From Newsroom to Agency: It's a Transition

I’ve written about how different it’s going to be once I can no longer call myself a reporter.  Well, yes, it is different.  But aside from the shift in my sense of identity, there are some other differences between newsroom life and agency life:

-Instead of a TV for every man, woman and child – there’s one television.  And it’s not turned on all hours of the day.

-There seems to be a lack of clocks.  Or at least a lack of large clocks with red numbers counting down to impending doom (aka deadline).

-I actually see everyone that works here.  In the newsroom, there was morning, dayside, nightside, overnight… you wouldn’t see half of your co-workers.  Nice to know I’m not missing anybody.

-I need to look at the big picture.  I’m used to working on a project, finishing quickly to hit deadline, then moving on to the next task.  I started out always looking for that next task – but sometimes, it’s ok to take a couple days to think about a project.  Let it sit and come back.  It’ll still be there.  And you can do a better job by taking a second look.  (A second draft?!?  Unheard of!)

-Similarly, I’m working on a lot of stuff at once!  I thought I was skilled at working on multiple projects from booking stories as a morning show reporter.  But that’s nothing compared to agency life, when account executives are throwing new jobs at you from every angle.  I’ve learned to live and die by my to-do list.

-There’s money changing hands.  I don’t work for the good of the people anymore.  (I mean I do work for the good of people, but not exclusively for the greater good.  I’m not that big of a sell-out.)  I have to worry about how much we’re charging clients for my services and how much time I’m spending on certain clients’ projects.   It’s taking a while for my brain to wrap around this concept.

Of course, there are lots of similarities between working in a newsroom and working at an agency.  I’ll go over those later -- I have to get back to my to-do list.

Comments

[Jennifer (Grannan) Johnson]

So true! While it's nice to not have the clock ticking down, it was also nice to know that by a certain time everything would be off your plate and you could go home without worrying about what didn't get done or was left to do. Only difference for me is that I'm the account executive throwing stuff at people to do and don't always understand why it takes so long for someone else to complete a project. Don't they know how quick it would take to complete a :30 story? Why does it take an entire 8 hour day to shoot a :30 commercial?!?!