Kathleen Hessman, aspiring broadcast journalist
Career Q & A Interview: Part 4 of 5-Resources and professional development
Comm Creatives-People:
What websites, books, magazines, TV shows helped you learn more about broadcasting?
Kathleen Hessman:
“Growing up I have always watched the NYC television markets to get my news, whether it be Eyewitness News on Channel 7, NBC4 or Fox5. These have shown me a great deal about the broadcasting field and each channel is very different from one another in terms of their overall “look”, reporting and writing style. Because I currently live in CT, I have especially watched the local news here, especially Channel 3 where I intern! Watching news from a journalist’s perspective helps you see what the news process is like and how reporters go about telling their stories. Once you learn the skills to be a broadcaster, you are able to watch the news in a different way; you can say things like, “the reporter did this a certain way,” or “the anchor said this in an interesting way” and you can speak about the different blocks of a newscast and determine which stories producers wanted to put first and which ones they wanted last. Things like this are all important to making a good news show: you have to know how to break the news down into a way that flows well, hooks the viewer and that people can easily understand. One book that I read that was very inspiring to me recently was “Dispatches From the Edge” by Anderson Cooper. His book documents his life from two perspectives: dealing with the loss of his father and brother and facing the realities at every site he went to while being a war correspondent. This book was inspiring because he showed true passion for what he does as a broadcast journalist, yet you see how much of a genuine, warm-hearted man Anderson is. He is definitely someone I look up to as a broadcast journalist for his courage and determination to report the truth of every situation he faced to his viewers.”
Comm Creatives-People:
What are the most important qualities/skills anyone should have if they want to become a broadcast journalist?
Kathleen Hessman:
“As a broadcast journalist, you always need to think on your toes. You always have to have both ears open, especially when reporting and anchoring. Something could happen within a live broadcast that could cause you to flub, but it is your job to try and make the newscast run as smoothly as possible. Another piece of advice is to have very thick skin. You should never let ANYONE stop you from pursuing your dreams. You always should push yourself to the limits and get involved as much as you can! You should have the basic technical skills, especially with the media going in the direction of the internet. You should also have a basic sense of website editing and knowing how to post things to a website.”
