Career Strategies: Top 3 Tips for Millennials Looking To Break Into Journalism With Danielle Radin, NBC Digital Correspondent
“There will always be angry viewers and people that don’t like what you’re saying. Understand this comes with the job and don’t let it get you down!”
Today I’ve had the pleasure of talking with Danielle Radin, NBC’s first ever Digital Correspondent. You can watch her work on NBC 7 San Diego.
Can you tell us more about this new position you are in at NBC and why it is so important?
My position as a digital correspondent means I’m thinking about all platforms of journalism when I report every day. I report on technology, severe weather, politics, crime, human interest, you name it, I’ve probably covered it. But while a typical TV reporter is concerned with getting a story onto the television broadcast, I’m thinking about what it will look like on air, online, on mobile, and on social media.
At a scene, you will find me on NBC 7’s Instagram story, Snapchat story, tweeting it out, doing a Facebook Live, doing an Instagram live, all while recording interviews on my camera for broadcast content and web content. When I get back to the station, I’ll write my scripts for broadcast and web, (which are usually completely different) and edit the stories to cater to the platform. Then I upload these to social media once again. I’m a one-woman band and it is a very exciting job!
In the course of your career, what was the funniest or most interesting story you covered?
I’ve covered a lot of crazy stories in my career. I saw some truly bizarre news during my time reporting in northern California. One of the stories I covered was a woman that got in a 100 mph high speed chase with police in a Scooby Doo van. It was painted and looked exactly like the mystery machine! She crashed the thing and escaped into the woods where she wasn’t heard from for days until she turned herself into police hoping to get her van back. That went viral for obvious reasons.
I also covered a Big Foot convention where hundreds of people came out who actually believed they had seen a Yeti at some point in their lives.
Down here in San Diego I’ve gotten the chance to cover fun stories. I did one from the Del Mar Fair, called the “5 Weirdest Things Found in the Lost and Found” and there were some pretty unique items (spoiler alert: somebody brought to the fair, and then proceeded to lose, a microwave.).
What would be your top 3 tips for millennials who are looking to break into your line of work?
My top three tips for Millennials looking to break into journalism or new age digital media is first, teach yourself how to shoot and edit your own stories. If you don’t have any money to put towards a camera or editing gear, use your iPhone and learn the basics of iMovie on your laptop. No matter what market you’re in, it’s always good to be able to get up, go and put together a story yourself when breaking news hits. It also gives you more freedom to do the types of stories you want to. When I was a reporter in Eureka, California, I had my own segment on TV that I would shoot, edit, write, produce and present called “The Cyber Corner” where I broke down technology trends and cybercrime. It was awesome and was only possible because I could go out and do it myself.
You will also need to be a strong writer no matter what field of journalism you go into. It’s more important than ever to report the news without bias and factually. Acquaint yourself with your first amendment rights as a journalist too: you might realize you have more liberties than you thought!
Finally, in journalism you will get a lot of criticism, whether you’re the talent, producing a newscast or writing articles. There will always be angry viewers and people that don’t like what you’re saying. Understand this comes with the job and don’t let it get you down! Have some hobbies that you can throw yourself into if you get too stressed. I decompress by playing jazz piano, painting and podcasting with my friends.
I talk extensively about the importance of finding the right people to land a job in the modern world in my book, Become a Networking Ninja.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are today?
I’ve had many mentors that have helped me through my career. It’s important to find people who will give you honest feedback, even when it’s hard to hear sometimes. That’s the only way to grow in your field and as a person.
