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Producers do a lot of the work that you see onscreen without actually appearing on air themselves. As Heli tells us, a producer's role| involves working with reporters to turn a story into a package. If a reporter is unsure of how to finish a piece or how to illustrate it, the producer is the person he or she turns to. With duties including script writing, picture clipping and finding good sound bites, it is a position requiring sound journalistic skills, and now more than ever, additional skills such as the ability to edit video and sometimes even operate a camera.
Heli is often responsible for producing the newsbelt stories| in the bulletin which are a series of short news items that are hard to expand upon. It could be that the amount of information that can be disclosed is limited for legal reasons, or that there aren't enough pictures available for a full-length report. The reporter, the producer and the editor jointly decide which angle to take| on a story. Producers will normally produce a news item| in one day, but they can also pitch ideas for longer pieces. Some of these can take as long as six months to turn around.
Despite having to work long hours, Heli says she can't imagine doing anything else. Like any job, there are challenges|; she gets to talk to prime ministers and celebrities, but it's also a job that is stressful, high-energy and involves tight deadlines. Landing a job| as a television news producer can be difficult, and working with CNN during her final year at the London School of Economics and doing a post-graduate degree in broadcast journalism helped Heli get to where she is today.
