That Crazy Thing We Call the Future

I don't cry.

I rode horses for 13 years- I was told every time I fell off that you brush it off and get back on. So I'm not one to cry a lot. But after Thursday's show, I wanted to cry.

Everything fell into place. All the reporters got their packages in on time and they got all the elements we had wanted. The anchors were all on point-they didn't miss words, they read with passion and precision. Everyone worked their hardest and what came out of it was an incredible newscast that I'm proud to say I led.

Being a producer has shown and taught me so much. I never know what it was like from the production side of journalism, just the reporter side. Now having seen both, I have so much respect for producers and all they do. It's a lot of work! I feel like producing will make me a better journalist and anchor. Watching the anchors do their work every week really has encouraged me to try my hand at anchoring next semester. Producing really helps the way a journalist looks at the work they do. Now going forward, as a potential anchor and continued reporter, I know it will help my own work to remember what a producer goes through. From the little things, like remembering to call and check in with producers in regards to what information you have, to bigger things like learning to edit faster and learning to work as a team with your producers. 

But all in all, this semester of production didn't push me towards pursuing a career in producing. I already had a feeling that I didn't want to continue with production, but I was waiting to see if I would fall in love with the idea of producing a newscast. I had so much fun, learned a lot and feel like I'm a better journalist because of my time producing. 

I'm not sure if I want to anchor or report in my future career as a journalist, but all I do know is that my time as a producer for ATVN has made me a stronger journalist.