Chris Norris graduated from Westminster one year ago as an up-and-coming broadcast communications major. Chris’ true passion however was baseball. Chris played ball all four years here at Westminster. Keeping his passion in mind, Chris landed a premier internship with Cleveland Indians while at Westminster. Chris helped shoot games, operated the scoreboard, and took part in the everyday operations at Progressive Field. As part of his capstone project, Chris created a professional promotional video for the tribe.
Following various career stops, Chris landed a job with the Erie Seawolves. The Seawolves are a minor league baseball team focused on quality entertainment for families of all ages. Chris is currently the director of entertainment for the Seawolves. His job entails “producing videos/graphics for the video board, assisting the Wolf Pack on-field promo team, directing staff in the scoreboard control room, and helping with team marketing.”
After interviewing Chris, I found that there is hope for my newsroom skills outside of the actual newsroom. Chris described to me how important his background in news was with his job with the Seawolves.
One of the most important skills Chris said he picked up from news was his writing ability. Chris was one of many anchors for Westminster’s weekly news program The County Line. With the Seawolves Chris has to help write out daily scripts for on-air promotions and the game’s announcers. By learning how to tightly write scripts for The County Line, Chris is able to transfer that skill to the ball field in the form of more concise and punchier language.
I can totally relate to Chris’ experience as an anchor. I have anchored for The County Line for the past two semesters and have learned the dread of Thursday morning script writing. Writing for news can be so aggravating at times. Everything needs to be shorter and tighter, while relaying as much important information as humanly possible. There have been times when I have literally sat in front of computer screen stumped at how to describe an entire news story in 15 seconds.
I can however see the positives of developing a tight writing style. Nearly any job, in any field requires writing of some kind. Whether it is a job at a bank, a ballpark, or research lab good writing is an essential skill. Entering into my senior, I may only have a handful of times left anchoring. I will now try to not dread so much those Thursday morning script writing sessions. Instead, I will try to appreciate this essential newsroom that will hopefully land me someday outside of the newsroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment