NYC Media: Wrap-Up

Well, today is the last day of our New York City media adventure.

To begin, we made our way to Meredith Corporation to meet with Miami alum, Amanda Wolfe. She currently works as the Senior Digital Director for Shape.com and Fitnessmagazine.com. Her job sounded awesome granted that she gets to learn about health and fitness topics on a regular basis. Amanda talked to us about how she got her start in journalism. At Miami, she majored in Journalism and Mass Communications (same with me!). She obtained the ASME summer internship program before her senior year working at Parents Magazine. After graduating with a secure job waiting for her in NYC, Amanda packed up and moved out East. She has climbed her way through the Meredith Corporation brands and loves her job at Shape/Fitnessmagazine.com. At Shape, they produce about 8-15 original pieces a day and about 3-5 original pieces on Fitnessmagazine.com. I loved hearing about her time at all the Meredith Brands and hope to one day obtain a similar position.

Next, we were brought down to the test kitchen that is used for Family Circle and Everyday with Rachel Ray. Melissa Knific is the associate food editor for Family Circle and we were fortunate enough to meet with her down in the kitchen where she spends most of her time. She is also a Miami graduate who has made a name for herself in the journalism field. Melissa talked to us about the process that she goes through when creating a new recipe. There is actually three different times that they test the recipe and on the third is when they do the photo shoot. She decided on her career by combining her two loves: cooking and writing!

NYC Media takes the Family Circle test kitchen! Photo credit to Doug Newberry.

After we left Meredith, we hopped on the subway to make it to our last stop of the the trip, National Public Radio! We met with the Ombudsman, Elizabeth Jensen. She was my second assignment so I led the way in questions. I learned that she actually started out writing for a publication on media and from there her career took off. Her speciality is writing about media ethics, hence the Ombudsman/Public Editor title. Essentially, she deals with people who are offended by content or are unhappy with the way that NPR goes about their journalistic practices. On a daily basis, she receives emails from listeners who are complaining about a certain issue. Recently, she has found that Democrats have been unhappy with the way that the Republican party has been covered more than the Democratic party. When she receives a complaint, she will send it off to the involved staff member and allow them to figure out how they would approach it. After this, she will make the final call. Her job seems very difficult and I truly admire her dedication to NPR’s listeners. During the Q&A, we also discussed how NPR is trying to attract a younger audience. Obviously we know that digital is a huge factor for millennials. They have even created an NPR iPhone app that can recognize the user’s interests and bring them content based on that. I found this meeting very interesting and loved getting an inside look at such a widely known organization. Elizabeth was a fantastic last guest to have and I felt she wrapped up our trip on a high note.

After this, we were set off on our own. Some girls and I got sushi at Blue Fin before heading off to LaGuardia Airport. I was sad to go, but felt extremely fortunate to have been apart of such an inspiring and career motivating program. As the only senior in the group, the week was definitely a driving factor in my decision finding a career in online journalism. I want to thank Patti Newberry for setting up all of our meetings and for being our guide through the NYC journalism/media field.

Who knows, maybe I’ll end up in The Big Apple!

Day 5: NYC Media

Today was a long day. We started the day’s journey later than normal (and by later I really only mean an hour later, but we’ll take it) because low and behold, Al-Jazaeera America was shut down. For obvious reasons, our guest at Al Jazeera didn’t think it would be the best idea to talk to a group of journalism students at the time. Instead, we started at 10:30 AM with our second guest on the list. We were off to Reuters to talk with Andrew Seaman, who is a Senior Medical Reporter.

Andrew described to us his surprising career path that led him to working at Reuters. I found it interesting to learn about medical writing and how it can actually be a very profitable industry. Reuters, which I hadn’t initially known, is the largest media organization in the world. It is much more notable in Europe in comparison to the United States, explaining why I hadn’t had much background knowledge on it. Andrew’s editor came into the conference room and gave us a little of her history as well. She explained how there are two different sectors of medical writing at Reuters, this would include writing for the publication and writing for medical professionals; the medical professional writing is actually much more profitable.

