Midterm Report

Austen Snodgrass

10-6-10

Practicum Midterm Report

For my career outlook, I chose to examine the career path of a news anchor for one of the many news channels on television today, be it NBC, CBS, ABC, or CNN. Because news has shifted to a more constant 24 hour nature recently, particularly on stations devoted entirely to news such as CNN or FOXNEWS, there are more opportunities for jobs as anchors or reporters now than there were in the old days, when only the major networks were on TV. Current NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has an annual salary of ten million dollars. CBS anchor Katie Couric's salary is reportedly as high as twenty million dollars. CNN's Anderson Cooper has a salary of five million dollars a year, as of 2009. Obviously it would be incorrect to assume that I could immediately start to work for one of these stations out of college or receive anywhere near that amount of compensation. Each of those three anchors had to start their careers in a much smaller market, with a significantly lower salary, and work their ways up the corporate ladder. In this case, entry level positions are generally found at local news stations. Brian Williams began his career in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas, before moving to WTTG-TV in Washington as a general assignment reporter. Anderson Cooper got his start at Channel One news, before becoming a correspondent for ABC news. Perhaps these are not the most exciting situations to begin working in, but they are essential steps in the process of moving up in the business. In almost all cases, you have to start small, make a name for yourself, and work your way up. The salary for these entry level positions range anywhere from $33,000 in the smaller markets, to $100,000 in the larger markets, such as Seattle or New York. However, those numbers also take into account the amount of experience the anchors have, which in my case would be limited. In a lot of cases, newly hired people, especially those right out of college, would do fairly remedial tasks at first, such as running the teleprompter or sitting in the news van watching the reporters. It is crucial to perform these tasks adeptly in order to gain more responsibilities. It seems that a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism is basically expected for anyone who wants a job in this field. It is seemingly a prerequisite. Since the economic outlook of the country has been down for some time, there has been an increased focus on reporters and anchors editing their own packages and reports, so that the station does not have to hire additional people to perform that job. Knowledge of Final Cut Pro and other editing softwares are also needed. Currently at Florida Southern, the most important things I can be doing are to increase my knowledge of editing and filming, as well as continuing to get better and broadcast writing. The courses I am taking are doing an excellent job of preparing me for a future in the industry. As video editor of this year's college yearbook, I am expected to do a lot of filming and editing In addition, as soon as the studio is completed, I will be working on a news show with Justin Bivens, to continue to gain more experience at anchoring. Hopefully these responsibilities and eventually the final products will help me get a job at a local station in the future.