Five reasons why TV journalism is harder than print

After being a practice TV reporter for the first time at Operation Shooting Star, I realized a few things about the differences between TV and print journalism. I'd like to share the thoughts that I took away from this experience.

1. When interviewing for TV, you have to be on the ball. Unlike print, where you're likely writing down your reponses to questions and have that "sorry I'm just writing this all down" grace period before you ask the next question, TV interviews are usually done with a mic in hand (therefore less room to roam with a pad and paper) and a camera in your face. There are no grace periods or room to process information from the last response. You have to know your next question by the time the interviewees lips stop moving.
2. TV requires you to visit a lot more places before your story can be edited. Not only do you have to have the content, you have to have the footage too.
3. Many people freeze when interviewed on camera. It's no longer you and them chatting one on one, it's them chatting to (in their minds) thousands of people. This can make for a weaker interview, because interviewees can blank on the info they know due to nervousness. This causes you to spend more time getting answers.
4. You have to be confident with your story as you're creating it, because you can't go back to the news studio to edit the footage until you have your conclusion. The conclusion in a print story has a bit more time to be sorted out.
5. Even though print and TV journalism can have the same deadline, TV requires the journalist to get more stuff done (interviews AND footage) and there is no room to forget something, unlike print. If you forget something, your shooter...and you likely need more footage. Print, on the other hand, requires a quick google search or phone call and a few extra words.

But you know what they say: "Practice makes perfect." And I remember once thinking an interview for a print story was the most difficult thing on the planet, because god forbid you forget something. In the end it's all about narrowing down your own formula and becoming confident that you know what you're doing.