I got to do what??

    What I want most is to become a strong, well-known, female journalist. All the work, paid and unpaid, will get me there. All of the social media work I do on the side, will get my name out there.

My Facebook Page

My Twitter Page

My Youtube Page

    I even have a Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus. I will admit it is hard to keep up with everything! Even when the new social media sites come up. I haven't even tried to use Path yet! Is that still around? But I've learned that stations will hire you if you are well-known in the social media world.

    Now I have known some people to be skeptical about being professional in the world of social media but I have seen it in action. As I was out with the KGBT reporters, they tweeted pictures to let their audience know what to expect later that evening. Trust me, it works.

    When I was interning with KGBT, halfway through I had a meeting with Kim Wyatt about my work. I sat in her office for almost three hours discussing what I need to keep working on and how to improve. We also talked about what I have done right, but I was more eager to talk about what I need to do to make my mark in this industry.

    

    I was hungry for knowledge. She gave me tips on how to use Twitter to gather a following and also to eventually have my own website where I can put all my work. The purpose of this is to make sure if someone is interested in hiring me, they can focus on ME. Not the other reporters that will show up on the side in Youtube. I, as a journalist, am a brand. Kim also told me to keep tweeting and posting so that eventually someone from a station can see my followers and that I would bring my following to their station. That was how they hired their newest Digital Producer for KGBT. 

     Governor Rick Perry came by The University of Texas - Pan American to ceremonially sign the bill to merge UTPA with The University of Texas - Brownsville. At the moment, I do not work with a news station since my internship has just ended. It is my "break." If you take a look at my Twitter account, I was quoting the speakers, taking photos of the Student Union, and retweeting others if I had missed something. It was all for my gain to try and get my name out there. 

    So for all you aspiring journalists, USE SOCIAL MEDIA! It's free and gets your name out there! Here are my other social media profiles if you are interested!

Tumblr

Google +

Pinterest

My First Assignment with KGBT

    When I worked with The Pan American, the stories I covered were usually events around the University of Texas - Pan American (UTPA), around the Rio Grande Valley, and breaking news that dealt with students.

    I have covered Jardin del Arte's Summer Nights Jazz Fest in July 2012 with tPA.

Summer Night's Jazz Fest

    I have even covered stories that involve the safety of UTPA's students.

How safe do you feel on campus?

UTPA student injured while riding bike

    But I have never interviewed parents who have lost their 2-year-old daughter to Leukemia.

    The story of baby Victoria's battle with cancer was one that many across the Valley will probably never forget. Her parent's were in need of help to keep up with expenses after the father quit his job in order to be with his terminally-ill daughter. This caused stress on the family because they had four other children under their care. As the Valley pulled together, and a young boy, who also was diagnosed with cancer, made a request to have a birthday party for baby Victoria before she lost her battle with Leukemia the day after her birthday party.

    As I arrived in the KGBT newsroom, I was sent out on the assignment to interview her parents. My nerves were high! I have never interviewed someone who has lost a close family member, let alone their own child.

    I arrived in a Harlingen funeral home where the parents were making the arrangements. When I had requested an interview, they seemed very hesitant at first, and I completely understood why. They just lost their precious daughter. They looked like they didn't sleep all night. Why would they speak on camera?

    They agreed and as soon as I asked, "How are you coping with your daughter's loss?" The father lost it. He began to cry and responded, "How could anyone cope? It's day by day."

    I will admit that I was uncomfortable during this interview but my job was to tell the viewers what the family is going through. How they feel and what they will be doing from here. I remember that my eyes watered as I listened to the mother tell stories of how vibrant baby Victoria was before she was sick. How much she loved her siblings.

    As I went back to the Harlingen station, I told Kim about the experience and how intense the interview was. Even though I could have spent the next hour crying over the lost of this child, I went to work writing a script and edited the video for the 5 p.m. newscast.

    This happened only in the second week of my internship. After this experience, I saw how difficult some stories could be. They are heart-breaking but it is very rewarding to tell a person'e story about their life, no matter how big or small that person was. Their loss from this Earth will always be the same.

Wide-Eyed Intern

    How many students can say they had the opportunity to work with some of the best and well-known reporters in the Rio Grande Valley? I can say I did!

    May 20th was the day I walked into the KGBT Action 4 Newsroom as a wide-eyed intern, not completely knowing what to expect. I had met Kimberly Wyatt earlier this year in April 2013 and did my best to keep in contact for this internship. It was a great opportunity! I made contacts with city officials and many police departments across the RGV. 

    The reporters arrive at 9:30 a.m. ready to tackle on the news. They are each assigned at least five different stories a day that they have to get for the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts. These stories are across the RGV and each reporter drives to the location themselves, interview sources, film b-roll all in a four hour period. That is very different from what I am used to at The Pan American. At tPA I usually have one to two stories a week to produce. What a difference in the workload!

   

 The Pan American

    Did I forget to mention each reporter is a one man band? I wasn't surprised by this because at tPA we live by the rule of being a one person band! At KGBT, the reporters begin to collect everything for their stories around 10:30 a.m. I went along with the reporters and helped every opportunity I could. I was there to learn and grow my own expertise. 

    I would arrive back at the station usually around 3 to 4 p.m. with the reporter. Next on their daily schedule was to write scripts for all their VOSOT's (which is a voice over and one interview) and their package (a complete story), including to edit their voice track with the b-roll for the finished project. All their work would air for the 5 and 6 p.m. newscast. That's right! They had about an hour or hour and a half to finish their work!

    The drive to be a broadcast journalist is what I have and helped me get through the days of driving city to city, the pressure to write and produce a package in a limited time. I felt all this and I was only an intern for the station. What can I say though? If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life!