A Day In the Life of a News7 Reporter

            Being a News7 reporter is certainly no easy task. 

            Right when you begin your shift down in the newsroom, there are expectations of you.  No matter what, the first thing any News7 reporter needs to accomplish is finding a story. This can either be done by the reporter himself, or by searching through “INews” to see if the producer has a story ready for the reporter.

           Once the story is found, it is up to the reporter and his partner, the photographer, to go out on the story, and of course making any appropriate calls.  The location of the story has to be done within the “squiggle”, which is an outlined area the covers much of northern/eastern Vermont and a small portion of New Hampshire.   The reporter’s main job out on in the field is to interview and ask questions to supplement the video of the story. 

            Back in the newsroom, the footage captured out in the field will then be revised in the “editing bay”.  The reporter needs to find the best quotes and “sound bites” to use for the finished version of the piece.

            In the course “Local News Gathering” (prerequisite), you are asked to create a Finder Binder. This binder holds an enormous amount of information that can help you spruce up your stories. Finder Binder material ranges from the definitions of newsroom lingo to profile sketches of politicians to everyday tips of being a reporter. 

            In the newsroom/editing bay, the station personnel use words that aren’t everyday jargon but are common while at work. Not only are some of these words bizarre, there are also about three other synonyms per definition.

            For example, an OTS is an over-the-shoulder graphic. Also called a: box, topic box or OSG.  Then you have a Vo/Sot, which is a more common term in the edit bay. It is simply an easy way to say “voiceover-to-sound on tape.” Which is further defined as the anchor reading a script as the video is transitioned to the television, and then the interviewee’s voice and picture is shown.

            Evan Coughlin is an alumnus of Lyndon State College and the Electronic Journalism Arts program. He had a lot of great things to say about News7 but he also said you need to make sure you are ready, time management is key and you need to have your priorities straight.

            Coughlin later went on to say that the transition from the classroom to the newsroom is difficult and scary, however, you learn quickly. He also stated that the three hardest things about News7 are: meeting deadlines, finding story ideas and getting interviews. (He did not ever mention technical difficulties).

            The media might not be for everyone, but everyone can appreciate what it has to offer. There is an exhilarating feeling when you barely meet a deadline then you see your story on the news. 


Credits
Photos-Daniel Weiner
Soundslides Editing- Jianchuan Zheng
Text: Alex Farnworth & John Kazar