Summer is Ending, but Life is Beginning

A lot of crazy and amazing things happened during the last month I worked in NYC, but it all started out with something not so good. My boyfriend of two years broke up with me, mainly because our paths are going in different directions. I understand, now, why he did this. It's bittersweet but, honestly, I cannot think about settling down anytime soon. My future is way bigger than I thought it would be.

A few days after everything ended, something big started. I was at FAIR and I began researching abortion legislation coverage, which became my primary project the rest of the summer. Working on this piece made me feel, well, important. This is the type of coverage I want to do -- legislation, politics, gender issues -- and I feel so fortunate that I was able research this. I was also able to write a blog post about stay-at-home dad's. Now, I have the ability to write concisely and quickly which is so important in this industry.

Later that week at FOX, I was invited to the Good Day New York meeting where I pitched a segment. The anchors and news director ended up loving the idea, and I spent the rest of the day organizing it. I technically co-produced it! The segment aired a few days later, and I just cannot believe how fast I was able to set everything up. Of course, I was under the supervisor of an amazing segment producer, but I did all of the booking myself. I didn't know that I could do this. I had no idea that I could actually do all of this, in a week. Technically, the worst week and a half of my life knowing that the person I spent all of my college life with wasn't going to sharing in my success with me.

I realized that week, the day after the segment, that I am really so blessed. I firmly believe in God and I have never been able to see Him work in my life like this. Whenever I get really stressed out, I just can forget to prioritize my faith and now I know that I have to because He's the reason why all of this is happening. He is giving me these opportunities and I'm taking them and running -- not looking back at the frustration and self-deprecation that I've put on my shoulders this year.

Finally, everything I've worked for is paying off and I hate to say that I'm okay being single during this time. I found out from reporters that I'm going to have to travel between contracts before I can get a solid job. That scares people. It scares my family a little bit -- knowing that I might not be in the tri-state area for a while, but I have to do what is best for me.

I made life long friendships with the people I've worked with at FAIR and FOX. All of the interns and trainees were just wonderful people -- everyone that I met had a huge heart and great potential. I would be lying to you if I didn't tell you that I teared up and cried saying bye to some of my coworkers. This summer taught me not only about the industry, but about myself. I am so thankful for meeting so many amazing people and for becoming a stronger person.

Thank you, everyone, that worked with me this summer and or read this silly little blog about my experience. Now, News City Living is going ABROAD! I am off to London to study for the semester.

Sorry, I had to take a picture behind the anchor desk! 

So... Until next time, I'm Sara McCloskey!

Quick Advice About Internships

Here's some advice for people before applying to similar internships that I just had...

#1). ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS AND ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP!: Don't ask questions when people are busy, but when there's a moment and you're chilling with someone just ask them about their job and different things they're interested in. I always had 100 questions, which means I'm in the right field, but you have to feel the situation and not annoy people. If you're a journalist, you know what I mean.

#2). THE OTHER INTERNS MAY BE YOUR FUTURE CO-WORKERS: Make friends with the other interns because you will probably work with them later on in life. Get their contact info and keep in touch!

Broadcast Station Internship

1. Know if your Station is UNION SHOP: A lot of local stations do not have unions so you can touch and use the equipment, but in NYC (besides NY1) the local stations are unionized. I was still able to observe the entire process in putting together a news package, but I was not allowed to touch anything. I would say, do one internship at a non-union shop to touch the equipment and then work with a union shop to gain more experience. 
2. People will remember you, which is Good & Bad: Broadcast news is a small, small world. So, don't be a jerk. Be polite to everyone and be engaged. Be friendly to people that work at the other stations too, you never know who you will run into in the field!
3. You want to be an Anchor? Do More: No one is an anchor automatically. Learn from everyone you can. GDNY anchor Rosanna Scotto says, "The best anchors were always the best reporters."
4. Get to know your Photogs: I never thought about this before, but honestly the coolest people I met were the cameramen. Some of them have been all over the world and most of them know all of the other cameramen from other stations. They also always have your back. 
5. Dress to Impress: People at the station sometimes thought that I wasn't an intern because I dressed nicely. They'll remember that. (Also, people on the street thought I was the reporter... which was kind of awesome.. not going to lie!) 