Following the visit at Reuters, we met with Miami alum Elaina Wahl at Buzzfeed. She is a Junior Animal Writer for the media organization and actually spent her time at Miami studying Zoology. Her interest lies in animal conservation and

The Buzzfeed offices were buzzing with fresh, young energy!

she is still trying to figure out how to create Buzzfeed content that would go viral, and also send across a message of conservation that could be taken seriously. The Buzzfeed offices were young and lively, filled with writers wearing laid back clothing and riding hover boards. We met with other Miami alumni, Sarah Karlan, Deputy LGBT editor, and Shannon Rosenberg, Assistant Health Editor. Sarah discussed how she was more of a social writer in regard to LGBT content and that Buzzfeed takes pride in their LGBT coverage. I learned that the company is generally very young, most of the writers being under the age of 30. This keeps content fresh and relatable to its readers. The vibe of the office was very welcoming and all of the staff members that we met with seemed happy with their jobs at the company.

 

From there, we hopped on the subway and made our way to Brooklyn for our next two speakers. We made a long walk to Gimlet Media to meet with Alex Blumberg, Co-founder and CEO of the company. The company had only been in the Brooklyn office for a week before our visit. His most notable contribution to journalism is the podcast “Start-Up,” which depicts the story of starting up Gimlet Media. Alex’s company has boomed since then and he doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon. He was equally as curious about what we thought about podcasts as we were about learning the in’s and out’s of his company. During our talk, he described what it was like to have people know so much about his life and how it affects him. He thinks it’s weird when listeners will be come up to him and say “I love your wife!” because they’ve listened to him talk about her on the podcast. The visit at Gimlet was insightful and I learned a lot about the podcast industry.

Most of us had hit a wall of exhaustion after Gimlet, but we powered through to our next visit at Vice. Here, we met with yet another Miami grad, Taylor Do

Vice media, located in Brooklyn, started as a punk-rock magazine in the 1990’s.

lven, who had worked her way through New York City to land a fantastic job in the journalism industry. At Vice, she works on the HBO show that is self-titled “Vice.” Her daily tasks primarily included researching for the show and figuring out how to best tell the story that they are going to film. Taylor got her start in journalism in Argentina, which allowed her to set herself apart from the crowd when applying for jobs. She said that her ability to speak Spanish has helped her immensely in her career. After a little chat with Taylor, he boss came in. His name is BJ Levin and he works at the Executive Producer of the show. It was awesome hearing about the hard work he puts into the show. He mentioned that the night before he didn’t leave the office until 3:00 AM. After leaving the conference room, we got a tour of the offices, which were actually fairly large with desks on the top and bottom level. Although it was close to 5:00 PM, people remained hard at work.

We left Vice and headed to an Italian restaurant back in Mid-town for some well-deserved pasta. It was the best meal of the week, hands down. The dinner was speedy because we needed to jet off to see The Book of Mormon. The musical was a humorous critique on religion and race. Although it was

The two act play was set in a small village in Uganda and critiqued the Mormon religion. 

definitely not politically correct, it was no down entertaining. Overall, it was hilarious and the perfect ending to a hectic day. I would honestly love to see it again!

 

Tomorrow is our last day. At this point in the week we are all lacking energy, but of course, will persevere. Looking forward to my second assignment at NPR with Elizabeth Jensen.

NYC Media: Day 4

Today, we ended early at around 2:00 pm. It was a nice break from the hectic schedule we have had thus far.

We started at Departures talking with Travel Editor, Jessica Flint. She explained the exclusive magazine and its journalistic practices. It seemed as though she lives the luxurious lifestyle that is presented in the publication…must be nice! It was really cool to hear about a Miami alum who worked her way up to working at such a prestigious publication. The exclusive magazine is only available to black and platinum American Express card members which essentially means that the readers are wealthy and able to jet off to all of the incredible locations that are featured in the magazine. I loved being able to pick her brain about the cool destinations she’s been able to visit. It was also interesting to hear her talk about her previous experiences at Vanity Fair and Marie Claire.  She left Marie Claire because working with strictly female content just wasn’t for her. The way she described the women’s magazine industry was not what I was expecting. Her interests didn’t align with the content there and she decided to not return to the women’s magazine industry. I learned that the content in the publication is for the most part made up of locations that they hear from word of mouth and decide to check out. Jessica’s job basically consists of her traveling to a location for about 2-3 weeks and living out the extravagant travel lifestyle including hotels, food, and experiences. Following the trip her along with others on the creative team will put together a story. I was in awe of her experiences and would love to obtain a similar position.

