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A Reporter Reel That Stands Out… In a Good Way!

Let’s face it. Getting a job as a reporter in TV news is tough. Even in a media world where TV news is not as dominant as it once was, there are still dozens of resumes that come in for every opening. The competition is fierce.

Good. It should be tough to get a reporter job. It requires a lot of skills: great writing, an ability to ask insightful questions, building sources, being able to quickly adapt to multiple situations, and perhaps most importantly, an ability to find out why something is important and why people should care.

The vast majority of resume reels I see these days contain nothing of the sort. So, you’re good at breaking news, huh? Then why do I have your live VOSOT from the 5pm news that has you standing (likely far away) at a crime scene, talking over generic video, throwing to a 15 second bite full of “cop speak”, and a live tag promising “I’ll have more details tonight at 6?”

There is NOTHING special about that. ANYBODY can report on that type of breaking news. What I want to see is a story that illustrates what happened, and WHY it happened. What are you using at your disposal to show that to your viewers? It could be your live location, it could be the video you are using, or it could be the person you interviewed.

Sure, go ahead and create a 1:00 montage at the beginning of your best live reporting. Just make sure it’s not full of clips of you standing outside a darkened courthouse, or other empty building. Likewise if you are moving around—don’t show me the 3 steps to nowhere. Make your live shots have a purpose.

The stories you include in your reel are just as important. Believe me, I can tell which stories are handouts from the desk, or from a press release.

Rule of thumb: if someone is standing at a podium in front of a bunch of microphones, I don’t want to see it on your reel.

I want to see the following:

-How you can enterprise stories based on your ideas, or contacts that you have developed.

-Can you take a mundane topic, and turn it into something interesting and relevant to my life?

-Can you go beyond “just the facts” and get to the heart of WHY something is important?

Creativity and inventiveness counts. But, ultimately, I just want to know if you can meet those objectives and tell the story clearly.

There are plenty of places where people can get their news. What you need to show me, is that you can deliver something that people can’t get anywhere else. Do that, and you WILL get a call.

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Matt Kummer is the News Director at WBAY-TV, the ABC affiliate in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

He has more than 16 years of experience in television news, with experience as an EP, producer, reporter and photographer in several markets.

You can contact him at [email protected], or on Twitter @mattkummer .

Decoding applications: How to apply for jobs.

A couple of journalists emailed questions about job hunting recently. Now that sweeps is over, the flood gates will open.

One area that many asked about is the actual application process. Do you go through Human Resources? Do you really need a cover letter? Do you send an application by email, snail mail or both? Are there any tricks to knowing how to fill out applications for jobs?

So let’s delve into these questions. First, should you send an application to Human Resources. Many companies require an application be filed in the corporate HR system before a news director is allowed to contact you. So if you don’t apply through HR your application may never actually count. So, fill out the paperwork online then email the ND a cover letter and resume stating that you have applied and are very interested in the specific job.

So the answer to whether you email or snail mail your application is a little of both. Electronic is the way the corporate world works nowadays. But it doesn’t hurt to follow up with a letter to an ND making sure the person is aware your application exists.

Do you need a cover letter? Consider it an opportunity to really explain who you are as an employee. Where else do you get to describe your work ethic, journalistic goals and strengths clearly? A well written cover letter still impresses. Just make it more than, “Hi, I am so and so and I am applying for _____ job and can be reached at _____ number.”

When filling out applications, really watch for typos. Keep in mind that many companies use programs to scan for keywords and weed out people without the required experience for a job. Another good reason to go ahead and send a cover letter and resume. You just never know.

Finally, as obvious as this may sound, make sure you spell the news director’s name correctly. If you don’t, nothing else you say or do matters. I’ve heard many ND’s talk about how often this happens. A cover letter is sent with their name spelled wrong, a completely different name or the wrong call letters. If you are sloppy, you will pay for it.

Hope this answers a lot of your questions. Good luck in your search!

Banner coverage: How to come up with all those chyrons.

Today, TV journalists are asked to be marketing specialists more than ever before. Producers often tweet about the production elements they design, the graphics packages they approve and the pre-produced opens and teases they come up with. This is where producing gets really creative. It truly is a place where you can make your mark.

It also is the place where weaknesses are painfully exposed. Misspelled supers, OTS’s with weird slugs, and tickers full of factual errors KILL you. There are methods to keep from making these embarrassing mistakes. Let’s start with supers where you must “name” each story.

