My Experience as a News Producer

On September 21th, 2015, I produced my first LUTV News show for the first time in super semester. Second of all, I was extremely nervous about producing because of all the responsibility that comes with the job and the fact that I hate to make mistakes. Moreover, my intent was to follow all the directions in the producer’s worksheet and to complete all of my duties in a timely manner. The most challenging part of all was to arrange the stories in the rundown. I had to decide which story was the most impactful to be the lead story. In addition, writing the headlines and teases was very challenging as well. At this point I understood why producers are required to have strong journalism skills. Nevertheless, Ms. Kathy gave me advice on how to write the teases and headlines, and I improved each time I wrote them. From this experienced, I learned that it’s important to always double check the rundown because it’s very easy to make any errors. In the first rundown I completed, I made a mistake of forgetting to add the video ID for the commercial break before the B-Block.

The next class period, my professor Mr. Voss gave me advice on communicating with the news director more and the fact that the news producer call the shots. In my case, I made another mistake of not saying anything while the newscast went forth. Mr. Voss pointed out that the camera shots contained a lot of dead space which made them look very unprofessional. My goal for the next time I produce was to take ownership of the control room and communicate with my peers. The next time I produced, I learned from all of my mistakes, and I was able to finish the rundown in a timely fashion. I talked with the director and the camera operators about having tighter shots. Moreover, I made sure that there wasn’t any mistakes in the rundown. In the meantime, my performance as news producer impressed my professors and the other students. News producing isn’t an easy job but this is a position that I’m considering doing later on in my career after news reporting and anchoring. Above all, I learned that in order to be a successful producer, you must be a coach, make the right decisions, take ownership of the newscast, and have a strong background in journalism.