Jazz Hands By: Karen Pilarski

Recently a news anchor made headlines and the end of a punch line. The anchor on his first live telecast swore on air. He was immediately terminated. Due to the showy and high publicity of his departure he was a media sensation. He was on different morning shows and even landed a few job offers. He was clearly unprofessional and unequipped for the job. Even without the foul mouth, his delivery style was a tad dry. Why wasn’t he banished back to Broadcasting 101 class?

I wonder how someone who can’t control his words is marketable. Frustrating are the countless writers and journalists like me trying to get a foot in the door. If obscenities flew out of my mouth my mother would hunt me down with a bar of soap. 

Every article on job searching says in order to be noticed a person needs to do something to stand out. How do you stand out while still keeping your ethics and professionalism? I want to be noticed because I am talented and not because I can do a fancy dance routine with jazz hands. 

An example of a journalist being noticed for a positive thing was during this past winter. Wisconsin was slammed with a few snow storms. In my neck of the woods there was an anchor who had to stay out in the weather elements for the story. Finally exasperated she said she covered all the angles of the story. In a moment of honesty she said live on the air that the snow sucks. She received good press over her statement. That was a good risk to take. It might have backfired if people were offended. Luckily she was patted on the back for her saying what all people in Wisconsin were feeling. 

In my daily life, I do not use theatrics and stunts to catch attention. I wish I could because then maybe my job search would produce better leads and calls. My dream job is to write for The New York Times. My ambition is to write stories and not be the story.  I have scored the interest of local journalists and some larger media personalities. I can say confidently progress has been made. I managed to move forward without back flips and dropping coins in a swear jar.