Episode 1: Jessie McDonough - News Anchor

Career Closeup

[rev_slider alias="jessie-mcdonough"][/rev_slider] Jessie McDonough discusses her career path, from studying journalism at Arizona State University in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, to her position as a multimedia journalist in South Bend, Indiana to a reporter position in Jacksonville, Florida, to her current position as a morning co-anchor and the solo anchor and producer of the noon show at the CBS affiliate in El Paso, Texas. Jessie offers valuable insight from her experiences and covers aspects such as choosing the right school, what to do while in school, negotiating contracts and what she looks for in the ideal job. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (link below in notes), the median annual wage for reporters and correspondents was $36,360 and the median annual wage for broadcast news analysts was $65,530. These figures are from May 2015. [divide color="#e8e8e8"] SHOW NOTES: 0:00 Intro 1:12 What Jessie does daily as anchor and producer 8:18 What sparked Jessie's interest in being an anchor? 9:30 How did she look for and choose a good journalism program? 11:15 Choosing the Living and Learning Community for Journalism 12:20 Importance of Internships and variety 15:16 Cronkite Newswatch at ASU 16:48 Importance of choosing school that specializes in your field and has great resources for networking...Networking is Key to finding jobs 17:45 First job and advice- Multimedia journalist (MMJ) Nightside reporter 20:23 Demo Reels, second job - morning reporter, hard parts of reporting 27:29 Transitioning from reporter to Anchor position 34:09 Favorite job 35:40 Requirements for job 37:14 Best part of her career, rewarding aspects 39:22 Challenging parts of career 40:34 What is it like being a public figure/on tv? 42:52 Advice for those interested in journalism 43:49 Future opportunities in this field 46:00 Dealing with the stress of job 47:14 What Jessie knows now that she wishes she knew earlier [divide color="#a0a0a0"] LINKS OF INTEREST: Jessie McDonough Bio page Arizona State University - Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Occupational outlook for reporters, correspondants and broadcast news, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Journalism Degrees has links for information on this career field and degree programs. 100 Outstanding journalists in the United States in the last 100 years. 24 Top paid News Anchors Learn how to become: a journalist. This website has well organized information for many fields. Great resource! [review]