By Reenat Sinay | Tue., November 29, 4:15 PM
Ioana Matei, Making TV News, September 2011
Ioana Matei is from Romania and works for the Public Television network. She completed our Making Television News course in London, September 2011. Here is what she has to say about the course and being a journalist:
How did you become a journalist?
I considered journalism as an interesting career since high school. Yet, at that time it was just one of many, many options. I used to write articles for websites now and then, and I even had an internship at a business newspaper. As a student, I kept looking for jobs and career opportunities. I used to drive my parents insane because I was getting hired one day and quitting the next day. All this ended when I first set foot in a TV newsroom.
At that time, I was an intern at a business television station. It was a sort of competition. From dozens of applications, they selected 10 people for 6 months of training inside the newsroom. During the first weeks, I was seriously wondering why they had chosen me. I felt so unprepared for the job. But I worked hard and soon the results started to show. That is when I understood that the people who selected me saw in me a potential that I was not aware that I had. In the end, out of the 10 interns, 2 were declared winners and were hired. I was one of them and that was the beginning of my career.
How did the course impact your approach to journalism?
The training at the Thomson Reuters Foundation helped me refine my journalistic skills in all respects. Yet, what I most enjoyed was learning more about images. I guess I am not the only reporter who feels the need to give loads of information, to write a lot of text. The course taught me to stop doing this. I have learned to make the images tell the story. I have seen how to prepare a story board, to plan in shots and I have also picked up a few editing tips.
What is the most memorable story you’ve reported on thus far?
Immediately after leaving London I went to Zagreb, Croatia, in a European Commission press trip. I reported on the preparations being made there for the EU accession. I used everything I was taught at Reuters about filming, writing and organizing the information. I had everything so clear and fresh in my mind! On the course I also had a colleague from Croatia, which was very lucky. I met her in Zagreb too and she helped me get to the filming locations. My story would have probably never gotten on air if it had not been for her!
What are the major challenges faced by journalists in your country?
I think the press has been really shaken by the Euro-crisis. The drop in advertising contracts has driven newspapers into bankruptcy and decreased the budgets all over the media industry. This puts a lot of pressure on this market creating many problems. One of them would be the increasing ‘tabloidization’. Many TV stations rely more and more on sensational stories, crime or gossip about the lives of celebrities. Of course, this type of material must have a place in news bulletins, but lately some journalists seem to focus more on them and overlook truly important stories.
Describe a typical day at work:
What I simply love about foreign news is that you can’t get bored. One day you can be writing about an important summit, another day about the stock markets or the 'Arab spring', or you can be on-location reporting. However, an average work day would begin at 6 a.m. That is when the alarm rings and I turn on the TV to watch either a local news TV or CNN, just to see what has happened on the planet while I was asleep. Three or four hours later I get to work. I read the news on national and international agencies, I watch the image feeds from Reuters, AP, EVN, CNN and make a list of the most important stories. After discussing with the producers I go on to write and edit the materials. Usually I have enough time to document my materials thoroughly. In case of breaking news, it is different. There is a sudden burst of adrenaline, because I have to do real-time reporting.
What are five words you would use to describe your country and its people?
Diverse, surprising, choleric, smart, undecided.
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