A day in the Life…

Just shy of 22, and ready to conquer the world, Anthony Austin is graduating. But NTTV’s newest news director didn’t always want to work with the media.

He worked at Marble Slab serving ice cream. He helped customers find their electronics at Best Buy. He even drove a school bus for two years in college, but that’s not his dream job either. Anthony Austin is going to be an anchorman. It wasn’t always his dream.

In high school, Austin played football and was in the band. He played the trombone, and wanted to be a doctor. All of that’s changed. The thought of ten years in medical school talked him out if it. Instead, he picked up a brochure for broadcast journalism at UNT, and decided that THAT was what he wanted to do with his life.

That summer, Austin accepted an internship at NBC 56 where he learned what it was like to work in the news. He began his unofficial career as an NTTV anchorperson in 2004 where he’s worked his way up to news director today.

As the news director, his duties include managing the talent and the news content. He says it’s taught him a lot– he’s learned how to talk to just about everyone over the years.

And he’s had his share of rough days. Not a week ago, Austin had to cancel a newscast due to a power outage. The crew ran through the scripts for practice, but they couldn’t do anything more. They improvised, and used flashlights to read! They were up and running the next day, but they were still unable to use graphics. Austin is a born problem-solver.

That’s not all Anthony Austin is, though. Austin is a bona-fide philanthropist. Once he’s graduated and making enough money, he wants to help a lot of people. He plans on building rent free homes for people who can’t afford housing. Austin says charitable work is heart is.

But that’s jumping way ahead. Austin plans on applying at NBC 56, or another small market station when he graduates and hopes to move up to a bigger market later on. He says he wouldn’t mind doing the Today show, but that’s his ultimate goal!

He’s not even 22 years old yet, and Anthony Austin has already made a name for himself at UNT. NTTV’s newest news director may have a lot under his belt, but he’s got a lot of life ahead of him.

Interactive Elements:  Links, Picture,  & Video

Welp…

For the first assignment, I decided to study the key interactive elements of sites from all around the United States.

Comparing the sites was easier than I thought it’d be.

From the west coast to the east coast I chose:

The Californian, a Minnesota local channel, and the Gettysburg Times in Pennsylvania.

Only the Minnesota website is for television news, the Gettysburg and California sites are newspaper.

The three sites shared many characteristics.

Video was a key interactive element for all of them. All of the websites offered user-friendly video footage.

Both newspaper sites had less footage than the TV news site.

I noticed that only the Gettysburg time didn’t have a poll on the homepage. It also didn’t have slide shows or photo galleries, while both the others had one on their homepages.

I would assume that most big market websites offer more interactive capabilities, but I believe the Gettysburg area is larger than Minnesota’s so my theory is decidedly incorrect.

Overall, the three websites appear to have the same amenities, but the Gettysburg newspaper site is more like an actual newspaper than the others.

It’s very straightforward and to the point.

Although the other two sites are more distracting in their layouts, they display the effects of media convergence more thoroughly.

First Post!

UNT– Jour 3340

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!