After we left our visit with Jessica we were off to Fox News. At Fox we were able to watch a live broadcast with Bill Hemmer. It was fascinating to watch him discuss relevant international issues. The newsroom environment

Watching Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum live on Fox’s America’s Newsroom.

is actually a lot more calm than I had expected. After the broadcast we were able to speak with Bill and ask him questions about his career and current news topics. He had a lot of opinions which makes sense granted his life basically revolves around news being thrown at him from all different directions. As a Miami grad, Bill constantly was bringing up topics centered around our school which made him seem personable and approachable. I really liked his style of communication and admired the way that he seemed like he genuinely cared about us as students understanding what was going on in the newsroom. After Bill Hemmer, we got to sit down in a conference room and chat with Gerri Willis who is an on-screen reporter for Fox News, in particular she reports on business and finances. She was really enjoyable to talk to granted her candidness and willing to tell it like it is. Her on-camera look was in full force with a slimming red dress, perfectly blown-out hair, and full make up. Overall, Fox News was a great experience and gave me a better look into what a news room is like.

Our Q&a session with Bill Hemmer was located n the Shepard Smith Reporting studio.

We moved on to Hearst Media to meet with my assigned journalist, Bridget Clegg, the Photo Editor at BestProducts.com. She was a young Miami grad who was enthusiastic about her work and had a lot of great expertise to share with us. Best Products was in its super early stages but the editors still had a lot to say about their work and how they convey to their viewers which products truly are “the best.” Bridget seemed so cool and down to earth for working for such a well-know media organization as Hearst. She discussed with us how she navigated her way through the journalism industry. After graduating from Miami, she worked at The Katie Brown Workshop, XO Group Inc.,  Open Sky. The digital side of journalism is something that I am highly interested in, so I would be thrilled to end up in a position like hers. We also got to speak with BestProducts.com’s Parents Editor, Margaret Hargrove. She discussed a lot about the digital versus print side of media and how it was evolving. Margaret and Bridget provided us with a lot of resources in regard to internships and finding jobs in journalism which was a great way to end the meeting.

Bridget was our last appointment of the day. It was nice to end early and have a little free time of our own. Lily, Catherine, and I went to B Bar for a delicious lunch. We were ecstatic for a good meal. We spent another hour shopping in Soho before returning to the hotel to relax. The three of had dinners with family members that night before bed time which was a great way to break up the week.

Can’t wait to see The Book of Mormon tomorrow!!

NYC Media: Day 3

Tuesday was jam packed, but, we made it through alive!

We started at Bloomberg News talking with Andrew Martin along with two other editors; Laura Keller and Keri Geiger. I don’t have much background in business, but I learned a ton about the investigative tactics used in business journalism.  It is surprisingly a very intense and challenging process to get sources to share information with Bloomberg reporters that they really shouldn’t be sharing. I don’t think I could ever work on the business side of the news room, it is highly unappealing to me and gives me a bit of head ache. Numbers do that to me in general. Andrew turned the cards on us and asked us for a story idea in regard to organic foods and labeling process. He did this to give us an idea on how he tries to brainstorm story ideas. Although I didn’t find passion in the subject matter at hand, it was really inspiring to hear the passion of the journalists as they discussed their work. The Bloomberg building was incredible, it had several levels and a wide open floor plan-so much to see!

Next, we were off to WABC to talk with Saundra Thomas, VP of Community Affairs. She led us into the cafeteria and we immediately started a chat with the Vice President and News Director, Camille Edwards who manages the newsroom at WABC. Camille was a great speaker as well and was very thorough in touching every subject matter that could possibly benefit us. She has had a hodge podge of journalism jobs prior to her position at WABC. Initially she wanted to be a TV news reporter, but after a year in the field she quickly realized it was not for her. During our time there we also got an impromptu visit from N.J. Burkett who has been an on-camera news corespondent for over 20 years. He was inspiring, had a great sense of self, and was very confident in his reporting abilities. He

Weather report prep-only minutes from going LIVE!

told us the story of how WABC initially wanted him to change his name from Newton Jones Burkett to something more ‘fitting’ for television, hence the name N.J. Burkett.  After our Q&A session, we were able to take a little tour through the studios and even got to sit in on a live broadcast. Following the broadcast, Saundra took us over to meet Jane Frye who graduated from Miami seven years ago. Jane is in charge of social media engagements for The View, I really liked picking her brain on what it’s like to come to New York and start from the bottom and work your way up in the journalism industry. She ended the Q&A session by telling us that after a few more years in the media industry, she plans on going into the restaurant business with her husband.

