A Journalist's Dream

The thing about working in news, regardless of whether it's print or broadcast, is that in the audience's eyes, you're never really off. Viewers and readers have come to expect a CNN-like atmosphere in all things. They don't care if your outlet is a smaller market with a small staff and budget. They want their news when they want it, and if you can't comply with their wishes, they'll just go somewhere else.

So we've all given in. What other choice did we have? If you don't have viewers or readers, you don't have a job. But this surrender to all news all the time doesn't come without consequences. Of course there's the constant fight to be first without regard to being right (just look at the recent Newtown, CT, tragedy), but I'm talking more about the affects on journalists.


Sometimes the pressures of this business are intense. We're expected to be on our game 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We're not supposed to take vacations or ever turn off our phones. And for the most part, we're never thanked for our dedication. Not that we really expect it. For most of us, it's not about the fame or fortune - it's about the news and getting it out there and maybe making a difference in the process.

But sometimes the pursuit of journalism ends in a burn out.

This week a coworker shared an article with me called Why I Left News. The title is pretty straight-forward: a former print reporter explains why she got out of the business. It basically boils down to being over-worked, underpaid and under-appreciated. And while the article is primarily about print, the issues the author discusses can also be felt in broadcast.

We get tired, but we don't stop. We literally work ourselves sick sometimes.

Not all of us give into the overwhelming nature of the beast and leave the business, but I feel like I speak for most of us when I say we wish we could hide sometimes.

For me, it's from my phone. I never turn it off. I can't unless I'm on vacation. Everyone at the station has access to me all the time. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten work-related phone calls during dinner or while on a date.

This job can take over your entire world if you let it. But you don't have to let news consume you. Sure, I find myself updating stories or monitoring our social media sites from home occasionally, but I'm not constantly plugged into my station. In fact, I don't watch the news at all when I'm off.

I think some of the most successful and happiest journalists I know are not tied to their desks/cameras. They're not running to their stations every time some piece of breaking news happens. They're out there living their lives and leaving the news at the station.

I think that's the key to being happy in this business -- not giving your entire life to it. You can't let news define who you are as a person. You need to have connections outside of your station. You should have times when your thoughts are nowhere near work.

But if you are serious about making this your career, you've got to understand its needs. There will be times when you lose your weekend; your work days will almost never fall between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; and you'll be expected to do more than college prepared you for. But as long as when you go home you're at home both in body and in mind, you should be fine.

Too much of anything can be a bad thing, even love for your career.

Sh*t Crazy Newsroom Callers Say

I've written before (many times, in fact) about the crazy people who call our newsroom. It's not out of the ordinary for me to talk to three or four of them in one day. These calls are usually my most popular activity on Facebook. So I decided I should start chronicling them, and what better place than on my blog?

So I present to you "Sh*t Crazy Newsroom Callers Say" - a blog segment dedicated to all the crazy people who think it's a great idea to call our newsroom.

We'll start with a wrap-up of this week so far, which has been unusually calm phone-wise. I guess it's all the Spring temperature we've been experiencing...

On Monday, a lady from one of our smaller communities called us about a scam, but it wasn't to report it or even have us do a story on it. Apparently some Jamaican-accented man was calling her about winning a lottery she'd never entered. She'd also supposedly won a car. Fortunately, the woman did not fall victim to the scam. However, the man was continuously calling her and she wanted him to stop. So one of her friends suggested she call us and give us his number so we could make him stop... Bless her heart.

Yesterday (Wednesday), the man we know only as the Opp Scanner Man called with a message for our weather team - don't let it rain in Opp on Saturday. I kindly explained to him that they don't control the weather. I'm still not sure if he believed me.

Tuesday, a "lawyer" called and threatened to sue us. For reporting what the police told us. She accused us, very loudly, of publishing false information on our website. In reality the information she insisted we had reported was actually news to us. It's always fun telling irate callers that they've called the wrong media outlet.


Stay tuned for more crazy stuff our callers tell us!

I Won An Award

The Liebster Blog Award Rules:

1. Share 11 things about yourself

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you

3. Choose 11 fellow blogs to nominate {or how ever many you'd like}. The nominees must have under 200 GFC (google friend connect) followers and tell them in a comment on their blog

4. Think of eleven questions to ask the bloggers you have decided to nominate

5. Thank the person that nominated you and link back to their blog

Things About Myself
1.Sadly, I'm very easily addicted to reality t.v. It's not that I like reality t.v. It just sucks me in. For instance, TBS just aired a reality series about nerds. I was hooked, even though it was really bad.

