TV anchors must
get it right - now
■Journalism majorsare the
largest group of University
graduates this year, and their
work isn’t easy
Roman Gokhman
for the Emerald
The best way to learn about a job
that interests you is to follow an ac
complished person for a day. Here’s
what I learned while job-shadowing
KMTR reporter and news anchor
Tasha Emmons.
Being a journalist is no walk in the
park. Emmons’ line of work is replete
* a'S* and the
Reporter’s m°ral C<T
v—virtinn tn
hasn’t let that stop her from enjoying
her job and learning from the many
unique experiences presented in this
challenging atmosphere.
Take, for example, Emmons’ story
on a shooting of a mother of two in
Saint Joseph, Mo. This was no ordi
nary incident. A woman, blind in one
eye, was with her two kids when a
man walked out of his apartment
strapped with guns and explosives
and began shooting. The mother of
the two children was shot in her eye
and became blind. Emmons was in
spired by the woman, who told her
that she was glad it was she who got
shot and not her children.
“Meeting incredible people and
the situations that people are put
into is interesting. I learn something
new every day,” says Emmons. Al
though she prefers spot reporting,
Emmons loves the excitement that
comes with every story. “You’re
never know [what story you will be
assigned] that is exciting,” she says.
Emmons reports to work at 9:15
a.m., stepping into a crowded news
room filled with computers, televi
sions showing morning shows from
all the major networks, desks cov
ered with notebooks, newspapers,
old family photos and bumper
stickers. She holds a can of Slim-Fast
because it’s convenient and contains
vitamins and nutrients, and because
she cannot cook her own meals —
with dead
lines, stress
NOTEBOOK
viction to
get the story
right. How
ever, she
not even macaroni and cheese.
After a daily meeting at which re
porters are assigned stories, Em
mons records teasers — a series of
clips that will be used in commer
cials promoting the 5 o’clock news
cast. Next, she calls her story con
tacts and sets up interviews.
“It’s always good to personalize
the story,” she says. She slowly gets
into a station vehicle with her cam
eraman and begins to prepare her
questions while the cameraman
drives to the location.
Besides camera operators and an
chors, there are many different posi
tions in broadcast journalism.
KMTR News Director Mike Wesley
encourages graduating seniors to
“consider an area in television that
is not an on-air position [such as] a
producer, news writer or assign
ment editor, which is an easier way
to get a foot in the door. ”
Broadcast journalism is only one
of many fields that journalism grad
uates may enter. Photography,
newspapers, magazine journalism
and public relations are just as
unique and challenging. University
journalism professor Scott Maier
used to work as an international re
porter and traveled to foreign na
tions such as Nicaragua, El Sal
vador, Mexico and Cuba.
“I wanted to be where the news
was happening,” says Maier.
Whether in South America, Wash
ington, D.C., or right here in Eugene,
news stories are waiting to be found
everywhere.
Today, Emmons’ story features a
new type of laser hair removal. Af
ter interviewing a nurse and a doc
tor, her cameraman gets film of a pa
tient being treated while she writes
down how the procedure works for
her conclusion. When it is time to
tape the conclusion, several takes
are needed to get it right. In televi
sion, nine times out of ten, nothing
is perfect, she says.
After returning to the newsroom
at 3 p.m., Emmons writes her story
and prepares for the newscast. She
and her co-anchor Marc Mullins are
the only ones in the studio. As the
KMTR intro is rolling on a televi
sion, Emmons reads over her script
one last time. When 5 p.m. rolls
around, mistakes are not allowed.
012006
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