Five (former) journalists talked about their first job in the news industry. Someone made a career change and came back to his journalism career again; someone started her first job as an anchor and reporter and still sticks to her original path; and someone switched his path from real world journalism to journalism teaching.
G A Redding is a former broadcaster. His first job in journalism was in a television station while he was in high school. He shared his personal story being a journalist during Vietnam war and gave his personal advice to young generation who want to step in this industry.
Joe Inderhees @jinde, now the assistant news director of First Coast News, said he really loved his first job as a weekend sports anchor and reporter. “All I wanted to do was telling stories,” he said.
Inderhees did took a short break during his 20-year journalism career. Though when he was out of this industry, he still had opportunity to stay in to help cover breaking news. “Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.”
He also shared about how he deals with stress and gave advice to young journalists.
Michael Rizzo, now the director of Journalism Program at St. John’s University, made a career change after years of his professional path at ABC News in both TV and Radio.
Bianca Beltran @KSBWBianca, a reporter and anchor with Hearst Television, chose to step into the industry because she wanted to something that had the impact on something and “news is a good way to do that.”
She admitted that she has considered leaving the news industry. “Especially when you are in a relationship, you are trying to balance that relationship with your career,” Beltran said. “But I have decided to stick with it.”
Rafael Lorente @ProfLorente, Associate Dean at Philip Merrill College of Journalism, started his first job as a master’s student at the University of Maryland 30 years ago, and he was a student at a news service located on campus. His first full-time job was as a reporter for the Miami Herald covering Miami Beach.
He did think of leaving the industry. “When I first started as a reporter and reporting can be hard and I was in a big market, and there were a lot of really good people around,” Lorente said. “I thought maybe I’m just not cut out for that. So I thought about going to law school.” Thought he didn’t actually go to law school.
“Almost everyday I feels stress,” Lorente said. But a little stress as a journalist is good. “The challenge is that how do we manage that stress in a good way, how do we turn it into a positive way.”
Even when he was struggling, he said he still loved what he was doing.