It’s really been quite hard for me to maintain a train of thought these last few months of pregnancy. That’s obvious by my lack of blogging, and the fact that I’ve mentioned this before! To handle family, home, work and the rest of life I didn’t force myself to write other than necessary tasks. I did, however, need to write out the below Social Media Outline for any Journalist. This need was for myself as I needed to formalize a basic goal plan of what I want to achieve in my own ca... Continue reading ...
 When I say news collaboration out loud in the newsroom I get looks of confusion, uncertainty, and doubt as the response. When I say news collaboration through social media the looks tell me I’m crazy. Recently I’ve been trying a new tactic. I’ve found it easier to explain why I chose to work with social media as a journalist by discussing it in marketing terms. I’m not sure why this is. I’ve said it before; rarely do we in the newsroom get in on the marketing plans for the ... Continue reading ...
Your hard work on that press release just went bye-bye with the click of the delete button. You know what’s the saddest about this? I don’t even know what I deleted. There was no information, other than your name and contact info in the body of the email. You expected me to open an attachment to find out what you’re pitching. I don’t have time to open the attachment. Delete. I’m not making this up. Earlier this morning during a rush on the news desk I deleted four of these ema... Continue reading ...
A few minutes before the 10pm newscast started on a night in January I
answered the phone and found myself talking to a woman threatening
suicide. The call didn’t start out that way. The caller wanted
to leave a tip about a story we had tried to work in November. I could
tell she was very upset and her story sounded…well, honestly, crazy. I
have taken many conspiracy theory calls, calls from people claiming to
have been implanted with a microchip by the government, and yes, even
calls fr... Continue reading ...
It seems though I may have programmed the producers too well. I’ve written how I proudly wear the Dream Killer Tiara as I often have to tell producers they can’t have desired live shots because logistically they’re just not possible. Everyone knows though that I, and the others on the news desk, work hard to make all the requests come true.
So I was quite surprised yesterday when a producer cancelled a live shot without even talking to me about a way to make it happen. "You’ve go... Continue reading ...
“Misty, I blame you!” exclaimed the producer half in jest half in frustration. “All these weird truck problems are all you!”
“Yep, that’s me. I caused the tire to go flat,” I responded with a laugh.
Sometimes when it seems all is going wrong, all you can do is make a joke out of it as you work to make sure the viewer would never know what obstacles with which you’re dealing. Tonight it was a flat tire on a live truck. The truck was already in position for the 5pm newsc... Continue reading ...
I understand how difficult it is to be a PIO or PR rep during breaking news or a developing situation. (For rest of post I will use PIO-Public Information Officer-to refer to all media reps.) I relate to your job as I compare it to that of my own as an assignment editor. I only know what is happening by what I’m told by news crews on scene, witnesses or PIOs; or by what I hear on the scanners.
Producers, writers, editors, managers, reporters, photographers constantly ask me for more det... Continue reading ...
I say it all the time, we've done our job right when in the same day, on the same stories, when we're accused of being too conservative/right AND liberal/left by viewers. When this happens this means we've aired the story with all sides/angles represented. Yeah for unbiased, fair journalism! Unfortunately, in the issue of referencing the president in our stories we will always be conservative/right for the next 4 - 8 years, as we were always liberal/left during the last 8 years. The difference... Continue reading ...
| Journalism in a Social Media World
*I have combined my two media blogs to make On the News Desk the permanent home for both. All future posts will be here. You can click above link to access & search previous blogs.
Misty Montano
I am an assignment editor at CBS4 News in Denver and a journalist using social media. Daily and breaking news coverage changes moment by moment, often leaving me surprised at how we actually get a newscast on the air! Social media has and is changing the world of journalism.
When young kids come for a tour at the station I tell them, to think of me as they would think of their teachers. Internally I'm thinking, "you have no idea how similar a newsroom is to the classroom!" This is my blog on the craziness and adventures of the newsroom and my thoughts on media using social media.
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