Job Shadow Opportunity

On Tuesday, September 6, 2011, a classmate, Blake, and I took a trip down to the News Channel 6 station to do a job shadow on Jenny Montgomery. When we arrived, the studio appeared to be a little small, but once we went inside and saw everything, I realized that it was a pretty large size. When we met with Mrs. Montgomery, we sat down and talked with her for a few minutes. We asked questions about the process of the studio and learned about what goes on before the news begins. She explained to us the job of the anchors, the producers, and the reporters. She also explained how their company is associated with other stations and how their ratings are determined by how many people are tuning in to their news channel. While we were talking, a few of the workers passed by and she introduced them and let us know what their jobs were at the station. The first part of the tour that I learned about was the editing. Inside of the editing room, reporters take bits and pieces of their videos, divide them up, and then combine them again. This is called a tease video. They cut and paste different parts of their video and in between each one, they record their voices onto the video to explain or give an example on what takes place in their story or analyze the purpose of their story. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for a reporter to finish editing his or her video. I watched two reporters edit their video. One reporter, Kimberly Scott, edited a video she reported on a woman with breast cancer, and I got a chance to watch her type up her information, copy and paste pieces of her video, record her voice into the video, and send her story to the producers. Once we have understood the process of editing, it was time for the news. We had the opportunity to watch it live from the set. While I was sitting there watching the anchors read from their teleprompters, I thought to myself, “how amazing is this”. The set was not as big as I thought it would have been, but the experience remained incredible. On television, they all appear to be serious and, of course, professional, but during commercials and off the camera, they are so much more exciting and active. They make jokes and just have fun with everything. After sitting and talking with the anchors, I went to the control room to see how the producers do their job. The producers and the director communicate with the anchors and the reporters to let them know when they are suppose to come in and to let them in on any new information. They bring in the videos, the commercials, the anchors, and the reporters. This was by far the most exciting part of the tour and I was pleased to observe their work. The timing is perfect and everyone work well with each other. After the news, Blake and I took pictures with the anchors and some reporters. The news channel is all about cooperation and partnership. The reporters go out to find their stories, they bring them back to the studio, edit them, and send them off to the producers, who then place the videos and news stories in the order that they are suppose to go in, and transfer them to the ears of the anchors who help each other with their information as well. Teamwork is the most important task that occurs at News Channel 6. Their work involves effort and that is just the key to having a great news station. I really enjoyed doing this job shadow and I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity.