March, 2008

By Jeff Rowe,  Broadcast News Writing for Professionals

Considering a career in broadcast journalism?

This is perhaps the greatest time ever to be a journalist – it almost certainly is the most tumultuous.

Technological innovations are changing everything. Videotape is becoming a curious antique.  New video cameras record images on memory cards.

High-definition digital pictures are so clear you can see skin pores. And it takes half the studio lighting, thus saving electricity and reducing heat.

And the profusion of television channels and internet sites has provided more opportunities than ever before for the broadcast of news and information.

Meanwhile, the world becomes a more complex place every day.

Are the men and women coming into journalist today prepared for these jobs?

Mostly, no.

Consider my experience this past spring and summer.  I was immersed in creating a news team for a morning broadcast at KDOC-TV in Santa Ana, California.  KDOC’s signal reaches all of the greater Los Angeles area but in its 25-year history, the station has focused most of its original programming on Orange County, which encompasses the lower third of the sprawling Los Angeles basin. (The”D-O-C” in the call letters stood for “Dynamic Orange County.”)

For our newscast, which we dubbed “Daybreak OC” to take further advantage of the call letters, we looked for reporters, producers, anchors, editors, directors – the gamut of talents it takes to put together a newscast.

Before we proceed further, it might be useful to review what each of those jobs entails.

*Reporters spend their days gathering facts, interviewing people and then writing their scripts and helping editors choose appropriate video.

*Anchors present the news and thus are called “presenters” in some countries.

*Photographers are skilled at taking pictures in all light conditions; they also must know how to get good sound.

*Producers write much of the newscast and decide in what order stories appear.

But our news team was to be small, in part because we planned to partner with the Orange County Register and so we would be drawing on their considerable reporting, photographic and graphics abilities.

We wanted all our staffers to be adept in at last two skill areas. For example, we wanted photographers to also be able to edit and to be creative enough to produce a steady stream of nat-sound pieces.  “Nat,” short for “natural,” sound pieces consist entirely of interviews and the sounds and scenes of a place and event.  A motocross competition, for example, would lend itself to this kind of storytelling treatment.

Additionally, we wanted out anchors to spend part of their day reporting and our reporters to be decent photographers.

Many photojournalists who applied for our jobs presented good demo disks – a DVD with samples of their work – but few exhibited much in the way of enterprise stories. When we did find such photographers, it made hiring easy. And we found skilled editors fairly easily although good ones were getting multiple offers.

Reporters almost always presented themselves also as anchors, the better-paying, higher-visibility job that most reporters ultimately want.  But so few reporters presented themselves as passionate about reporting that it made those choices fairly easy also.

Producers are the most valuable players of the newsroom.  They have to be good writers and able to work quickly, juggle many tasks and deal with disparate newsroom personalities.  Good producers are tough to find.

By far, anchors were the largest group of applicants.  And while many had honed decent on-camera skills, less than five percent could present evidence that they could write well (scripts or clips from work at newspapers, magazines or web sites). And very few could provide engaging story proposals, which suggested a laziness about monitoring the news, a lack of curiosity about the world and a failure to develop a story-idea generation system.

My students in 12 years of teaching broadcast news writing at California State University Fullerton all have heard a familiar refrain from me – learn to shoot, edit and produce.  Those three skills are your ticket to an entry-level journalism job.

Armed with that skill set, you can develop your field reporting skills, develop your voice and learn how to do live shots and the “stand-up” segment of a news package. You will have plenty of time to become an anchor.

Here are the steps to take:

Create a professional presentation package – doing so will elevate you to the top five percent of applicants. Your application packet should contain:

· a compelling cover letter that articulates your professional hopes and dreams and relates your skills set to the station’s needs. Always address the letter to a specific person, never “to whom it may concern”;

· your resume that is concise, chronological and includes 4-5 reference names (with their email addresses and telephone numbers);

· Some writing samples – 7-8 is fine; show a variety of work;

· some enterprise story proposals. With the internet, it’s easy to get up to speed on news in just about any town on earth.  Reflect that knowledge in your cover letter and enterprise story proposals and you will elevate yourself to the top one percent of applicants. That’s how few are truly resourceful;

· a good demo reel.  Show brief examples of your work. For reporters, the usual sequence is live shots, stand-ups, anchoring, samples packages.

Once you have developed your skill set and have that college degree and professional resume package in hand, two more potential challenges remain:

Pay and location

In effect, journalism requires an apprenticeship, somewhat akin to those a century or more ago when, for example, young people would learn a variety of industrial skills under the tutelage of an accomplished pro.  Seeking out those pros – mentors and coaches who can teach you things – is the single most important task of your first few years in journalism.  All the greats have a list of people who have taught them in early days.

Journalism requires a few years of working for low pay – starting salary for a journalist in print or broadcast is about $25,000 a year. And the workweek often will stretch well beyond 40 hours and include lots of early mornings late nights and weekends.

Which leads to the second potential challenge. Nearly all of these entry-level jobs are in small towns, Livings costs typically are low but you must be willing to move from the comfort and security of home. That deters many from actively pursuing a news career.  Rather than fear such a move, embrace it. You will learn about life, culture and economics in other places, thus becoming more valuable journalists.

Do all of those things and you will launch yourself into a fulfilling career serving our fellow citizens.

And all this seems difficult, well, it can be.  But it’s worth it.  In the early years of our nation, Thomas Jefferson observed “a nation which wishes to remain ignorant and free wants what never was and can never be.”

 

Jeff Rowe has been a journalist since 1975, reporting and producing news for television, radio, newspapers, magazines and online publications. He’s been a broadcast writer for The Wall Street Journal, and broadcast editor for The Orange County Register.  Rowe is a former Air Force officer and graduate of the University of Hawaii.  He teaches broadcast news writing at California State University Fullerton and is News Director at KDOC-TV.  His book, Broadcast News Writing for Professionals is available in the School Video News On-line Store along with the accompanying workbook. You can contact Jeff at jrowe@kdoc.tv.

Here are the skills that will nearly guarantee you will get an entry-level job in broadcast journalism:

*Create and constantly update a professional resume package.

 *Read widely -- good journalists are voracious readers.  You absorb style and technique from good reporting and writing.

*Get every internship and part-time job in broadcasting you can. A solid resume of broadcasting work as a student will propel you to the head of the hiring line when you begin your search for a job in broadcast news.

*Attend every professional journalism seminar you can. You will learn much and meet people who can advance your career.

*Adopt an ethic of continuous learning.  You’ll get and stay ahead of the competition.

Keys to the Kingdom:

Getting a Job in Broadcast Journalism

Considering a career in Broadcast Journalism? Make sure you read our new series starting this month on schools, colleges and universities that will prepare you for this exciting career.

This month: Explore Columbia College in Chicago

Available now in the SVN On-line store