journalism

Just Because You’re a Murderer Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Have a Dog



Last Day!

At WRAL, I followed around the incredibly busy Amanda Lamb for a day. The first thing we did was drive to the hue courthouse in downtown Raleigh, because as a crime reporter, it’s Amanda’s responsibility to go through overnight search and arrest warrants to see if there’s a story or an update on a case that she could add into the news broadcast. The only thing she could find was a repeat pedophile from Scotland–she told me the only way they could make it a story was if he had a job where he worked around children.

The picture is the view from the third floor of the courthouse, where the heavy crime courtrooms are located. There were no trials going on at the time, so I didn’t get to see that action.

After that, it was pretty similar to my day at ABC-11, until Amanda got the go-ahead to report on a story she had pitched about dogs in Franklin Correctional Center, so we had to drive about half an hour to that prison. The story was centered around a program in the prison that matched new service dogs with inmates so they can train them in four-month cycles to be service dogs for disabled people around the area. That day was their graduation-of-sorts, and Amanda was excited because it was a unique opportunity for a feel-good story .

Unfortunately, after that my day ended a little early because I began to feel really sick on the drive back–but it was still a very informative day and I’m glad I could end the WEP on that note!

Okay…UNC isn’t so Bad…

I’ve always been :/ about UNC, especially as a potential college choice. But after shadowing the staff of The Daily Tarheel, I realized it’s a pretty chill university with many different opportunities, even if there are still undesirable aspects of the school in general.

I didn’t do any work, as most of my experiences were shadowing sort of deals, but I still learned a ton about the way a daily school publication worked (even though during the summer they just do a weekly publication), and the amount of work required for the students in combination with their regular academics was astounding to me.

The space is split up into different “desks” organized by subject, and the one that appealed to me the most was Statnat (state national). They said there was a potential job for me there next summer!

Apparently I’m “Too Smart” to Work at ABC-11

Day 4

Downtown Durham is getting a makeover so hipsters can live there in comfort.

That makeover, however, has not yet reached the ABC-11 studio. It’s a stained brick building with a modest entrance and subpar surroundings, as police cars continuously slink around nearby parking lots and neighborhoods. The lobby is confusing and closed off, and I felt like I was in the wrong place until Diane came and took me down to the basement, where the real action happens.

She let me shadow many different jobs, most of which were sort of boring but some were fun and something I might enjoy, like the assignment desk that researches, edits the show, responds to and filters out emails with tips and stories and listens to about six or seven police scanners incessantly reporting, making sure they don’t miss an emergency.

The other exciting thing to do was to sit on the live 12-1 show in the control room, where two people called out to reporters, signaled commercial breaks and constantly “killed” segments  to fit with the allotted time they were given.

But maybe the most illuminating part was just talking to Diane about her job as a “troubleshooter”, and my specific career aspirations and academic interests. She told me that I was much “too smart” for local broadcasting or broadcast news in general, especially compared to their ill-prepared college interns, and suggested that when I go to WRAL, I look at their documentary department.

So I Might get Published


I’m here at the INDY Newsweek HQ and it’s been an incredibly informative day so far.

The day started with a sort of inadvertent crash course on the basics of a newspaper or any sort of news organization, and evolved into a discussion about the basics of journalism as a field. Jeff Billman asked and answered questions with detailed stories and examples, especially about the nature of procuring and editing a story.

The conversation spiraled away and somehow he ended up reading an article of mine I had written a few months earlier about the infamous Shower Club at CA, and he even asked me to write about 3000 words on it by mid June for potential publication, so I’m really excited to work on that!

Now I’m just shadowing an editor’s meeting in which they discuss funding, covers, art and logistics for the publication of the next issue of INDY.

-Rosie