2. I get road rage. But what do you expect when I live in the land of bad drivers?

3. Yo hablo espanol un poquito. Era mi concentracion secundaria en la universidad.

4. My name is Ashton and I'm a shopaholic.

5. I'm a t.v. news producer. As such I'm a magnet for stupid questions. I bet you thought there was no such thing...

6. Giraffes are my favorite animal, even though they're gay.

7. If I could be in any other profession, I think I'd like to be a professional ballroom dancer. Too bad I was cursed with clumsiness.

8. I believe in soul mates. I'm married to mine.

9. I am not a morning person. I'm also not good at taking naps. They just make me grumpy.

10. I suffer from debilitating migraines. We're talking no light, no sound, no movement.

11. I learn something new every day. It comes with the territory when you work in news. I think that was one of the biggest draws for me.

  

Questions I Was Given

1. Chunky of creamy peanut butter?
Oh man. Either. Except for Publix Chunky PB. It's too chunky.

2. Name one food you just can't stand.

I keep thinking of foods I dislike, but there really isn't anything I just won't eat. I'm like a disposal.

3. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for? 
That I could say goodbye to my Papa.
Automated news studios never happened.
World Peace. I'm serious. I get tired of all the negativity in my shows. 

4. What is your usual order at Starbucks (Or similar coffee shop)?
I'm not much of a coffee fan. However, whenever the mood strikes it's going to be something with a lot of caramel.

5. What as the last movie you saw in theaters? 
Warm Bodies. I highly recommend it. Zombie love story? Oh yeah.

6. Would you rather be an Olympic athlete or win American Idol?
Athlete.

7. What book do you think everyone should read, but no way in hell would you share your own copy? 
So many options... I can't decide!

8 Have you ever gone vegetarian or vegan? If so, how long did it or has it lasted? 
hahahahahahaha

9. Skiing or Boarding?
I assume you mean with snow... I live in south Alabama. We don't have that.

10. Who taught you to drive? 

My mom.

11.  Do you have a favorite item of clothing for any reason?
I have lots of favorite pieces. I'm addicted to shopping.

Nominees - About that... I'm so far behind on my blogging, I really can't.

Thanks to McGriddle Pants over at Serenity Now Insanity Later for the award!

How to be a Good News Intern

One of the most important steps to becoming a journalist these days is your internship(s). It's where you get some hands-on experience and get to see first-hand how the business really works. A successful internship often times leads to a good job. Screwing up your internship could leave you holding a losing hand before the game even truly begins.

Since I started working at my station nearly 3 years ago, we've had many interns - some good, some bad, but until a few weeks ago we've never had to fire one. You're probably thinking interns can't be fired. You'd be wrong. Sometimes an intern is so bad, so useless, there's no other choice. So I'm here to offer some foolproof tips to have a good news internship.

First tip - never ever go into an internship under false pretenses. For example, our most recent "intern" thought it would be cool to hang out with the people she saw on t.v. Obviously that won't get you in the door, so this "intern" lied and told our news director she was studying to be a meteorologist. After spending two weeks with our evening met, we discovered she had no intention of even going into news. After a month of her just 'hanging out' and causing lots of distractions, we fired her.

Second tip - be productive. An internship is not a free period and shouldn't be treated as such. Therefor, you should not spend your days on Facebook, Twitter or your blog - even if you see employees on theirs. Chances are those employees are on their professional sites. On a related note, you probably want to go ahead and make all of your personal accounts totally private. You wouldn't want your internship boss, who is a potential employer, stumbling across any inappropriate photos or posts.

Third tip - ask lots of questions and volunteer for assignments. Your internship is about learning and making connections. If you just sit in the corner or stay on your phone/computer all day, you won't accomplish either. Plus, you look lazy and disinterested.

Fourth tip - dress appropriately. You may still be in college but remember in this business, appearance is everything. And while sex appeal is certainly taken into consideration when hiring new talent, looking like a whore isn't going to score you any brownie points. And yes, casual attire is common, especially for behind-the-scenes people, but wearing pajamas just make you look like a slob. Your internship is your first real opportunity to make an impression in this business, so dress the part.

Fifth tip - have fun. Seriously. If you're going into this business, it's because you love it. With that reasoning, your internship is like your first step. It should be fun. If you're not having fun, you probably want to consider another line of work.