My Job Shadow Day At The Cheshire Herald
February 5, 2010 by Meghan Fackler
I was so lucky to have the experience of job shadowing Josh Morgan on Feb. 2. After taking a journalism class at the high school and learning all about what it takes to be a reporter, it was awesome to have the opportunity to actually spend “a day in the life” of a journalist.
I have learned that there is so much more to the job than just sitting behind a desk writing news stories and handing them in before the deadline. Josh goes out and finds the newsworthy stories and, at the same time, he develops great relationships with the people of Cheshire.
Throughout the day, I realized that Josh has earned the trust of many people in town, and that trust is an extremely important part of a journalist's job. As we went around Cheshire, I learned that good journalists, like Josh, must take what they have learned from sources and relay this information to their readers in a way in which the readers will understand.
We started off the day going out to a couple of scenic sites in Cheshire and capturing some pictures for the newspaper. We then went to the town hall, the police department, and the fire department headquarters, and I was able to see firsthand the interaction between the authoritative figures of Cheshire and the press. It was so interesting to have the chance to observe this, and I am taking away so much from this experience.
I can tell that the staff at The Herald is a talented group that loves what they do. Everyone works closely together to create a paper that the citizens of Cheshire will enjoy reading.
I love to write, and I enjoy getting out and interacting with different people. Because of this, I have a strong interest in a career as a reporter, and the time that I spent shadowing Josh has further convinced me to pursue journalism. There is a big difference between sitting in a classroom being taught about journalism and actually going out to experience life as a reporter. I admire the job that reporters like Josh do even more now, and I hope to take all that I have learned from my time with Josh and use it to pursue a career as a journalist.