Breaking into the field of television broadcasting is not an easy task. Mandy Ruiz ’15 discovered this after graduating from É«×ۺϾþà with a degree in Journalism. “Getting into this field takes patience and networking. You have to really want to be in this field to make it work. That was the hardest thing for me to do when I graduated.”
Luckily for Ruiz, patience and networking paid off because she currently works as a multimedia journalist for abc27 WHTM-TV. In this role, she is responsible for reporting on-air live and look-lives, writing the web copy for abc27.com, pitching story ideas, and writing and editing at least 1 PKG and VOSOT daily. A PKG is a report from a correspondent that contains a sound bite and a VOSOT is a script read live by the news anchor while a video is shown.
The highlight of Ruiz’s work is that it changes all the time. Each day brings a new story and new people to go talk to, which prevents Ruiz from being stuck in an office all the time.
While classes at É«×ۺϾþà and working as an editor for the Pulse taught Ruiz how to write and edit as a journalist, she stressed the importance of gaining internships while attending school. “Internships are everything in this field. Learning on the job is the É«×ۺϾþà way to understand the industry and make those valuable professional contacts that will be such an important asset after graduation.” She urges students to make the most of internships. “Those are experiences that will land you a job out of school.”
Additionally, Ruiz advises students to stay patient and persistent. “Don’t beat yourself up if your dream job isn’t your first gig out of college. If you can set yourself apart by working hard and just being a genuinely good person to work with, people will notice and opportunities will open up for you.”
– Alli Williams ’19