Team Monday: Working out the Kinks
So far this semester I have come to terms with the fact that I am just not a morning person. Despite this understanding however I still have to be up, alert and in the newsroom before 8 a.m. every Monday. So it was quite a setback when I rolled out of bed and into the newsroom and the coffee cart was nowhere in sight. Despite that major setback however, I think that the morning meeting went very well. We were able able to contribute and come up with a good list of stories for the rundown. I think I can definitely say that Team Monday has great communication skills. We seem to be able to rely on each other and aren’t afraid to ask questions which I think is really important to make sure we have all the elements for the show.
This sounds silly but as a reporter I was thought that the producer had it easy. They got to sit around all day and just chill in the newsroom while I had to run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to track down people to give me interviews. I was wrong, very wrong.
The only thing I had right was the sitting part. The rest of the time I was frantically trying to pump out news articles, update the Dorner story because we had nothing up on our website about what happened over the weekend and try to think of clever yet to the point graphics. The challenging part, and the part I still don’t really understand is what happens when we save the graphics. After not having them saved in the right place during run through week, I double checked before running to the studio and yet some of them were the old versions of ones that we had gone back and fixed so that is something I definitely need to figure out.
Along with all of my own personal tasks to complete, we also have to assigned and help the new ATVNers with what they need to do and stay on track as a team. I have to say it is weird finally being the one that people come to with questions, but it feels good that I am able to help and answer those questions as well.
This Monday, along with the Dorner manhunt, which had captured the TV sets of most Southern Californians during the past few days, we also woke up to news that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning, the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years. Put this together with breaking news of Michael Jackson, USC’s VP of Student Affairs, stepping down with 10 minutes before show time and we have an exciting Monday! I think that we were able to handle and did a great job for being so early in the semester. We were able to add it in and write a good story with minutes to go without completely freaking out and the newscast actually looked really good!
Everything did seem to run smoothly throughout the day, however I had this weird growing anxiety in the pit of my stomach, it may be the fact that I was trying to get everything done that I forgot to eat, but the nerves of making the first newscast of the semester and making it on air certainly kept me alert all day. I think the stress from the day also made me re-catch the flu that I had just gotten over because the next morning I had a 102 degree fever, however it did not slow me down during the news day and that’s all that matters!
Overall, I think that Team Monday makes a great team. I truly understand how important each member of the news team is and how if even one assignment desk volunteer doesn’t come in, it can have an effect on the whole show. Each position is vital in getting the show on air at 6 p.m. and I think if we just make sure to communicate what we need to each other next week, that we will produce an even better show.
