Bismarck State College student

follows in her mother’s footsteps by pursuing a career as a broadcast journalist

By Andrew Weeks

While growing up, Taylor Aasen remembers watching her mom, Debbie Aasen, cut VHS tapes as a broadcast reporter. Times have changed since then, the tape having been replaced by digital technology, but the fundamentals of news gathering and reporting have remained the same.

Now at age 24, Aasen is treading the same path – albeit with newer technology – that her mom, who died in 2015, followed all those years ago.

Aasen is a second-year mass communications student at Bismarck State College and works at the same station, KX News in Bismarck, that her mom worked at for a number of years before Parkinson’s disease shortened her life. In her role at the station, Aasen shares weather updates and reports news, the latter being her favorite.

“I started at KX last year when I moved here (from Mohall, North Dakota),” she said. “I started as a camera operator. When we were losing our weekend meteorologist, I jokingly one day said ‘I’ll do it – you know, point at the green screen and say things to clouds and stuff.’”

It was no joke for those who heard her, though. “They took me seriously and so now I work as a weakened weather anchor, and then I moved my way up to reporting as well,” she said.

After working as a journalist for a while now, Aasen understands why her mother loved her career so much. It’s mostly about the people, telling their stories on the air.

She definitely keeps busy between school and work, always trying to find a balance.

At Bismarck State, Aasen is the executive producer of MystiCast, the broadcast department of Mystic Media, the school’s multimedia studio.

“I put together the show and write up scripts and make sure students are on top of their game,” she explained. After school, she’s at the news station.

It’s a tough juggle sometimes, with long days and sparse meals, but the reward comes with the people she is able to meet almost daily. She especially enjoys human interest stories – “I think everyday people are interesting,” she said – and recalls one memorable story she reported about a farmer who traveled from Washington State to Minnesota in his John Deere tractor.

She also has covered events about Parkinson’s disease, the illness that altered her mother’s life and impacted their family, and a number of other local stories.

Aasen said she looks forward to establishing a long-term career as a broadcast journalist, and noted that reporting for a national news outlet doesn’t interest her as much as it does staying close to home. She takes to heart the news mantra that local news is paramount.

People tell her, “‘Oh, you’re going to go national one day,’ but I like the local field,” she said. “I think that’s what North Dakota really needs, people who care about their local communities, and so I would love to just continue to report local.”

However, she added: “I would love to do personal interest stories. That’s my jam. ... I like meeting interesting people. I just want to continue working at KX and continue to bring local news to North Dakota.” continued on page 32

For now, she keeps busy doing the juggling act of work and school, with a graduation date of May 2023. She said she chose Bismarck State because of its hands-on learning opportunities. There are plenty of opportunities to “learn by doing” at the college, she said.