? Matt told me developing a
source network is an important first step. Matt told me he respectfully reaches
out to people constantly and had to engrain himself in the right circles to
simply be able to meet his deadlines. He said you need to be personable but
hungry, along with the necessary skills in your writing of brevity and
professionalism. He also emphasized respect to your sources. The nature of
crime reporting involves handling and thus publicizing things that many
wouldn't want to be public knowledge. Matt told me that the balance between
reporting and respect is an important one but to remain vigilant when reaching
out to potential sources. Our conversation then turned to my current work,
which at the time was covering the Ingham County Prosecutor's race that he is
actually covering as well for the LSJ. He gave me really good advice and
information, including several tip sheets and telling me about contact sources
through the Michigan Bar Association, both of which I ended up using in my
final article. My afternoon with Matt was extremely productive as I left that
meeting not only more certain in my work but in my desired career path as well.
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For my job shadow, I went to Madonna University to sit in on
a taping of their news show, Campus Connect. The show is run by Chuck Derry, a
media veteran with over 30 years of experience as a stage manager and director
for Channel 7 News Detroit – WXYZ. In contrast to my last job shadow, I got to
see each individual position that goes into producing a news show, rather than
just a journalist. This was really interesting and eye opening because in
addition to the anchors jobs, I got to see all the behind the scenes action. I
sat in with the anchors for a little bit and talked to them about their jobs.
The anchors, along with crewmembers, are responsible for producing five news
stories each week. They have to produce three videos and 2 “readers,” which are
verbal stories that appear on each segment. I talked to the members about story
ideas and their gathering process. On this particular segment, there was a wide
variety of news stories including events, both local and school-wide, movie
reviews, student spotlight, etc. They each had unique things to say about each
type of story, which was interesting because I haven’t really covered all of
these topics. All the members are responsible for filming and editing all of
their own videos as well. In the control room, they had state of the art
equipment, including the same control set up as Good Morning America. I was
able to sit in on the filming, and got to see what happens behind the camera in
the control room. There were two producers and one director for this show, as
well as about 7 crew members who had various positions like switch board.
While the control room stuff was cool, it was really
interesting to actually see a broadcast journalist work. I never really noticed
how important delivery is to a story, until they had to stop and re-tape
because something didn’t go right. Seeing them deliver stories over and over
again gave me a chance to analyze what they were saying and see how important
the way they delivered the story was. One of the anchors was kind of flat
compared to the other and made it a world of a difference in regards to my
interest in what they were saying. I also learned that timing is EVERYTHING in
broadcast journalism. If one person (in any position) screws up the timing by
even just a second, everyone else’s position is thrown off and you have to
start over.
I’m glad I chose to shadow the taping of a news show. It was
really interesting and eye opening. I got to see all the different aspects of
the show, which I wasn’t expecting to do. It was also nice to see how it works
on a smaller show, because I actually got to speak to all of the people about
their different roles and what part they each play in making a show run. It was
a great experience!
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For a job shadow, I sat in with Al Marten at WKAR during a show of Current Sports. Al graduated MSU in 2012, and was a TV Broadcast reporter for a couple of years before being offered a position at WKAR. He is the host of Current Sports radio program, and is in control of the TV program based off the show.
It was really interesting to sit in during a show, I was able to watch Al set up the show and go over his outline with the engineer. During the show I sat in the sound engineering booth, and watched the show. I got to see how Isaac answered phone calls from listeners, he called the person scheduled for a phone interview over the phone, and saw how he handled the program to cue the music and breaks. It was awesome to see how one person can multitask behind the glass and do research while the host is talking on air.
Al was super helpful and gave me lots of good advice. The two pieces of advice that he gave me that really stuck out are "Be yourself on air" which seems obvious but he explained that a lot of people will copy journalists that they look up to, and to always do research, which is a good tip no matter what.
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