A day in the life of a TV intern

By Eric Andersen

Each week, students look forward to the upcoming weekend as a time to relax and maybe catch up on some homework. However, for Anna Domoto (senior, Ames, Iowa), the weekend is only the beginning.

Domoto works as a producing intern and weekend editor at KGAN TV 2 in Cedar Rapids. She makes the trek to Cedar Rapids three times a week and puts in close to 25 hours a week while balancing a full schedule at the UI.

"I hired [Anna] as a part-time editor," KGAN news director April Samp said. "She’s fabulous, I mean there are a lot of interns that come in here and not all of them get hired onto a position, but she’s proven that, and a lot of The University of Iowa interns, have proven that they’re very good candidates to take on part-time and full-time positions in the newsroom."

As a producing intern, the majority of Domoto’s time is spent writing newscasts and checking the newswire to determine what should be run on-air. Her role differs from that of the producer, which is separate full-time role at KGAN.

"Part of producing is to determine the entire layout of the show, which includes selecting news, deciding on camera shots and the order of the stories," Domoto said. "You really build up the show from nothing."

Domoto, who also works for Daily Iowan TV, said that shifts at KGAN vary and she typically works from 2 p.m. to about 10:30 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She considers herself lucky to have these hours - the morning producer at KGAN has to be in at 11 p.m. and works until 7 a.m.

When Domoto is producing, she starts off her Fridays at 2 p.m. with a meeting.

"The newsroom meetings are the most important part of what we do," Domoto said. "We meet twice a day and basically just pitch stories."

After the meeting, Domoto works with the producer to "stack" the show, which means that they continue to develop stories and determine how the broadcast will flow.

Finally, one of the most important and intense aspects of the job is the "boothing" process. During this time frame, the actual news broadcast is live on the air and Domoto is behind the scenes with the producer who makes sure that everything runs smoothly.

"Breaking news is the main priority of Channel 2, so if breaking news comes down you have to get it in," she said.

Domoto added that the boothing process is all about balance.

"If you’re heavy, you have to decide what to cut, and if you’re light, you have to find something to fill in the holes," she said. "Or if you’re lucky the meteorologist or news anchor can chit-chat. I’ve never seen a newscast go light though."

Working as a producing intern has allowed Domoto to cover a wide range of stories, including the murder of Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas. Domoto said she went to Parkersburg during the day of the funeral for a newscast. She said although the event was tragic, it helped improve her producing ability.

She said that although the event was tragic, in the end it helped her grow in her producing ability.

Domoto also does editing work for KGAN on Saturdays and Sundays, which is an entirely different process. While editing, she must wait until scripts are written to pull out video and start working. It took her awhile to adjust to the editing methods of KGAN due to differences in technology between DITV and KGAN. Digital editing is used to edit Daily Iowan TV shows, which are prerecorded, whereas KGAN uses a more linear tape format.

"It was such a foreign machine to me when I started," Domoto said. "Editing tape is a lot more tedious and time consuming, but it would cost a lot of money to upgrade and some people would probably lose their jobs in the transition."

Domoto looks forward to graduating in December and plans on continuing her work at KGAN in Cedar Rapids. She said she is flexible in relocating during the job search process.

"There are 200 markets in the U.S. and usually you switch markets every two to three years in the beginning," Domoto said. "Eventually you get to larger markets and you’ll stay longer in one place. I’m willing to go where there is a good open position."