My selection for the election and more.

As many (if not all) of you know, Tuesday night was the provincial election in Manitoba. And as journalism students, we all went off to our media outlets of choice.
I had chosen CBC and was really excited to get in there and see what they would have me doing for the night, not to mention seeing what THEY would be doing for the night.
I chose CBC because its CBC. Growing up, that was the big new source in my family, and in my opinion, one of the top of the line that Canada has to offer.
Anyways, my excitement risen when I got an email from my contact there saying we would probably be going out with videographers and shadowing reporters in the field. I don't have a huge interest in doing television news, but I have an open mind about all things that make a journalist and want to know all of the different paths that can get me there.
Back to the story, so my classmate and I get to CBC at 7:25 p.m. (20 minutes earlier than we were told, but what can I say? We were keen.) All afternoon we were wondering what we were going to do and, almost as importantly, what should we wear?! But we were finally there.
After being introduced to our evening "supervisor", Pat (who is super nice and great), we were told that we missed the boat on going out into the field with reporters and we would be staying back in the hub with everybody. After a dose of mild disappointment furthered by the knowledge that first years were on camera upstairs, I realized that what we would be doing tonight was much more valuable. Sure, it would have been fun to help reporters at candidate HQs but at CBC we got to see how an integrated newsroom operates and how CRAZY busy everyone is all night.
An integrated newsroom is when all the different kinds of outlets (radio, tv, online, etc) all work together in the same room and alot of the content comes from the same person, breaking down the barriers between departments. For instance, a person who writes for the web may also do some live hits for the tv station.
I was a bit suprised with how few people were working that night, but was pretty impressed with how much a writer can get done in just an hour.
So our job for the night was to observe. After we toured the building, we sat in some empty desks in the hub with the online writers, editors, and reporters who were writing for a scheduled live hit, along with many other jobs.
In such a night of frenzy, it was pretty funny to watch reporters freaking out, trying to get their hit done by their deadline. We were standing outside with one particular who had been working since 4 a.m. who had just finished writing hers, and we watched her vent for a bit then turn into a complete pro as soon as the camera was on her. The transfomation in her was amazing, and hilarious- to just watch people switch off their current mood and get into reporter mode. I know everyone does it, and if I've learned anything from Anchorman, crazy things happen before the camera turns on.
My night at CBC was a big eye opener to how people are adjusting to the evolution of journalism. One of the reporters told me that a journalist's job has definitely exanded over the past years with social media, needing an online presence, and needing to have skills across the board, not just in one specialty. But this just confirmed that I was in the right program because these are things we do everyday, or at least once a week. AND it was also a nice slice of reality to know that I will be busy for the rest of my life, if this is something I choose to do forever, anyway. I had suspicions but seeing how quickly everyone moved and the stress that came with it, I know now. BUT, that's okay, I'm the kind of person that likes to be busy and feels useless when I'm not.
It was really cool to watch pros like Janet Stewart host the show. Yeah, I know that she reads of a teleprompter so everything she says isn't off the cuff, but teleprompters aren't easy either!
Last week we did a teleprompter exercise with Joanne Kelly that tested our ability to pronounce foreign names and not just rely on what the screen in front of us was saying. Some of the stories would have typos, a bunch of names that sounded the same, complete words missing, and run on sentences-all while listening to Lora talk in your ear. This was no piece of cake.
A few lessons: you need to read your stories first, know the pronunciations, take your time, and bring personality to the show. Also, there is no such thing as Lead Zepekin.
Even though Thursdays are never my greatest days, I'm always amazed that I made it through. But, I figure once I'm used to writing for tv, editing video, and talking on camera and trying to have it done within two hours, this should be a piece of cake, right?
Until then... I'll take comfort in the great names making some mistakes.