Insight on the (Journalism) Job
- Taylor Helmes
- May 19, 2021
- 6 min read
May 19, 2021
By Taylor Helmes
My first hands-on experience with journalism was an advanced media course in high school. We would produce morning “Bulletins” three times a week with two anchors, broadcasting to the entire school information about sports, rallies, spirit weeks, and dances, all under an 80-minute deadline. Students would handle the cameras, switchboard, sound, and teleprompter while the teacher provided the script and topics. Segments and promotion videos during the Bulletin would include videos shot and edited by other students in the class for promotion or as a package.
For this research project, it seemed fitting to try and reach out to news anchors and reporters in the broadcast journalism industry, specifically females. Kasia Gregorczyk from Fox5 San Diego, Rita Garcia from Fox11 Los Angeles, accepted the interview invitation. For a third journalist, I reached out to Daniel Willis, a data journalist from EdSource. I met each of them via Zoom so I could pick their brains and ask some questions about their work, how they research information and sources for stories, and what to anticipate post-graduation in the journalism field.
Kasia Gregorczyk graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 2012 with a Bachelor’s in Journalism. She grew up in Southern California, so after working in New Mexico and Wisconsin as a news reporter and anchor, she was excited to move to San Diego to cover anything from local news, sports, business, and COVID-19 coverage. Gregorczyk has over 10 years of experience in broadcast journalism.
Research is a significant part of Gregorczyk’s job; Conducting research is part of the initial news-gathering step of starting a story as well as verifying and fact-checking it. Gregorczyk says research is the foundation of her job, even if the information comes from a reliable source.
“I think it’s kind of one of the main things we have to tackle first before you ever go on air or say anything, research is number one,” Gregorczyk said in an interview. “Research is the foundation of what we do. If we didn’t research, I think our credibility would kind of go out the window.”
Some tools Gregorczyk utilizes while conducting research are exploring social media feeds, sending emails and making phone calls, searching through databases, and seeking out sources wherever she can find them. She also emphasized how multiple voices or perspectives are crucial for a fair and balanced story. Social media has also played a huge role in her job and how journalists can use it to their advantage.
“I feel like we get our story ideas sometimes from what’s posted on social media,” Gregorczyk said. “You’ve got to reach out to the people who wrote about [the story], or posted the video… Get in personal contact with that person, speak with them, vet it, make sure it’s a real thing.”
Rita Garcia attended Texas State University’s School of Mass Communication where she received hands-on experience on the same equipment that she would eventually use in her career as a news reporter in the field. Garcia started her broadcast journalism career as a news reporter out in the field, which is where she faced an unexpected challenge: how to take care of yourself and your basic needs and how information is spread on social media.
“For example, making sure there’s always a bathroom because that is the truth,” Garcia said in an interview. “While it may come off as glamour, sometimes you go out and you do these stories, and it’s very long hours, you’re on your feet, and you don’t have access to the facilities.”
Social media has impacted her job, but not necessarily in a negative way.
“It’s sort of, I think, pushed all of us in journalism to think differently and to think outside the box, to do things differently, and to really challenge us to think about how people are actually going to digest the news.”
Social networking sites (SNS) like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok have been major players in aggregating news and information, misinformation and disinformation included. From spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to videos going viral such as the murder of George Floyd, SNS has been a rising competitor against traditional coverage like television news. So now journalists and news media outlets are experimenting with how to incorporate SNS into the dispersion of their news.
“A lot of times when you think about it, people are getting their news on their devices now,” Garcia said. “That’s something that we talk about all the time in our newsroom. Like, how can we push things forward to where it lives on television, but it has legs to cross over to the online platform and vice-versa?”
Some positive changes that came to SNS also came with news of the Novel Coronavirus. SNS, like Facebook and Instagram, began flagging posts mentioning or making a claim about COVID-19, warning users that information they are about to read or watch may not be 100 percent accurate. On Instagram, a button shows up on the screen, navigating users to a COVID-19 Information Center page where they can find reliable, credible information.
Garcia supports flagging content and warning readers about possible mis/disinformation. If anything, she wishes it was implemented on more SNS.
“I actually really appreciated that when I saw that. So if anything going forward, I think we should see more of that,” Garcia said. “Because people have a right to believe whatever it is they want and you know, turn to whatever news station they want, but also be presented with credible websites where if they really want to find the real information and maybe backup, whatever it is they’re believing, then they have access to it.”
Journalism is built on facts and verifying those facts for the audience. For those bigger news stories, Garcia arrives at the newsroom 45 minutes early to make sure she has all of her information and coverage correct. Objectivity is also a huge part of journalism. In order for Garcia to keep objectivity towards a story, that means doing your research.
“Make sure you have all of your information and all of your facts buttoned up,” Garcia said. “It’s really important for me to have facts and to add to the conversation, not to give my opinion. You always want to add something. You’re telling the audience something they wouldn’t have otherwise known or heard in the report.”
Daniel Willis didn’t receive a typical journalism education, instead, he studied Business and Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. With his knowledge of computer science, coding, and algorithms, Willis took to collecting and analyzing data and creating a story with it.
This relatively new aspect of journalism is underutilized and underrepresented, so Willis has no problem with finding stories and topics to analyze and write about. After 15 years in the field, Willis has worked at Bay Area News Group and EdSource.org, where he currently works. He has received awards from the California Journalism Award - Digital Contest and the Data Journalism DFMie in 2014, among others.
“A good chunk of my job is research, that’s it. I mean, I’m a data journalist, you know, very spreadsheet heavy, I analyze data, but I have to get that data for the most part,” Willis said in an interview. “I certainly find stories in data that happen to fall into my lap, because that does happen.”
Curiosity, questions, and research is the first part of his process towards building a story. Willis asks a question, or questions something, then he finds or creates a spreadsheet to provide evidence and a visual representation of the topic. He also has to make it appeal to his audience and make it worth their time to read and invest themselves in. By adding graphic design, color, and a story behind data, Willis brings to light new information to a topic that has not been covered yet.
“The most interesting stuff is when we come up with a question. For example, one story we did was on the lead in water supplies in schools,” Willis said. “So then [my coworker and I] blew off whatever we were doing and started Googling to find out and we discovered that there was a law that [California] legislature passed to track that and that all schools needed to be tested and identified. There had been no reporting on this.”
After nearly four months of compiling data and piecing it together, Willis and his coworker presented a news package that won them an award.
Conducting informational interviews, such as the ones above, was a tool I learned in my Media Research Methods class. This was a final assignment to pass the class, but it was incredibly rewarding and valuable. This class was primarily made up of Advertising and Public Relations majors, but there were a few journalism seniors like myself. Interviewing and asking questions is a significant part of a journalist's job and it's something we have spent months learning and practicing in upper-division courses.
After talking with these three journalists, and a few others, I am entering the post-graduation job field equipped with tools, skills, and networking capabilities that will help me succeed at whatever job or area of journalism I pursue, whether it's print or online publications, broadcasting, audio or multimedia platforms. The best part about this area of study or work is that it's always evolving and never boring.
ความคิดเห็น