Posts tagged news
A day in the life of a reporter
The exciting and sometimes not so exciting details of being a reporter.
Man in traffic: I had a medical issue, Longmont resident ...
TOUCH this image
I’ve gone a little thinglink crazy over the past week or so but I’m finding some interesting ways to use the interactive photos.
So far, I’ve created one of my new house to learn about the site, another one that is an explainer about a local art show and this, my latest attempt, to use our front page to drive readership online.
It’s one of the more functional web tools that I’ve found in terms of news but I wish you could embed the photo on Facebook in a way that’s a little nicer format. Thoughts?
Damn feelings...
As a journalist, fires are typical. Part of the job, especially here in Boulder.
It’s not unusual this time of year to get called in to help with fire coverage.
As I looked at these photos from the Denver Post, I was touched by the photos of people moving things out of their homes. I couldn’t help but think about how heartbroken I would be if I had to grab my favorite things and run, and I don’t even own my home.
As a human, it’s normal to watch these images and feel my heart sink into my chest but as a journalist…. well that’s just not how this job works.
Luckily, I’m not covering the fire so it’s not an issue this time but it got me thinking about how often my feelings get in the way or cloud my judgement or cause bias in my writing, no matter how hard I fight it.
So to all those journalists who are trying to balance their damn feelings with their story, kudos and keep up the good work!
In the name of journalism…
I’ll spare you the details of how I came across this video, but I will say, you won’t want to miss Jenn Field’s story on Coloradodaily.com tomorrow.
Journalism, like any other job, has it’s good days and bad. I like to think the reporters covering the camel jumping competition in Yemen were having a good day.
So far, I’ve been python hunting (see the photo below), seen President Obama speak, gone on a sunset cruise and rode on a 10-foot-tall swamp buggy through an 800-acre mud hole, all in the name of journalism.
It’s these adventures and the ones still to come that keep me in good spirits on days like today when I’m writing about CU-Boulder student who has leukemia.
One side of summer
As a campus reporter winter break, spring break and summer is quiet.
Some days are filled with scrambling around for a story or a source until the last minute. I often wonder ‘who’s reading this stuff’ as I look around the CU-Boulder campus and see a total of 3 people walking across the usually busy campus.
But today the break is relaxing. I’m sitting in the sun (attempting to tan my pasty white legs) near the fountains at the student center as I wait for an event to start.
Since I’m sure you’ll hear me complain about the lack of stories at some point over the next few months, I thought I’d share my happy summer mood first.
BE JEALOUS!
Drama queen!
I’m a woman and as much as I hate to admit it, I can’t help being attracted to drama.
Exhibit A: I’m a journalist.
I have a love, hate relationship with the journalism industry.
I love the constant evolution. I hate that I frequently wonder if I’m going to lose my job.
I love learning about something new every day. I hate having 24 hours to become an expert in a topic that I’ve never paid attention to before that day.
I love the excitement. I hate the uncertainty.
My love affair with journalism is like any other love affair: it’s hot and cold and everything in between.
Despite my occasional doubts and journalism’s imperfections, I’m staying strong… for now.
Jet pack bananas
This is all you need to know about my day at the Colorado Daily today.
Enough already, let me do my job!
This is a great GIF to start this post from likeacollegejourno:
When a source asks me if I’m going to make them look good…
Ugh! I hate it when people ask me that because first of all, if you’re asking it’s because you know that’s not my job. You wouldn’t ask if I’m going to make you look good or not if you thought my job was solely to promote you and your cause. And honestly, if you have to ask, it’s probably because you’re worried and that’s my first clue to look deeper.
I also HATE it when people ask if they can read what I wrote before it’s published. NO! That’s my editor’s job. I mean they pay her for that so if you want to do it for free you should come talk to our publisher and I bet he’d hire you on the spot. Otherwise, let me do my job!
I get that people don’t understand how newsrooms and journalists work but I feel like no matter how much I explain it, people are never happy.
So in closing…
Sharing is caring
I blogged yesterday about my love affair with Ryan Gosling and the story I was writing about coffeeandprocrastination. Well today they shared my story on their blog and retweeted about it and I must say as a journalist I LOVE it when people share my stuff.
I mean it’s not like this went viral or anything but it’s such a nice compliment when someone shares something I wrote on their personal online profiles. It means they cared enough about what I wrote to click on it, read it (or at least browsed it) and then liked it enough to share it.
As a reporter, we often get feedback from readers in our emails and sometimes through social media and it’s usually complaints more than anything. Some meaner than others but not usually complimentary. When they like something people are likely to tell a friend; when they hate something, they’re likely to tell 10. Not sure who said that but I’ve heard it a lot.
So in short, thanks to those folks who will or have shared my stories via tumbler, Twitter, or Facebook, ect. For us reporter folk, sharing really is caring.
look Mom, we’re famous!
We’ve been giggling at this blog here at the Daily, so Whitney decided to talk with the CU students behind it.
Some days I feel like this. There is too much news to report and no one wants to talk to me and my editor wanted my story an hour ago and there’s not enough hours in the day …. ugh! Especially when things like this go viral.
But then there are days when you write something fun or entertaining or beneficial and every once in a while someone even says thanks. Wow. It’s an amazing feeling.
The bottom line is being a news reporter is a roller coaster ride. But what part of life isn’t? Today I’m embracing it and enjoying the ride.
