Dear Coach,

I’ve just been hired as an entry reporter, but I also want to explore other facets of the job such as photography, multimedia, design, etc. What’s the best way to approach your editor about working in those areas? Should you offer to do some work on the side (not on the clock), just to show your talent and see where it goes from there? –Wants to do more

Dear More,

I see three things happening in your question: 1) you are newly hired as a reporter; 2) you want to move, if possible, into design and photography as well as reporting; and 3) you want to do multimedia.

To address No. 1: You were hired as a reporter. Reporters have a specific set of skills that newspapers depend on.

No. 2: That is also true of graphic designers and photojournalists. They are experts at what they do and that is why they were hired. Saying you would like to try photojournalism or design when you were hired as a reporter is probably not a good way to start out. Make your mark as a reporter, a strong, reliable and resourceful one.

No. 3: You want to do multimedia. That is a different animal from photojournalism and design, which again, are specific areas of expertise. All newspapers are dying to find more and better ways to use multimedia in any story they do, whether it’s video of a news event like a train wreck or a visiting celebrity or a hurricane, or audio clips from a trial or protest or particularly bitter school board meeting.

Multimedia—video, audio and, yes, digital camera on the scene—is something all reporters should know about, try, be familiar with and be ready to use if and when the moment arises. Yes! Tell your editor you want to travel to assignments with your camera (video and
still) and audio recorder. Let them know you will be keeping your eyes out for things to shoot and record. That enterprising effort will be hugely valued. You will be a better, more valuable reporter if you can attach a good video clip or a few photos of a news event you happen upon.

If you want to try your hand at creating a full multimedia package to go with a story (eventually, after you’ve proved yourself as a reporter), then ask your editor how you might go about that. (Does your paper have a “multimedia team” that creates story packages? Or do reporters who have the skill get to do it if they have the time? That’s something you should find out.)

Camera. Audio recorder. Notebook. Don’t leave home without them. You never know what you might run across on your way to the office.

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