After a previous post about the TV news hiring problem that mentioned some of the key skills of various job functions in a newsroom, I thought it would be helpful to list the skills in more detail. These are my perspective; every station’s expectations are slightly different. Hopefully this information will be useful both to people aspiring to a career in TV and to viewers who wonder how it all comes together!
First, here’s a look at skills that apply to all jobs in a newsroom:
- Ability to maintain composure and act professionally during stressful situations
- Time management
- Data management (email, social media, video and image files)
- Basic knowledge of the people, places, and events in the coverage area
- Basic understanding of government, who does what, and how a bill becomes law
- Basic understanding of the court system
- Knowledge of media law, codes of ethics, and AP style
- Basic understanding of what news audiences are interested in
- The ability to present important information in an interesting and understandable way
Reporter skills:
- Basic understanding of how something becomes a news story
- Writing for broadcast, including writing to available video, audio, and graphics and how to write a story when there is no video
- Writing for digital/print
- Writing for social media, including a basic understanding of best practices
- Critical thinking about the stories you are covering
- Ability to strike up a conversation, even with people who don’t want to talk to you
- Ability to show compassion in difficult circumstances
- Maintaining a professional appearance in public
- Relating to the audience in brief 10-15 second appearances during newscasts
Photographer skills:
- Basic knowledge of photography skills and camera operation
- Anticipating video that will be needed to tell a story
- Lighting basics
- Audio basics
- Editing basics
- Operating liveshots, sometimes with very little time to set up
- Ability to deal with tense situations where your presence might not be welcome
- Acting as a bodyguard for on-air talent
Multi-media journalist (MMJ)
- Combine reporting and photography skills
Anchor skills:
- Relating to your co-anchors and reporters during live newscasts
- Relating to TV viewers through the camera and radio listeners through the microphone
- Maintaining a professional on-air appearance on a tight budget
- General understanding of what your media organization has reported in the past
- General understanding of national and world news
- Ability to ad lib in breaking news situations
Producer skills:
- Strong interest in following the news at the local, state, national, and world level
- Ability to write clearly and concisely
- Ability to quickly write dozens of news stories, promos, and teases on a daily basis
- Ability to perform basic research and fact-check news stories
- Ability to anticipate what will be happening when the newscast goes on the air and structure the show accordingly
- Eye for accuracy in scripts and graphics written by reporters and anchors
- Ability to continuously monitor multiple sources including AP, networks, social media, email, and police scanners (this function is performed by assignment editors or content coordinators in some newsrooms)
- Tight adherence to a strict schedule with multiple deadlines
- Oversight of reporters, anchors, and photographers to make sure they will complete tasks needed to get the newscast on the air
- Anticipation of problems that might occur and ability to solve them before they happen
While stations have seemingly had trouble filling every position recently, producing is a position that’s always been hard to fill — but it’s vital to getting the newscast on the air. Being a job that’s invisible to the viewer, many aspiring journalists don’t see it as an option. If you’re a “news junkie” who has strong opinions on how a newscast should be presented, then producing may be the perfect job for you!
Jon Ellis has worked in small-market TV news for 20 years and may be biased towards producing, since that’s how he began.