Holidays -- What gives?

Let me preface this blog by saying I love my family. I love spending time with them, and I love that every December without much fanfare, I will see the majority of my extended family on either side of my family. However, it is realistic to ever hope that I'll have those coveted Christmas holiday's off?

My News Director, Stacey Woelfel (also RTDNA chairman) wrote a blog about working on the holidays, and it got me thinking... Besides the religious connotations, what else is holding holiday work back?

I'm a religious person, and try by best to honor the Holy Day's of Obligation (I'm Catholic), however, I believe we've reached a point in time where the notion of holiday's are becoming obsolete. I believe it was in the "olden days" where we saw the weeks of Christmas and New Year's, as ones someone would get off for work, not so much anymore. News or otherwise.

While those Christmas shifts are not the best things to work if you have to, but has anyone noticed the HUGE snow storm moving across the US? Top story in many mid-west news markets. According to my friend Blair Miller, Dallas was using quadrouple boxes to help illustrate its snow coverage.

And while I'll be the last person to harp on millennials, especially since I am one, I cannot believe there are people my age that would change careers because they don't get holiday's off. Take that back, I believe it, I just wish it wasn't true.

Can't wait to work my first holiday next year, and I will do it with pride

Building a Show for Viewers

When producing... it's all about who's watching. As a producer, it's important to remember you're producing for the viewer, not for you. As many of you know, Diane Sawyer is leaving Good Morning America to become the anchor for World News Tonight. Two people have been identified to "take over" if you will, her spot. The first is already on the show: Chris Coumo. The other is the host of This Week, George Stephanopoulos.

The New York Times is reporting that ABC is offering the job to Stephanopoulos and they are in talks to secure a contract. This is the part of the article that concerns me...

"If Mr. Stephanopoulos finally does accept the job, 'GMA,' which has for years revolved chiefly around Ms. Sawyer and her role on the show, will likely be reshaped in some ways to suit Mr. Stephanopoulos’s talents, which are more centered on political coverage, one executive said.

'You produce a show around the strengths of the people you have.'"

I would like to disagree with part of this.... yes, you produce a show around the strengths people have, but you also don't produce a political show in the morning. And while it might not be a political show per se, it shouldn't be tailored specifically to him. First, there is another anchor whose personality should be considered, but more importantly, take into account your viewers... Moms!

Mom's watch the network morning shows... it's lighter and easier to keep on in the background. If you want to watch politics turn on a cable network. Even their morning shows are slightly easier on the ears. When I produce, you want to choose news, but you also want to cater to your viewers. A sports lead doesn't work as well at 5 o'clock after Oprah.

Blogging about Blogging!

The reason I started this blog was twofold. One, I need to do it for class (Thanks Jen!), therefore it was apart of my final grade. However, I've always wanted to voice my opinion about news coverage. I occasionally yell at the TV and computer, much like my dad does at sporting events. Everyone has a point of view, and I wanted another outlet besides my best friend Emily (another journalist) to vent out it. But the task of a blog seems so daunting! And then I remembered... there are no real "rules" to being a blogger. Blogging is what you make of it.

More often than not, I believe blogs have to be these long thoughtful articles. And then I actually read blogs, and I realize that it's not like that at all. I think of the blogs I read on a semi-consistant basis -- the entries are often a few paragraphs. This made me think of some advice my high school journalism teacher told us about writing... At a certain point the reader will stop reading unless they have a vested interest in the story, so you have to get your point accross in the first three paragraphs anyway. My first glimpse of writing concisely!

My new goal: blog once at least once a week. Hopefully, I can vent here more and save the time with my friend for more important topics: where the heck are we going to get jobs?!