Never Fear the WSEs are Here!
In past blog entries I’ve talked about how it’s great to see writer/shooter/editors come through on a story because they feel appreciated. This week and last week, I got to see how wonderful it is for WSEs to come through and work really hard on a story because they care.
There are always stories where we need specific sound from specific people (ROTC students, residents of the City of Walnut, Pakistani students, etc.) With interviews like these, just going out in the field and hoping to encounter one of these people isn’t our best bet. When these types of interviews have come up over the last few weeks we’ve made an announcement in the newsroom. With people constantly coming and going, it’s pretty likely that someone on our staff knows someone in one of these groups of people.
It’s really great to see WSEs get excited about being able to help out with specific stories. It’s always nice for them to have a visible product of all their hard work. As producers we get one week after week.
It’s also nice to be able to show people what you do rather than tell them. Last week Cassie was helping us out with the NFL stadium story and her boyfriend and a couple friends came through the newsroom to be interviewed. She took a few minutes to show them how everything works and I thought that was really great.
People don’t always understand how we can spend “so much time in that newsroom for just one class…and still have to go to class too.” Non-journalism majors think we’re all crazy. They just don’t get it. I thought it was really nice that Cassie was able to show off the newsroom because usually once people see us all in action they think it’s really great and wish they could be a part of ATVN or something like it. I hope more WSEs get similar opportunities as the semester goes on.
