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Jules Marcantonio - Broadcast Journalism
During her time in the broadcast journalism program at the University of Mississippi, Jules Marcantonio was heavily involved in the student-run daily newscast, NewsWatch Ole Miss.
She is now a producer for WSMV News 4 in Nashville, working from home. Of all the newsroom jobs, producing newscasts would seem to be one of the toughest to do from a kitchen table, but WSMV News 4 producer Jules Marcantonio is doing just that.
To gear up, Marcantonio said the station gave her a WiFi hot spot and a computer that is typically used by a photojournalist to submit content from the field. It included iNews and a remote access client, which allowed her to work directly on the newscast rundown and gave her access to all the station’s video and information sources.
“I’m the first one. My news director said, ‘You’re the guinea pig,’ but they’re planning on sending another producer home tomorrow and starting another next week,” said Marcantonio after her first day of remote producing back in March.
According to Marcantonio, the Meredith-owned station is trying to reduce the number of people in the newsroom every day, basically “trying to get as many bodies out of there as they can.”
After just one day, Marcantonio said she’s had to change a number of things about her routine.
Communication is the biggest challenge. “There’s no more hearing the assignment editor shout out the updates. Now, I have to constantly keep up with email.”
More time-consuming. “I got up a little earlier today; I just knew I’d need more time.” Marcantonio said she was slowed down a bit, too, by having just one computer to work on vs. the two screens she has in the newsroom.
“Right now, my roommate is still going into work, but it’s gonna get tricky when she’s there full-time.” She said the station’s reporters and photojournalists have discovered this as they do much of their work from home, too.
“I hope it’s temporary. Going to work, as stressful as it is, your questions are answered in two seconds — this way everything just takes longer. You can definitely do it with the
Jules Marcantoniio in the WSMV News 4 studio. Now she works from home producing newscasts.
right equipment, but to really do this job well, you need to be there, in the newsroom.”
Marcantonio handles everything except overseeing the show in the control room. Before air, she discusses the plan for the newscast with the station’s executive producer, who makes the calls in the booth. The changes in responsibilities are affecting everyone, she said, especially because they’ve added three newscasts to each day.
She said even if she could get time off right now, she’s not sure she would take it. She lives less than a mile from the station and said she wants to be able to get there quickly if needed. So, what’s her biggest concern now about producing newscasts from home?
“I’m not sure I can do this for months. I’m a little worried I might go insane,” she said with a laugh.
