If you’re a journalist working in a small market, I encourage you to take some time to smell the roses. We hear this a lot throughout our lives, but it seems once we get into the hustle and bustle of working to beat the clock every day the desire to do so falls by the wayside.

I know you’re working to get to a bigger market, make more money and cover some better and bigger news stories, but remember the only time you’ve got is now, so make the most of it. I don’t want to sound like I’m preaching to you, but tomorrow is not promised to us.

It may not always seem like it, but I’m sure there are some great things about the market you’re living in; the people, the local cuisine or maybe it’s big on history. Learn about some of that stuff and I guarantee you it’ll help take your mind off the fact that you’re going to work every day with the hope of moving on in the near future. How monotonous is that? It’ll only make you miserable.

I wish I would’ve spent a little more time getting to know the small market I worked in for a year and a half; after all it was a year and half of my life. I did meet some great people though, mostly coworkers who’ve become some great friends.

Part of the reason many of us get into the TV news business is because we get to live in and experience different places on the way to reaching our goals.

So again I say take so time to smell the roses, and if you don’t like roses, there are carnations, lilies, sunflowers; whatever you like, just make it happen.

For reporters, especially those new to the TV news business, there’s nothing like going live. Exciting, invigorating and electrifying are some of the words that describe how it feels to go live. Nerve-racking, overwhelming, and downright scary are some other words that also can be used to describe what it’s like to go live for rookie TV reporters.  

Seriously, I’ve seen people who looked like they were getting ready to have a heart attack right before a live shot.

It doesn’t have to be that way for you if you’re new to the business. The number one thing to keep in mind when you’re going live: know your story; I can’t stress that enough. When you know everything there is to know about a story, you can talk to anyone about that story, including your audience.

Knowing your story also prevents you from being completely dependent on a script. Think about it, what happens when you’re standing in the rain trying to read a sheet of paper? What happens when you have to move around and show different elements of a story? Those scenarios may not work out well if you’re relying heavily on a script.

You have to trust yourself. Trust yourself to know your story and to be able to have an intelligent conversation about that story. It’s the only way you’ll get good at going live and once you are good, you’ll start to feel like a rock star when you pull off great live shots. You can thank the adrenaline rush for that and, oh boy, you’ll find it’s addictive.

The daily rush of adrenaline is why many of us love going live, but pressure to be perfect while performing; well, that’s the reason why some of us hate it.

Do you remember what it was like when you went live for the first time? Share your memory with us.

JMC Internship & Career Coordinator Christine Mahoney had a chance to meet Yahoo! global news anchor Katie Couric on March 14.  Below is Couric’s advice to journalism students today.“Now?!”

One word and a rather startled expression was the response I got when I plopped down next to Katie Couric at the Denver Press Club’s 20th annual Damon Runyon Award Banquet, and requested a quick interview.  Couric was the evening’s keynote speaker and winner of the Runyon award, celebrating her remarkable decades-long career in television news, as well as her empathy in covering sensitive stories like the Columbine High School shooting in Denver in 1999.

My request – for career advice for young, aspiring journalists – came out of the blue, but Couric’s response was thoughtful.  It even put a new twist on the standard advice journalism students often hear:  Be persistent.  Don’t give up.  Evaluate your skills.  Her perspective, as a professional journalist and mother of two girls, added a layer of intention and purpose to the process of job-hunting. She suggests a more passion-driven strategy.

Here are Couric’s nuggets of advice:

•  ”Be persistent:  You may not get offered the job you want right away, but go back and ask again.  Don’t give up.”
• “Take a critical look at your skills, and understand which part of the (journalism) business you really like. For example, if you’re really detail-oriented, you might make a good assignment editor. If you’re reticent about intruding and asking a lot of questions, you might want to re-think becoming a reporter. Find out what you love and what you’re good at, and pursue it.”

During her acceptance speech, Couric recounted her own early struggles in the TV news business. During college at the University of Virginia, where she earned a BA in English with a focus on American Studies, Couric wrote for what is now the Cavalier Daily, UVA’s student-run newspaper, and interned at radio stations each summer.

Even with that relative wealth of experience, Couric says it was hard to land her first on-air job. She worked as a desk assistant at WJLA, the ABC news affiliate in Washington.

“I basically got sandwiches for the anchor,” she said.

Then, she happened to be in the right place at the right time. CNN launched nine months into her sandwich runs, and she jumped ship.

“CNN was a non-union shop – a start-up,” Couric recalled.

She was able to jump onto the update desk as a fill-in anchor. The experience wasn’t exactly confidence-building.

“In my earpiece, I could hear the other anchors asking, ‘Who is that? She looks about 12 years old!’” she said.

But she persisted – working on her on-air delivery and presentation skills, staying at CNN for four years and working in every imaginable role:

“Assignment editor, producer, you name it,” she said.

Couric’s first “real on-air job” was at then-WRC Channel 4 in Washington. There, she met Tim Russert. Couric had found a mentor.

“It only takes one person to believe in you, and my person was Tim Russert,” she said.

Everyone is familiar with Couric’s career trajectory. The TODAY show, CBS Evening News, Katie. Through it all, she maintained her journalistic principles.

“Asking questions is not enough,” she said. “A journalist’s job is to get answers.”

At her new post as global anchor at Yahoo!, Couric says she’s going to bring old-fashioned journalistic practices– fairness, accuracy, experience – to this new platform. But she’s also going to keep her favorite new acronym in mind:

“TMI and NEU – Too much information and not enough understanding,” she said.

Couric will provide coverage with compassion.

So, aspiring journalists, keep Couric’s advice in mind when plotting your own career

path. What’s your passion? How can you align your career goals with your life goals? How can you stay true to yourself while pursuing success? Keep Couric’s advice in

CU JMC student Annie Melton, winner of Tim Russert Scholarship, with Katie Couric at the Damon
Runyon Award Banquet, March 14, 2014

mind, when considering job offers.

“There are a lot of opportunities in journalism today,” she said. “Find one that matches your skills and your passion.”

I had to wonder if Couric had heard that same advice from her mentor, Tim Russert, way back when. And I hope journalism students are listening, when they hear it from her today.

 You know, it's amazing, ever since we've started streaming WACH Fox News at Ten live on the internet, I'm minding my mic more than ever. People may not be able to see us during commercial breaks, but they sure can hear everything we say and clearly; some of the viewers have let us know.   

To all my young journalist friends out there and those still in school working on college newscasts, a warning to you: mind your mic. Get accustomed to it now, because if you say something that offends someone or you get caught using profane language it can get you in a world of trouble with your station and maybe even result in a job loss.

Some of you may recall what happened to former news anchor AJ Clemente, who on his first day on the air, got caught swearing just as his newscast was starting. I felt so sorry for the guy. Some of my friends in the business told me not to because he's old enough to know better, but I looked at it as a good lesson for him because when you're doing live TV, sometimes your microphone is opened earlier than you expect. His station didn't see it that way and ended up letting him go.

So again, you've been warned: mind your mic.