The name game:

Think story slug
Use alliteration sparingly
Avoid cliches

When you have two line supers that need a slug on top and location on the bottom, keep it simple. You need to clearly summarize the story in two words. Think story slug.

You must define what the story is. This helps make sure you use alliteration sparingly and hopefully avoid cliches. If you get too cutesy you stand a high chance of trivializing the story. So avoid being cute, unless it is a really fluffy story.

Now the art of naming an OTS. Keep it simple. Again, a story slug kind of name is good. If you try to include too much detail, you can cause problems. If this is for a copy story, remember the OTS name will sit up next to your anchor’s head the entire story. You do not want it to refer to one specific line of copy in the story. For example: an OTS that says arrest, when the arrest is not mentioned until the last line of the story. That is very confusing for the viewer.

Finally, errors are the number 1 credibility killer for “banners” and tickers. These must be proofread. You must spell check in some way. You must pay extremely careful attention to grammar. You simply cannot consider this a nuisance job and slam it out. The ticker often gets the viewers attention more than half the a-block you agonized over. The simple reason: viewers get more than one chance to look at it, and therefore more than one chance to notice any errors. There is no room for error. Have someone look at it forward and backward, to check for spelling errors. Once it’s written, read it out loud to yourself. Have someone else proof read it, by reading it out loud also. Your ear will often catch mistakes your eyes don’t.

A final thought: When doing fancy, pre-produced, elements have someone look them over before they air. I used to put together sophisticated cold opens and tease 1’s. I made an editor (different than the one who cut them) watch them, then asked the entire production crew to review them as well. This was done daily. There can be no mistakes in banner coverage. It’s simply too important.

The Devil in the Details: Why getting it right matters.

I hear the excuses from journos all the time:

“No one needs a lecture. We get how to put good TV on the air.”

“It is the system’s fault.”

“Social media is corrupting how news is done.”

“The J-School did not emphasize enough.”

There are all kinds of reasons given for why the facts are wrong.

It would be easy to list all kinds of ways to double check graphics. How to fact check scripts. How to conduct interviews to lessen the chances of missing key facts. A great list for articles to come. But right now, it is time to take a breath from the frenetic pace of TV news and stop and think. What really is the point of putting news on the air every day/night? Is it to feed a corporate machine? Is it to make yourself money? Is it to help the community?

To see the devil in the details, we have to begin with the question of why we even do TV news. The reason: If you do not feel that you are called to help others by sharing key information that can alter lives, you simply won’t understand why getting it right matters. TV news is so full of competition, so full of the need to be first, so cutthroat, that we can forget the point. We serve the community. If we don’t explain what is happening, where are people getting their information? Snarky comments, like “well the newspaper and the internet” show you are not a serious journalist. This is a calling.

Getting the facts right matters because that is the reason you have a job. You are paid to get the facts right. Whether you are a high priced anchor, an assignment editor, a writer or even a video editor. You are paid to get it right. You are responsible for a certain set of facts. You are the keeper of details.

The devil of it all is, the more we get the details wrong, the more we destroy our calling. Credibility is not a given. It is earned each day. It is tested with each story that airs. And when you lose credibility you never get it completely back. It is the most precious thing a journalist has. It defines your worth, even more than your paycheck.

The TV news industry has cheapened itself. Not necessarily by hiring younger journalists. There are plenty of newbies who are saving veteran journalists skins each day. The TV news industry cheapened itself by throwing it’s money into glitz instead of it’s core. You can dress a lady up, make her look good with the right makeup and clothes, but if she’s a nasty person, the ugly will show through. Our ugly, nasty secret is coming out more and more. We are so concerned about volume, that we put quantity over quality. Then a “Snow Storm” becomes a “Snot Storm” on a fullscreen graphic. A “Singer” is declared dead instead of an “Astronaut.” We condemn a man for a shooting rampage, when he was actually far away from the scene. We misspell the president’s name on chyron.

So it’s time to pay attention to the devil in the details. Double check. You owe it to the viewer who counts on you. And fellow journalists, you need to have each other’s backs. (see “Meet my conscience”). Every mistake prevented, extends everyone’s contracts. TV news needs you to get it right, so everyone can continue to have a vocation.