Class of
2006
ATVN positions and duties: Producer, Reporter, Director, News Anchor, Weather Anchor, Writer-Shooter-Editor, Technical Director, Assistant Director, Teleprompter
How did ATVN prepare you for your current job?
ATVN provides excellent, real world experience. I feel that each opportunity I had helped me further understand how a newsroom and newscast function. In production I learned how to construct a logical newscast and how to choose which stories actually affect and are of importance to the community. Reporting is as close to the real world as you’ll ever get. At most first jobs (like mine) you’re still a one man band. You have to be thinking about how you want to tell your story visually while you’re out on your story so you can shoot the most compelling video possible.
What is your advice to aspiring journalists?
Always be thinking like a journalist and take advantage of the opportunities provided at USC. Whether you’re at the grocery store or pumping your gas, always check out your surroundings. Keep an eye out for anything that seems out of place or that may work as a great story. Also, engage in small talk with people as much as possible. You never know who the stranger next to you in line may be. Everyone has an incredible story to tell.
As an Annenberg Alumn you’re incredible competition to others looking for jobs in your field. ATVN is spectacular because you get so much experience that isn’t offered at other universities, and it’s evident to news directors looking for their next talent.
What are the top three skills college journalism students should be working on in order to be prepared for their first broadcasting job?
Read, read, read. I know we all like to immerse ourselves in thoughtless magazines and TV shows, but take time out to read books that aren’t part of your class reading. Educate yourself on as many topics as possible.
Learn to love your weakness. Mine is politics. I rarely read politic stories or follow local politics and there’s just no way to survive in any community without understanding it at least on the surface. So take 15 minutes out of your day to read up on international, national and local stories you might not normally take interest in.
Network! - at your internships and with your peers. It’s important to make good impressions at your internships; ask the right questions and get to know people who can guide you along your career. Just as important is developing friendships with your peers in your career. We’ll all run into eachother at some point. Don’t burn any bridges and be as professional as you can inside and out of the newsroom.
What is the most important thing a college journalist should know when he or she is trying to negotiate his or her first job?
The only thing I felt comfortable negotiating was my relocation cost. Otherwise, I personally don’t feel that as a starting reporter we’re in any place to really negotiate our jobs. You can do this on your own by selecting cities you’d rather live in and hopefully be able to narrow it down that way.
What prepared you most for your current job?
EVERYTHING. I volunteered for as many things I could and that was the smartest thing I could’ve done at ATVN. Each job I took on helped me understand how to properly put together a great newscast. I believe in order to be a good reporter or produer - whatever you decide to pursue- you have to understand every single role in the newsroom. I’m still shooting and editing my own material, and I could not have been this prepared without Annenberg and the incredible professors and staff that supported me along the way.
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