The World of the Modern Journalist

The two videos below are just a couple of things that we, as journalists, may hear or see on a regular basis, whether it's a good snippet of sound from an interview, an intriguing quote, or something that's just plain out of the ordinary. What I really like about this CNN promo is that it's an advertisement for a news organization that already broadcasts its news 24/7 both on TV and on the Internet. It's interesting to me that a news organization with that broad of circulation would have its own YouTube channel for even more news. It almost begs the question of whether it's enough new or too much news, but upon browsing the channel some more, you're able to find things on the YouTube channel that are different from the news channel, such as more personal and one-on-one interviews.

The other reason why I chose this video is because the promo throws out adjectives at the viewer, captivating them into some of the aspects of what makes journalism so interesting and great. Words such as "childproof," "determined," "moving," and "revealing" speak to the viewer and kind of give them insight as to what the news is all about, because as journalists we should strive to make our stories as compelling as they possibly can be, and I think that those words accurately describe the world that we're working in.

The next video I feel speaks more to some of the obstacles journalists face on the job, especially when they're shooting live from the scene of wherever it is that the story is breaking. People are constantly trying to wave, get in our shots behind our backs, throw us off from doing our jobs, even "photobomb" us just so we can give them some sort of attention and put them on TV.

The following video is from the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore as he was reporting live from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina during Winter Storm Leon, the storm that ravaged through the Deep South and left many under blankets of snow and without power for several days.

Cantore handles this encounter flawlessly, not to mention that the entire thing is absolutely hilarious. Just a bit of humor to brighten your day.

Until next time, friends!