A Day in the Life of a Journalist (a.k.a. Job Shadowing)

I had a really great day today. I job shadowed at the Aberdeen News. I was nervous when I walked in and said that I was there for job shadowing. But, everyone was really nice so my nervousness didn't last that long. I followed Scott around mostly. We first went to the courthouse to get court reports and then we sat in on a trial. It was pretty serious. Scott apologized for it being so graphic, but that's what happens in the world so there's no reason to pretend like it doesn't happen. Then there was time before the next trial so we went to the Red Rooster and I got some coffee. Then we walked back to the courthouse. The next trial was about a burglary. We looked at calendars to see upcoming trial dates. The judges were nice. Actually, everyone today was really nice. Then we headed back to the newsroom. He typed and I talked to a couple other reporters and met some more people. They let me be in their weekly podcast. Ha, ha. Before they started recording, they told me not to worry because no one listens anyway. It will be online tomorrow, I will try to find a link. Then maybe there can be two listeners. Ha, ha. Then Scott and I went to lunch at the new Mexican place. He said that it was good that I was job shadowing him because we both get a free meal out of it. Then there was more typing. He let me write like two sentences for the paper tomorrow and my name will be under it. It's pretty exciting. Of course, it's not really much of anything, but I don't care. I am excited anyway. Then several people took a field trip to the courthouse. Then they all went to the Red Rooster to talk about upcoming Sunday stories. It was cool. They told me that it was not at all a typical day and usually they don't have as much free time as they did today. But it was still really cool.

I really did love the newsroom. Mostly everyone's desks were messy. I loved all the mess. I thought of my mother, though, because she would want to organize everyone. I am not a very organized person, so I liked all the papers everywhere. They all had a news line question emailed to them and it was asking for "glutton-free" restaurants instead of gluten-free. Everyone was joking about it all day. It was funny. And I enjoyed how everyone just talks to each other. It was a lot of fun. Russ told me that he's been working for 20 years (I am not sure if he meant there or what, but whatever) and not a single day has been the same and that the years have just flown by. Now I am all up for the days not being all the same. That's what I find boring about most jobs. I love writing so I would love to be able to work in a newsroom or a magazine room (is that still a newsroom?). One lady asked me how I knew that I wanted to write and I told her, "Well, when I was in the first grade, I wanted to be an author, but I don't have enough patience to write a whole book." Good thing for Journalism.

I had a great day. I enjoyed job shadowing. I wish I could go back and do it again.