By Becky Rodriguez
Since the
age of 16, Kara Kuzirian has wanted to be a reporter. She has achieved her
dream and now writes for the Woonsocket
Call.
When Kuzirian was a junior in high school, she was asked the question that
we are all asked at one point or another: "What do you want to be when
you grow up?" She has always had an interest in current events and news.
In part, it is a result of her dad asking her to read the front page of the
paper every day when she was growing up. As she recalls, it didn't take her
a long time to enjoy reading it and then discussing what was happening in
the world with her parents. It was this, combined with her love of writing,
that propelled her to be a journalist.
From the start, she knew that she wasn't going to write novels, but Kuzirian had always enjoyed essay writing. One of the things she enjoys most about reporting, she said, is the pace of learning about something quickly and then translating it plainly to others. "I also enjoy the foibles and quirks of people -- I think all journalists are the type of people who never outgrew that 2-year-old stage where they question everything," she said. She believes that without curiosity to want to know why things happen, how they work and why people do what they do, journalism is probably not the right field for a person.
After graduating from high school, Kuzirian went to the University of New Hampshire to study journalism. While there she did a full-time six-month internship at the Gloucester Daily Times on the North Shore of Massachusetts. The internship was a requirement for her degree, and she has been a reporter ever since.
To Kuzirian, it is the unpredictability of the job that makes journalism so exciting. "You can plan out your day or week and as likely as not something will come up you never expected. Because of that you have to be flexible and go with the flow," she said. If you don't have a topic-specific beat, you will then tend to "learn a little bit about a lot of things." Another reason she enjoys reporting so much is that she can keep people informed of the world around them. "You can help people, reach out to someone in trouble, give them the tools to get involved or tell them what their government is doing."
Although the journalism world used to be a man's world, Kuzirian has found that this is no longer the case for her. She believes that being a woman has little to no effect on her writing. Additionally, she believes that "any good reporter should be cognizant of the emotions behind a story and should work to represent all sides of a story." She has never had an editor question whether she was able to do a story or whether or not to assign her a story because of her gender. She says, "I'd be livid if it did happen."
Furthermore, she has found that the few instances of discrimination that do occur, happen in the towns that she covers. Usually it is only the occasional older man saying "sweetheart" or something along those lines, Kuzirian explained. She has noticed that more people tend to comment upon the fact that she is a younger reporter fresh out of college. This "makes people think they can fool you easier I think -- I heard several times when I first started 'oh, are you doing this for school?' " she said.
As far as women in positions of power are concerned, Kuzirian sees few problems of discrimination in the newsroom. Although, she says, "In some ways I suppose it's difficult to quantify how much gender plays a role in reporting. The only way you might have an idea, is if you assigned the same story to a man and a woman and read them without a byline to see if there were a difference." Kuzirian believes, however, that this is a needless distinction to make because it is more important for a reporter to give the right information, than the issue of their gender.
Kuzirian came to the Woonsocket Call fresh out of college after her grandmother saw an ad in the paper for the position. She was not really looking for a job in Rhode Island because she had grown up on Cape Cod and wanted something a little closer to Boston. Nonetheless, Kuzirian answered the ad, expecting to gain some interviewing practice. "I was excited to get the call for an interview because I really wanted to work at a daily, not a weekly. Also the salary was better than I expected," she said. The position was offered to her before she graduated from UNH, so she took it because it gave her the opportunity to work at a daily paper right out of school.
Working for a smaller paper is much different than working for a larger paper. "When you work for a small paper you have to remember you tend to be the real paper of record for that community. Larger papers look at state-wide issues or tend to paint with a broad brush," Kuzirian said. The smaller paper is able to tell directly how something impacts that town. In addition to telling them "the holiday trash-pickup schedule and when Little Johnny made the honor role."
Although she loves journalism, Kuzirian does see some negative aspects of the profession. She is concerned about the loss of family-owned newspapers and of smaller companies that own only one or two papers. "Conglomeration creates a real lack of diversity in newspapers and a fear to experiment with different stories and ideas," she said. Additionally, Kuzirian said that "newspapers are losing a clear identity, and making a decision based on the company's bottom line rather than news value is a bad precedent that is unfortunately becoming the norm at both large and small papers."
Kuzirian also has noticed a difference between newspaper writing on the college level and the professional level. "My editors have a lot less oversight on my daily activities now that I'm a full-time reporter. I come up with my stories and figure out who I will talk to about those stories," she said. In addition, Kuzirian has noticed that a professional reporter requires more of a colloquial store of knowledge on everyday issues. These issues include a working knowledge of taxes and budgets. However, Kuzirian said that "if you don't write for a college paper I think you miss out on a great foundation." And, she added, a good professional reporter shouldn't forget the process of learning about a subject and doesn't stop searching for ways to write fresh stories.
A new reporter faces many challenges, and Kuzirian feels that the biggest mistake a novice can make is being too friendly toward the people you cover. "Inevitably you form friendships and relationships with the people you talk to over time. Being objective does not mean you don't have an opinion, but it does mean that you don't let that opinion cloud your information-gathering or affect how you present a story."
The advice she would give to aspiring reporters is to "be prepared to have an entirely different work schedule than your friends or peers." Newspapers usually comes out seven days a week, every day of the year. A reporter is expected to work nights, weekends and holidays. "This is a career that can cause burnout -- if you don't still love what you do, it's pretty hard to fake it," Kuzirian said.
Read a story by Kara Kuzirian