 

Inside the ABC Eyewitness news room during the early-afternoon news report.

Some girls and I walked to The Plaza for a quick lunch in the luxury cafeteria before our next appointment just a few blocks away. We met wit Bill Keller at The Marshall Project. I saw him speak at Miami in the fall of my freshmen year, so I already had an idea of the kind of speaker he was going to be. I was surprised by how quiet and semi-empty the newsroom looked. I guess it’s a pretty fresh media organization, but I was still surprised with the lack of hustle and bustle. It seemed as though Bill really enjoys the slower paced work environment after spendings years and YEARS at The New York Times. Bill talked to us about criminal justice in the United States. He told us that we really need to change the way that we view criminals and how they should be treated. Going off on the topic of criminal institutions, Bill discussed mental illness and how those with these illnesses shouldn’t be put behind bars. Overall, I truly enjoyed my time picking his brain and appreciated his willingness to answer questions on controversial subjects.

From there we were off to our second show at Comedy Central; our group sat in the audience for a taping of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Being that I was obsessed with Trevor Noah after seeing his show last night, Larry Willmore fell a little short in my opinion. The content of Larry’s show definitely didn’t hold my attention as well as the content of The Daily Show. Maybe I was just tired or maybe I am just a little too fond of Trevor, who knows.

Admiring the aesthetics of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmor set.

Lily, Catherine, and I were exhausted after the show so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is my first guest Q&A at Hearst Media with Bridget Clegg. Can’t wait to hear what she has to say about BestProducts.com.

NYC Media: Day Two

Monday morning our alarms went off at 7:40 AM. The three of us groaned in our beds, but pulled ourselves together to get ready for the day. As we discussed our outfits for the day and got our handbags ready with the day’s necessary items, our excitement grew. After a quick trip to Starbucks to grab some hot drinks and spinach feta wraps (my favorite!) and meeting with Patti for a brief summary of our plan for the day, we were off to The New York Times to meet with our first guest, Jenna Pirog, Virtual Reality Editor/Producer. She provided us with a fascinating question and answer session which mostly surrounded around her latest virtual reality piece, The Displaced. She discussed the filming process and how the virtual reality team set out to tell the stories of children that are Syrian refugees. The camera crew spent a week filming each family using a series of tripods set up to capture their day-to-day lives. They made sure that the crew stayed out of the picture to allow for a more accurate representation of their lives. Jenna told us that NYT received an abundance of positive feedback following the distribution of the piece. I really admired Jenna’s passion for photo-journalism and desire to continue creating virtual reality journalism at  The New York Times.  She was truly admirable and I feel lucky to have had the chance to speak with her.

Continuing on at NYT we spoke with editorial editor, Gail Collins. She has had years of experience writing editorial pieces on politics for the publication, therefore, it was very insightful to hear her take on the current presidential campaign. “No one write about local government anymore,” she told us. Gail found this to be a disservice to the community and told us that journalists should really make an effort to write more on the subject. One part of our visit with Gail that stood out to me the most was the story she told us about Mitt Romney’s dog, Seamus. To this day, when she writes about Romney she will mention Seamus the dog. Gail was outspoken and blunt with us about her views on politicians, which I found refreshing. Overall, I found it motivating as an aspiring journalist to visit The New York Times granted its longevity as a credible news organization.

Our view from NYT conference room.

Quick pic in the lobby before heading to our next appointment.

Next, we trekked over to Rockefeller Plaza to visit NBC Universal. Our guest at NBC was Miami alum, Daniella Pierre-Bravo, who works as a producer for Morning Joe. After grabbing our badges and meeting Jordan Santo, our tour guide for the day, we began our visit. Jordan is a part of The Page Program at NBC which is a prestigious internship-like program that lasts an entire year and provides young hopefuls with opportunity to work three different rotations with in NBC. The tour that Jordan gave us was amazing. I absolutely loved getting to walk past studios and gaze into the control rooms where some of my favorite shows are filmed. Ever since I can remember I have been a HUGE  Saturday Night Live fan, so I was ecstatic when we got to actually sit in the audience seating in the studio. I was in awe, it was such a great experience. Even though we didn’t get to go in, it was awesome to pass where Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers film their late night shows. I love them both. After completing our tour, we finally got sit down in a conference room to ask Daniella some questions. As a producer for Morning Joe, she is busy constantly booking celebrity guests and making sure the production side of the show runs smoothly. It was very comforting to see a Miami alum who has done so well for herself in the media industry. She told us about how persistent she was during the early stages of her career. Daniella made it apparent to us that when you are an intern somewhere it is extremely important to always go the extra mile and to make yourself useful. At the end of the session, she urged us to apply for to the Page Program- I think i will!

