For this, my sixth and final blog for WVU News, I’m obliged to think back on the progress I’ve seen over the past few months, both in my news team and in myself. The truth of the matter is I had no idea what I was getting into when I signed up. Among the few things I knew prior to the start of the semester was simply that this class would fulfill a requirement for me. I heard that the executive producer role was ideal for someone on my particular path, and that a good review from Professor Dahlia could give me an edge. Beyond that, I assumed I would have a natural talent for it as I do most things.

I was very wrong. In fact, the learning curve for broadcast on this level is one of the steepest I’ve encountered. I feel I can safely assume that many of my classmates had a similar impression. For many of us it was a struggle, for some it meant tears, for others a meltdown or two with anxiety to spare. But caffeine addictions spiked, the long nights were embraced and I think those who never had to dig deep and find their grit before, found it this fall.

For this last blog, I intend to avoid a boring chronological recounting of the way events transpired. Instead I want to focus more on what lessons we can take away. Coming back from Thanksgiving Break we set off on the final stretch but much of the work was already well underway. The comparative ease of writing conferences compared to weeks past was a good indication that many of our reporters had taken past critiques to heart. 

The overarching themes of the special edition for Newscast 6 were Appalachia and hope. To the credit of our reporters the stories were well-selected. The writing was much tighter and better thought out. One of the biggest areas of improvement I saw, however, was in the selection and sequencing of shots. I think B-roll has taken on a whole new weight for anyone who handled a WVU News camera this semester. I only have this impression because it was easily the topic I harped on the most. Hopefully, between Professor Dahlia, the staff and myself, we imparted the sense of lost opportunities in stories past and helped some reporters visualize their sequences more easily. 

More than that, I think the greatest lesson – and one that repeats itself in every variety of reporting – was refining the story arch. Our reporters learned how to better introduce an issue and report on the trajectory of its solution or the probabililty of its impact. I felt at the start of the semester many people were just sort of bird-dogging problems and not really digging for the context. That should not be a problem now, some learned the lesson on their own and others just needed a little prompting. This relates to one of the biggest lessons I learned – the subtle art of the transition. Writing scripts for broadcast has been one of my greatest challenges but finding the balance between art and information was a tricky undertaking. Thanks to Professor Dahlia I feel confident in writing skills I formerly had little or no understanding of.

  

A handful of the students who participated this semester will return in the spring with a whole new batch of bright-eyed, bushy tailed aspiring broadcast journalists. It is my sincere hope that the potency of the lessons learned will not be lost over the winter break and that the new students will have the best advice possible at their disposal. I, sadly, will not be returning but I am looking forward to those first few days - meeting the next EP, expressing my sincerest empathy for their plight, and passing on what I can.