Monday, January 7, 2008
IT'S REALLY NOT THAT GLAMOROUS
Last week we ran a story on network reporters braving the bitter cold to cover the Iowa Caucus and it was funny to see behind the scenes how truly un-glamorous this job can really be.
That's usually one of the first questions I get when I talk at schools or get questions at other speaking engagements. Does someone do your makeup? What's it like behind the scenes? I promise to someday take a picture of what our green room is like 15 minutes to the newscast. And I use the term loosely because our makeup room is really a small bathroom for the newsroom. It has a counter and sink with the row of big bulbs you'd find backstage for any makeup room. If you were here 15 minutes before the top of the show, you'd see Marya and I putting the final touches on our own makeup and me working to tease some sense into my hair. Yes, we do our own makeup and hair.
As for being live out in the field reporting, there are the many stories of being out in freezing temperatures, in a storm just to show viewers at home how cold and dangerous it really is. I spent four years in Spokane, Washington. But moving to Phoenix to report more than 3 years ago, presented new un-glamorous challenges, or at least brought me back to my days of reporting in the summer swelter in Tucson. Sweaty heat. There's nothing like shopping for work clothes and having to assess if a blouse will withstand the sweat challenge for a 5 pm live shot in 115 degrees with the sun bearing down on you. Of course, everyone reminds you to hydrate and drink plenty of water in the heat. But what about those police standoffs or barricades where you and your photographer are sent out to a scene for hours and hours. There never are port-a- potties at those locations. Or the wildfire you get sent hours away to cover and are then asked to stay and report on for days without a change of clothes.
I can't complain really, it's the job I signed up for and the exciting people you meet and stories you cover along the way well outweigh any of the perhaps less glamorous aspects of the job.
That's usually one of the first questions I get when I talk at schools or get questions at other speaking engagements. Does someone do your makeup? What's it like behind the scenes? I promise to someday take a picture of what our green room is like 15 minutes to the newscast. And I use the term loosely because our makeup room is really a small bathroom for the newsroom. It has a counter and sink with the row of big bulbs you'd find backstage for any makeup room. If you were here 15 minutes before the top of the show, you'd see Marya and I putting the final touches on our own makeup and me working to tease some sense into my hair. Yes, we do our own makeup and hair.
As for being live out in the field reporting, there are the many stories of being out in freezing temperatures, in a storm just to show viewers at home how cold and dangerous it really is. I spent four years in Spokane, Washington. But moving to Phoenix to report more than 3 years ago, presented new un-glamorous challenges, or at least brought me back to my days of reporting in the summer swelter in Tucson. Sweaty heat. There's nothing like shopping for work clothes and having to assess if a blouse will withstand the sweat challenge for a 5 pm live shot in 115 degrees with the sun bearing down on you. Of course, everyone reminds you to hydrate and drink plenty of water in the heat. But what about those police standoffs or barricades where you and your photographer are sent out to a scene for hours and hours. There never are port-a- potties at those locations. Or the wildfire you get sent hours away to cover and are then asked to stay and report on for days without a change of clothes.
I can't complain really, it's the job I signed up for and the exciting people you meet and stories you cover along the way well outweigh any of the perhaps less glamorous aspects of the job.
Posted at 2:49 AM by Nicole
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