A 'real' day in the life of an investigative researcher...

So, I feel like all I have been talking about is passing along advice about internships, cover letters, and resumes. It's time to talk about what it is I do.

Investigative Researcher...

That title explains it all...I research different elements for stories that we are working on. I make phone calls, set up interviews, and make sure things run smoothly.

Part of my responsibility is fielding incoming calls from viewers and determining which ones would make good story ideas. --When we have interns, I don't have to answer the phones as much :)

I work with the creative elements to a story as well; sometimes I have to do pre-tape or create the chyrons (supers) for a story.

Last Thursday...

Lu Ann asked me to set up a story for her out in NY where a police department uses these guns called "pistolcams," guns with a video and audio recorder attached to the barrel.

Another reporter from our affiliate statin in NY had previously done a story on these guns so I was able to search for this story in our archives and find a lot of the information I needed. --We have this source called Oasis where we can search for stories our affiliate stations have done and watch the packages.

Our affiliate station reported which police department in NY had these pistolcams...This made my research a lot easier...All I had to do was search for the police department on google.com, get their phone number, and call them up. Simple, right?...Not so much.

The first time I spoke with someone from the police department, they told me they knew nothing about these guns and that they had no involvement with the story that was previously done...Okay, I was confused by this.

The reporters script from WNBC in NY said that this police department wanted to bring these guns into their workforce. So, since the police department was being shady...I called the reporter myself; she gave me the contact numbers I needed.

I called the people she refered me to and set everything up!

Sometimes, it's a b*tch...

People hate talking to the media! Not all people, some people try to use the media as a way to shine light on themselves.

The minute I tell someone I'm calling from NBC10, I hear silence on the other end of the line. Many corporations have their own Public Relations department or Media department to deal with people like me...Well, you know what I think about that?...The "big dawgs" of these companie don't know what to say themselves so they hire "professionals" to make something up for them.

That might be a bit harsh but sometimes us journalists are treated as if we're monsters, it's like we carry this negative connotation with us....We can't be calling for a good reason, especially not from the Investigators Unit.

Digital Content Producer...

I produce the web content for the Investigators web page...Check us out: Investigators

Since it's only my first month at this job, I haven't been able to change the layout of our web page yet. I think the layout we have right now sucks! People can't find a damn thing on our site and I don't blame them. It's all bunched together.

What I would like to do is make more sections and spread things out. I've been talking to the webmaster of nbc10.com about ordering a new layout so hopefully that will be happening soon.

But for now, I come up with all the creative elements that go along with the stories we are doing and put them on the web. We might put up extended video or a slideshow or a feedback question...Or, maybe we'll put them all up at once!

Working with the web has taught me a lot. And, it's really cool to look on nbc10.com, click on the Investigators and see my own work posted.