Working Through COVID19: KXAN Edition
Lights, camera, action! That is a phrase that hasn’t been heard inside most newsrooms in a while due to the outbreak of the global pandemic known as COVID-19.
Like the rest of the world, KXAN Austin employees are adjusting to their transition back to normalcy since the pandemic started. It has been more than a year since the majority of the staff has even stepped foot inside of the newsroom. I’m sure that most people would agree with assignment editor and internship coordinator Christopher Adams, when he said that “it feels great to be back.”
According to Adams, this Summer has been the first semester since the pandemic that interns were able to complete their internship with KXAN in-person. There are rules and regulations that each individual, whether they are an intern or an employee, must follow in order to physically work in the station. For interns, they must be fully vaccinated or else they have to complete the internship virtually. Employees are required to wear their masks in the station if they are not fully vaccinated, otherwise it is optional.
KXAN employees had to adapt to working from home. The pitch meetings became virtual, they utilized apps such as Slack in order to share information and communicate quickly, interviews were conducted through zoom and it forced everyone to get creative.
“I believe that working from home forced everyone to become better communicators because we still had to make sure the same amount of work was getting done and that everyone was on the same page. It was important to communicate to ensure that everyone is on the same page,” said assistant news director, Haley Chihock.
Virtual interns also had a very different learning experience with their internships. The great thing about the media is that it is constantly advancing, which allows for a lot of operations to be conducted through technology anyway; so interns were still able to learn a lot of valuable skills and tools. However, there are just some experiences that can’t be fulfilled in a virtual environment.
“I could never imagine doing a remote internship, I’m sure the opportunity is great but that isn’t something that I would necessarily want to do,” said KXAN news intern Camille Rhyne.
Who knows what the world has in store but for now it is great to see things back rolling inside of KXAN Austin. Safety precautions and rules will still be followed as directed by the CDC but the main focus is to get the world back full open again.
“I could never imagine doing a remote internship, I’m sure the opportunity is great but that isn’t something that I would necessarily want to do,” said KXAN news intern Camille Rhyne.
