There Is A Lot To Learn As Producer
Everything I have learned in class and during my day-of-air producer shifts have given me tools to use for the future. Perhaps most importantly, my experience has taught me that I really do want to start off as a producer.
Learning how to produce – the proper techniques, how to function, what to do and how to use certain tools – is the most important skill I have taken away from my experiences this semester. I know that sounds obvious, but each individual part has contributed to the overall learning. The skills that have been the most beneficial are managing the environment, dealing with breaking news and deciding who reads which stories.
Managing the environment, as I wrote in my last post, is very important. The Tuesday producers figured out that we needed to stay calm, so all of the multimedia journalists stay calm. People work better in that environment, and more can be accomplished in a calm atmosphere. This is something we have strived to do all semester, and it is great that I learned this – and how to do it – now, so I can use it in the real world.
Learning how to deal with breaking news is another very important skill. I love breaking news, and it contributes to what makes journalism fun for me. At the beginning of the semester, I had three stories break on the same day when I was lead – Brian Williams’ suspension, Jon Stewart’s announcement and a sports anchor’s shooting. (The sports anchor was shot in San Diego.) It was a lot, but it was a great opportunity to learn how to deal with breaking news shortly before the show airs. I had to change the rundown, decide where to insert the new stories and write the script for the Williams story. It was good to learn how to do this, and how to adjust to breaking news, at the beginning of the semester because it gave me a great of knowledge for the semester.
Deciding who reads which story is something I have always wanted to learn, and it is always a fun choice to make.
Taking the production class, and being an ATVN producer, allowed me to confirm that I really do want to start as a producer. It is a lot of fun for me, and I get to do a lot of what I love about journalism – tell stories, inform the public and hold people accountable for their actions. I also want to start because I believe I need to be a producer before I can be a good reporter. The reason for that is because reporters need to know about logistics – which is something producers deal with and work with/around all the time – and they have to know what producers need and expect in their reporters.
I eventually want to be a political reporter, and then I want to eventually produce and host my own political interview program. I do not believe I will be able to achieve my goal without being a producer, and learning everything that a producer needs to know.
