In the silence

It's as silent as it ever gets in the newsroom. I only hear background noise of scanners, keyboard keys clicking and a far off television. My shift is only half over but I feel spent for a job that is relatively sedentary.

I'm spent because from the moment I walk in the door until about this time every night it's go go go time. I may walk off the desk to track down photographers, editors, engineers, producers, etc., but I'm mostly confined to the news desk where everything comes at me. Constant phone calls. Emails that don't stop. Producers, reporters, photographers and interns ask for help. I may not be physically spent, but mentally I'm done or at least I need a break to rejuvenate.

With the way schedules work on the desk I'm not usually able to take a break. If I take a break it has to be before 5 p.m. but I only come into work at 1:30 p.m. and am slammed most of the time and unable to actually get away. I even eat on the assignment desk!

Today besides the usual craziness and duties of the assignment desk I also pitched several stories that the producers actually wanted. Usually I'm good for one or two stories out of every 10 I pitch, but today I was three for three! I had to multitask to set up these stories for future newscasts at the same time as I was dealing with today's newscasts. It's what has to happen when everyone else’s business day ends at 5 p.m. I have to reach all the contacts on their time tables, not mine. This made for an extremely busy afternoon. I am thankful there was no breaking news added to the mix.

Although if there had been, I still would have made all the calls necessary and done all that was asked of me. That's what it means to be on the news desk. Everything comes through this desk, through me and my coworkers on the desk. When the desk is left out of the planning and the conversations, bad things happen. Live shots are lost. Stories are lost. Crews end up at the wrong locations. It makes me shudder to just think of this!

We yell A LOT in the newsroom. It's usually the only way to be heard over all the other noises. So when I say it's relatively quiet right now, I mean for the first time of the day I can actually hear my own thoughts and process the day and what's still to come.

As long as there's no breaking news I will be able to catch up on all the tasks I have to put off until this time of day such as filing emails, writing up news tips, emailing producers with the stories I've set up, etc. I'm thankful for this time of day.