Independent Media Writing Internship 

1. Ask if Co-workers need help on their Research: Writers at FAIR were always working on their own individual projects. If you're interested in the same topic, ask them about it and they may let you help them their with project! 
2. More Work is Available: Working in a smaller place allows you the chance to be hands on. I was able to write 4 blog posts, a study with a co-worker, and my own piece. There is a benefit to working with a smaller group of people because you can literally do more.
3. People will remember you, which is Good & Bad (AGAIN): Indy media is really small as well. The people who you work with might have connections to other media outlets, so don't be mean. With that knowledge comes responsibility, so don't schmooze (I hate schmoozing..). Work your butt off because it's a smaller market than mainstream media and it's more specialized (people report on more specific topics). 
4.  Study the Writing Style of the Outlet: FAIR writes with a very specific tone which took me a long time to adopt. Read A LOT of the outlet's work and try to practice writing that way. I didn't realize how uncomfortable I would be writing in the tone FAIR uses, but I got used to it. 

What Barbie and Women in the Media have in Common.

[Note: I wrote most of this a few weeks ago and didn't publish it right away. I was waiting for my blog post to be published and then a lot of things happened very fast. Will explain at another time.] 

Huffington Post published a short story about what a "normal" Barbie would like look if it was proportionate to the average 19-year-old girl. I was startled, because Barbie looks so good when she's "average!"

If you look at media today (i.e. movies, TV, broadcast, commercials, video games etc.) women are portrayed in a very sexual way and are not usually strong protagonists. The documentary MissRepresentation reveals this portrayal and how it actually hurts young girls ambitions.





I mention this documentary constantly to my friends and family because I have never seen anything like it. I am constantly thinking about how to change the dialogue about women in the media from a reporting stand point. It isn't just enough to change how I dress so I don't look, well, really overly sexualized because I don't feel comfortable or empowered by wearing that kind of clothing.

It shocks me though, because there are so many women in newsrooms now. The staff is pretty small in general at FAIR, about 6 people, half of which are female and all of the interns are too (and from Ithaca College!). At FOX a large number of the writers, editors and producers are women. About half of the talent are too. I have become very close to and really look up to many of the women I have meet over the past few weeks, but it still scares me how many women issues are down played by news outlets.

Here's one example. A month or so ago, I shadowed a reporter who was working on a story about a blog run by mothers' who are trying to stop mothers from putting down each other's child rearing styles and lifestyle choices. This is a really important topic, and the reporter honestly didn't have a lot of time to treat this story with the care it needs. Luckily the reporter had great interviews, but it failed to address that women are competitive with each other for a reason - that women put each other down because of stereotypes which are actually created by the media. It's hard to dive into that on a local news program, but hopefully one day it will be easier to discuss this more seriously.

Something really good though happened a few weeks ago at FOX. I researched women networking groups for a producer. She had pitched the story of "women leaders," in a staff meeting I sat in on, and then I suggested this to go along with it. She really liked the idea. We had to figure out how to flesh out the idea in full, like any news story, but I'm really happy that it went over well with the news director.

And sometimes women's issues aren't reported on in the same way, even though it might be the same exact topic. My recent blog post for FAIR explains how the coverage of Senator Wendy Davis received more coverage than the new Ohio budget, which creates new provisions for mothers seeking and redefines when a woman is actually pregnant. The reason the Ohio budget story isn't that big is probably because there isn't a figurehead trying to protect the women.

After working on this, I decided to write a longer study on the topic. It will be published soon, hopefully.

One thing that I would like to point out, though, is that these issues aren't just women's issues. They're societal -- men are greatly affected too. The creator of MissRepresentation is now making a film called The Mask You Live In  which is about how men are depicted in the media. I'm very excited to see how it turns out! (I donated to the kickstarter... just revealing my bias!)

Gender in the News!

I know I have a lot of explaining to do.. I shall later. A lot of big things happened in the past few weeks.. and soon my stay in NYC will end.

On another note: Just to keep yourself updated on a few things in the news, here are a few important links on women and families.

I firmly believe changing how women are perceived in the media and by society is not a feminist issue... it's a gender issue. Look at yourself... MEN: groping and rape culture, how this isn't just a feminist's problem -- society needs to look at itself too.

The number of stay-at-home dad's is increasing and articles mention how these father acknowledge how gender roles are changing. Most of these dad's are white and educated, which is not the norm for stay-at-home fathers.