Danielle Pierre-Bravo giving us the lowdown on what goes on during a live broadcast.

Inside an NBC news room.

After leaving NBC, we were off to Yahoo! Food to meet with the Managing Editor, Cassie Carothers. We talked to her about her time editing articles and how they create new content. They actually don’t create their own content, nor do they have their own testing kitchen, which sets them at a disadvantage. They do a lot of partnering with other companies and chefs who provide them with recipes. My favorite part of the visit was getting to speak with the Associate Social Media Editor, Gillie Houston, who graduated from college just last year. Her responsibilities include; posting and managing content on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. It was great to hear her talk about her journey toward a career in social media, she was super bubbly and chatty which added a lot to our visit. We all ended up following Gillie’s AMAZING food Instagram account-I strongly recommend looking her up!

We left Yahoo! Foods super hungry given the subject matter and headed over to a little deli for some lunch. After some much needed food and downtime, I headed to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah along with several other students and The Newberry’s. Trevor was hilarious and very easy on the eyes in my opinion. The big news covered during the show was Sean Penn’s article he wrote about the interview he had with El Chapo. Trevor poked fun at the issue and Sean Penn’s journalism style. It was so cool to see a live television show in action. Trevor Noah was super down to earth and personable, he really is perfect for the position. I will definitely be watching his show more often back home.

The set of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. 

Overall, it was a great day and I am looking forward to tomorrow!

NYC Media: Day 1

Trouble at the subway

I spent the first half of the day with my step-brother and his girlfriend, Anne.We lounged and ate brunch at the apartment together before I got ready to transition to the Belvedere Hotel in Midtown to begin the NYC Media program. I am rooming with Lily Quenneville and Catherine McDonald. After getting checked-in at the hotel, the group of us headed to the 9/11 Museum. We were pumped…little did we know that we wouldn’t make it in time. After a couple of long waits at several subway stops and some confusion we headed back to the hotel. We were bummed, but definitely okay with getting a little extra downtime after a long day of traveling. Although we didn’t get to see the museum, we did see some entertaining subway riders who participated in No Pants Subway ride.

No Pants Subway Ride participants in full force! Photo from Paul Martinka/ New York Post

The 9/11 museum is definitely something that I will want to see at some point in my life, I may even try to stop by on Friday before heading to the airport. I heard that it is extremely emotional. After getting off the subway, Catherine, Lily, and I headed to the Food Emporium to get a few snacks before returning to our hotel room…we were starving.  It felt good to re-coop before our 7:00 P.M. dinner reservation. At 6:45 the group made the walk through the infamous Time Square to H.B. Burgers for some long awaited food. We were the only people in the basement of the restaurant which was nice. After dinner we were all exhausted and crashed after a little bit of T.V. watching and finishing up last minute work. We tucked ourselves in at around 11:00 P.M. to get some shut eye before our big first day.

Can’t wait for what is to come!

NYC Media

Pre-Departure 1/9/16

Today is the day that I am leaving for New York. After a couple days filled with packing (and repacking), prepping questions, and keeping up to date on the news,  I am finally heading to Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. I had to sit on my red suitcase to squeeze all of my bulky winter sweater and multiple pairs of black boots (yes I need all four pairs!). I have been to New York several times, but this time the trip will be very different, although equally as exciting. Visiting well-known publications, media organizations, and talk shows alongside other journalism student will be the perfect ending to a relaxing winter break. I am ready to network and immerse myself in the journalism and media industry.

I will be spending tonight at Anne’s, my step-brother’s girlfriend. She lives in the Lower East Side in a charming two bedroom apartment. A night of good food, drink, and company will be the perfect way to start off the trip before the hustle and bustle begins.

This will be a great week and I am looking forward to each and every moment! Fingers crossed I didn’t forget anything.