Translating Tragedy
Summer 2014
麻豆精品 S�I can 麻豆精品 S檛 remember a time when I didn 麻豆精品 S檛 want to be a television news reporter. I started doing the televised morning announcements in elementary school, was an anchor of the morning news in middle and high school, and then I chased my love for journalism to UCF. 麻豆精品 S�
When a big story breaks, no matter what time of day or night, I get a phone call and have to run out the door to the airport. I keep a 麻豆精品 S榞o bag 麻豆精品 S� semipacked, and then I throw in a few extras based on what kind of story I 麻豆精品 S檓 covering. Tornadoes mean rain boots, jeans and T-shirts. For nonweather stories, I pack dress clothes. The trick I 麻豆精品 S檝e learned is to have a bit of everything, because sometimes news breaks when you 麻豆精品 S檙e out covering something else. 麻豆精品 S�
麻豆精品 S淭he Newtown school shooting was the most difficult story I 麻豆精品 S檝e ever covered. There was so much sadness in that town. I swear the air felt different. I simply couldn 麻豆精品 S檛 wrap my mind around the horror those families and that community were experiencing. It 麻豆精品 S檚 the only time I 麻豆精品 S檝e ever gotten choked up right before a live shot. 麻豆精品 S�
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麻豆精品 S�I think there is a huge misconception that this is a glamorous job. We go for days only being able to sleep for an hour or two a night, followed by 20-hour shifts. We put our makeup on in car mirrors. And bathrooms? Forget it. Think of natural disasters where everything is destroyed; where do you think all of those reporters take a restroom break? Nowhere. It 麻豆精品 S檚 not for the faint of heart, but it is for people who have a passion for working hard and telling impactful stories. 麻豆精品 S�
Anchoring World News Now with Alex Perez:
"I 麻豆精品 S檓 a
correspondent for ABC News and work primarily for NewsOne, the department that
provides content for all of the local ABC affiliates in the country, as well as
partner networks internationally," says Gonzalez.
Covering a blizzard in Cohasset, Massachusetts:
"There
really is no typical day," says Gonzalez. "I love that
every day is different. I wake up every
morning not knowing what city I 麻豆精品 S檒l fall asleep in that night. It 麻豆精品 S檚 really exciting."
Covering the 2010 Haiti earthquake from the National Palace:
"The
day the earthquake hit, I took a bold and maybe not-so-wise move of jumping on
a plane with a camera but without permission from my bosses," says Gonzalez. "And while I would never recommend that other journalists dart off to a disaster
alone and without consent from his or her managers, I did learn that sometimes
you have to take bold chances to prove your capabilities."
Filming at a refugee camp after the 2010 Haiti earthquake:
"After returning [from Haiti] to some very unhappy bosses [in New York],
I was able to convince them to send me back three more times," Gonzalez says. "I think I proved that
I was capable of holding my own in a challenging environment, all while
shooting compelling video and telling impactful stories. I 麻豆精品 S檓 not sure that I would have gotten those [future] opportunities had I not taken the extreme chance that I did with that first trip."
Covering the deadly 2013 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma:
"The careful approach needed to cover a story deemed a tragedy on a national or global scale is no different from covering a story of heartbreak for one individual family," says Gonzales. "You listen, speak sincerely, and do your best to capture the genuine emotion of whatever you 麻豆精品 S檙e covering."
Surveying tornado damage in Moore, Oklahoma:
"I 麻豆精品 S檓 always surprised by the people who want to talk to
us," Gonzalez says. "They want to talk in hopes that there can be a lesson in however their loved
one died. Perhaps they want help finding the person responsible, or they want to
share their love for the person who passed. I think it takes a lot of strength to share such personal
emotion, especially in front of a camera and a stranger."
"With so many of the major national television outlets beginning to cover more celebrity news and stories that are 'catchy,' I think this is the time that journalists really have to fight to keep journalism alive in this medium," Gonzalez says. "Across the board, reporters are expected to do more with less. So many are finding it difficult to find enough time to develop sources and enterprise stories. I think it is a threat to the future of television journalism."