On October 29th, I
shadowed and interviewed reporter Nanci Hellmich of USA TODAY. Through the
interview portion, I learned that Ms. Hellmich has worked for USA TODAY for
thirty-two years. She recently began writing on the topic of retirement after
nearly thirty years of reporting on nutrition, diet, and fitness. She explained
that one of the hardest things about making such a drastic switch in subjects
is that she now has to find all new references and experts to give quotes for
her articles. However, Ms. Hellmich did tell me that her favorite part of being
a reporter is all of the actual work involved in writing a story. She loves
figuring out who to interview, actually conducting the interviews, writing the
story, and “smoothing [the story] out” and editing it.
With this in mind, I asked Ms. Hellmich
about the differences between working for USA TODAY and working for a more
localized newspaper. She said that she misses going out to do interviews,
rather than just conducting them over the phone, as she does now. However, she
told me that she really likes the culture of USA TODAY, in that it is staffed
with people who are “very real, smart, and hardworking.”
After the interview, Ms. Hellmich introduced
me to Shannon Rae Green, who is a video and podcast producer. I observed Ms.
Green as she worked on a podcast. She helped to choose the graphics, determined
the timing of transitions, and read the script during the actual recording. Ms.
Hellmich later explained to me that nowadays, having experience with all aspects
of video technology and the recording process is highly valued in the field of
journalism.
After that, Ms. Hellmich showed me each
step of the procedure for uploading an article to the USA TODAY website. She
also explained the process of choosing the art for an article and deciding where
it should go. In that particular case, she was inserting a picture of the woman
off of whose advice the article had been based. She explained that she wanted
the picture to appear later on because it wasn't very attention-grabbing. She
ended up emailing an employee in the art department for help finding an appropriate
visual for the top of the article.
After we ate lunch, Ms. Hellmich
introduced me to the mobile editor, Emily Brown. Ms. Brown showed me a program on
her laptop that monitored how many times the most popular videos on the USA
TODAY app were being watched. She would then use that data to decide which
articles should be most prominently displayed on the app. The methods for
deciding the layout of news stories on the app were absolutely fascinating. This
process may have been my favorite thing that I learned about during my visit.
The last person that Ms. Hellmich had me
speak with was a woman named Hadley Malcolm, who is both a personal finance
reporter and a video personality for USA TODAY. Ms. Malcolm stressed to me two pieces
of advice more than anything else; be well-versed in video technology and the
digital process, and get as much experience as possible. She explained that it is
extremely beneficial when applying for a job in journalism to be able to
undertake every step of the broadcasting process. She also told me that I
should get involved with the on-campus publications and UMTV, stressing the
value of real experience.
As
far as my overall experience, I loved it. I’d originally planned to be a
marketing major, but I couldn't ignore my interest in journalism. However, I
was terrified that actually working in the field would be nothing like what I’d
imagined. I knew that shadowing a reporter was an opportunity to lay my doubts to
rest. Although, at first, traveling to a different city, in a different state,
and entering the offices of such a well-known newspaper was intimidating, I
ended up feeling so much more at peace with my decision to pursue journalism. The reassurance I gained from this project made me so grateful for the opportunity. Although I'm not sure that I want to work for a national newspaper, such as USA TODAY, just
walking around in that office gave me high hopes for my future career.
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