PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – My main task at WAVY 10 has been working with the news reporters on several different stories, and I have to say the experience has been incredible so far. I really like it. I believed that this internship would help steer my career in the direction that I have always wanted it to go. The main difficulty for me is that I must be at the site before dawn a lot of times because there is always breaking news or some strange incidents such as a shooting.

I’m often working in a high-pressure environment where information must be gathered quickly and we’re out the door to a live reporting location before anyone can overthink what’s happening. It’s a fast-paced, time-sensitive beat, and I’ve found myself on assignment in a wide range of places. Covering the police, it’s common to be dispatched to the scene of a shooting. It’s very low hanging fruit for a journalist. It’s high-drama, high adrenaline, and high outrage.

One of the great parts of my practice was in the control room at WAVY 10. I’m still trying to adapt being on camera and making it natural. I was nervous at first but then I knocked it out of the park. This was the first time I practiced in the control room since all of my other standups were outside. I had to learn how to be on camera , to speak in clear concise sentences, and to look right into the camera.

The interviews with people at the scene (sometimes very often emotional ones) often demand great tact on behalf of the interviewer, asking frank and candid questions while simultaneously being neither invasive nor insensitive. I’ve learned a lot about the value of building rapport swiftly with someone during an incredibly difficult time. I’ve also learned just how long it sometimes takes to — well — shut up.

WAVY Reporter Nick Broadway repeatedly emphasized the critical importance of the narrative arc. He taught me to form a story into the standard lead, body and conclusion.

Interview Skills:

He taught me how to conduct interviews, including how to ask open-ended questions to draw fully fledged responses, and how to establish rapport to help interviewees feel at ease with the process.

On-Camera Presence:

Nick gave me tips on how to present myself on camera: ‘shoulders back, natural gestures, enunciate words, be clear and confident’.

Field Reporting:

I learned what it takes to be a field reporter: how to prepare for a shoot, how to scout locations, how to deal with accidents, unexpected technical difficulties or extreme weather, etc.