Did you hear about the woman who organized a campaign in the UK to have Jane Austen put on the 10 pound note? Well, she was threatened with rape and murder by Twitter users. One of them, a 21-year-old male, was arrested this weekend.

Recently..

I haven't been writing because some really big stuff happened this week.. I will write shortly.

Breaking News on the Fourth of July

The sign for the Cyclone roller coaster! 

It's been a while since I've written anything, mainly because work has been really busy.

Not many people do this, but I worked on Fourth of July. Everyone at FOX keeps telling me that most people in the industry work on holidays. Those days are just normal news days in the grand scheme of things, so I decided to go to work.

I walked a little early, like usual. It was steaming hot outside. Right after I put my dinner in the small employee kitchen area, one of the assignment editors asked me if I wanted to go on an assignment. Of course, I said yes -- without knowing that I would be home at 1 a.m.

Yes. I could have either gone to a party with friends or go on an assignment. Both would end around the same time. I'll tell you, though, working on the holiday was worth it. Let me tell you everything that happened that day.

Joel Waldman, a reporter for FOX5, Joe the cameraman and I went to Coney Island to report on the Astro Tower -- ride an old ride that was going to be taken down because it was swaying. I ran between the 5 o'clock reporter and Joel, trying to find out information for Joel's story. Both of these reporters were doing the live shots at the top of their respective shows and Joel had to finish his story really
quickly.

There was a lot of mayhem because of the short amount of time before Joel's 6 o'clock live shot, which I will not get into since it is really confusing. All you need to know is that everything worked out, and then Joel was going to be doing a live shot again for the 10 o'clock news.

So, we had a few hours to kill. Joe, the cameraman and I walked around the amusement park and got hot dogs, watched the fireworks. It was fun, just killing time. When I got back from the bathroom, we had to leave. There was breaking news.

Joel during his live shot, via Twitter.

Two people died in a jet ski accident just down the road. At that point, a second truck and cameraman arrived (usually there are two cameramen for live shots in really busy areas because people act crazy when they see a reporter), so we all hopped in the trucks and went over.

It was amazing to see how quickly the crew reacted to the situation. Joel had to go on camera within minutes of getting there, and then need to find more information before going live again with an update. He Tweeted pictures and information while we were there, which he says is important to do.

Everything happened so fast, and then as if it was nothing we went back into the trucks to head to the station. It was a little before 11 p.m. and we were stuck in traffic. We only had to go down a few blocks, but it was bumper to bumper -- barely moving at times. Everyone from the amusement park was leaving because the fireworks were finished, and there wasn't a police officer at the intersection to direct traffic. Joe said it was the worst traffic he had ever been in.

I didn't mind though. It sucked but I was with people who I trust and hope that I can again in the future. It is sad when you realize that you love your job so much that you're willing to give up holidays. This is going to be my future in a couple of years. I know my friends and family aren't too happy about that, but I can't really avoid it until I'm more established and have good vacation days.

The environment isn't funny! Well, the news coverage kind of is..

This is exciting: I am published again! (I've been working on a lot of things, but I finally got to write another blog post). Today, I came into work and one of my co-workers suggested that I research this. I love when people ask me to research, especially on broadcast news programs.

You see, I see that the media doesn't always cover really important topics thoroughly. They may brush over it and have a voice over. I mean, the President gave a big speech about the environment last week -- that doesn't happen every day, that at least deserves a soundbite after the anchor talks about it for 15 to 25 seconds. (15 - 25 seconds is the usual length of a voice over during a nightly newscast).

Below is a quick preview of my new blog post for FAIR on President Obama's speech.

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Who would have thought the future of the environment was some kind of joke? It turns out comedians actually seem to care more about climate change than the people who produce real news programs do. 

Think Progress came out with an infographic yesterday (7/1/13) showing that the Sunday chat shows didn't so much as mention President Barack Obama's June 25 speech outlining a new climate change policy at Georgetown University. But a few late-night comedy shows and the Daily Show, a fake newscast on Comedy Central, found some time to cover the news. 

But let's give the networks a fair shake, shall we? A better comparison with a fake nightly news show is a real nightly newscast. So we looked at ABC, CBS and NBC's 30-minute nightly newscasts to see how they covered the president’s speech.

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Click here to read more!