Day Four
Behind the Scenes at MSNBCPhoto By: Mia Lee
To start off the morning, we headed off to the MSNBC “Morning Joe” Show. The whole office felt very modern and it definitely had some flare to it for a news company. I have to say, starting off the day watching a live tv segment made me feel special because it’s not everyday you have the opportunity to go to these events. At that moment it made me appreciative of the experience. I was able to witness the dynamic and the behind the scenes actions of the show while being surrounded by my classmates who make me smile.
“Morning Joe” Pin at lobbyPhoto By: Mia Lee
After the tour, we sat down with Daniela Pierre-Bravo who’s a 2012 Miami Alum and booking producer along with Lauren Schweitzer who’s a 2010 Miami Alum and supervising producer. They were able to give us some insight of the behind the scenes action with MSNBC. Lauren’s daily tasks requires her to start at a 1am-9am schedule everyday and she focuses on assigning stories that are contributed into the “Morning Joe” show. Daniela is in charge of finding the experts with the “strongest voices” for the segments and attending editorial meetings one hour before the show or right after the show depending on the schedule. It was inspiring how they took part in a book called “Know Your Values”. It showed their ambitious aspirations within their career path while dedicating time to help others along the way. I also liked how they tied in their real experiences from where they started to where they are now. That visit truly inspired me and it’s another book on my list that I want to read!
Next on the itinerary, we visited the National Public Radio with Elizabeth Jenson who is the public editor. She is responsible for making the corrections of the production and information. She is also the one who’s in charge of the email account filing complaints about certain information. This role was quite interesting to learn about because her perspective on her job and the people she encounters is something that everyone can take relate to as well as a good lesson to have when you encounter real world situations. The best thing to do is “to not internalize it” said Jenson. It’s the premise to know that you’ve done your best and you can go back and fix mistakes. When she was explaining her point of view, I really resonated with that. I’ve always been a perfectionist with everything I set my mind to. However, she gave me reassurance from a journalist’s perspective is that behind the writing, everyone is human and all you can do is be the best that you can be and know how to pivot.
Fox News visit with Bill HemmerPhoto By: Doug Newberry
Fox news was the next stop on our schedule. We previously saw the movie “Bombshell” and some of us had mixed feelings about the visit beforehand. For me, I didn’t know what it was going to be like. I’ve had mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement since I saw the movie with some of my classmates. Except I wasn’t going to judge a book by it’s cover. I wanted to see it for myself. We had the opportunity to meet Bill Hemmer who’s a Miami Alum from 1987 and the current news anchor for Fox. He had a break in between his segment and we had an opportunity to ask him some questions. I really respected that. He could’ve said no or told us some excuse because he didn’t want it to interfere with his segment, but he chose to take the time to talk to us and really fully engage. What I took away from the visit is to “always be curious and to ask questions whenever you can” said Hemmer. His character really shined through which says a lot about himself and I hope I can be as successful as he is being a news anchor.
Our next visit was the Wall Street Journal with Lisa Bannon and David Marino-Nachison. Bannon is the Lifestyle & Arts coverage chief and Nachison is the senior publishing editor for WSJ. From working at the Wall Street Journal, their main objective as a company is to appeal to the older generations while wanting to gain more readers that are young, female and ethnic. They use a subscription strategy to engage with more audiences and offer a discount for students. What made WSJ want to gain those numbers was the thought of “what happens in a teenager’s when you take that video game away?” said Bannon. It was an interesting perspective to take it to because there are a lot of factors that go into generational traits and I think that it’s a good way to collaborate and brainstorm new strategies to appeal to newer audiences.
Outside theatrePhoto By: Mia Lee
One of our last visits for the day, before heading off to “To Kill a Mocking Bird”, was News Guard. News Guard is a new company that started a couple years ago that identifies and flags content that isn’t accurate for the reader. Their main mission is to capture the transparency of the news piece out into the world. We had the opportunity to meet Joe Danielwicz broadcast editor, Steve Brill co-chief executive director, and Kendrick McDonald senior analyst & deputy editor of Rapid Response team. This visit wasn’t particularly what I had expected. There were a lot of things said that surprised me and I’m sure the rest of the class. It was the phrase “we welcome hostility […] we want people to gain our system” said McDonald.
Overall, this day was long but I took away so much information from each guest speaker. I can confidently say that I’ve learned something from each walk of life. It’s to not let anyone stop you from what you want to accomplish by putting yourself out there, trying new things, and being curious in every aspect of your life. Otherwise, you could miss out on the opportunity of what could’ve been.