Jordan Schuman
 Multimedia Journalist
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Day 18: On Always Having Enough Gas

2/21/2014

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Today started like any other day of work. Except I made really great time this morning, and I even stopped for gas on my way.

Good thing I did, too, because while I had enough gas to make it to work and back, (usually all the traveling I do on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday) today I was going out on a shoot. I didn't know it when I filled up my tank, but I ended up logging 30+ more miles than usual. 

The reason why: Yesterday, a woman was driving with her 5-month-old nephew on the Dolphin Expressway when she noticed he had abruptly stopped crying, and stopped breathing too. The baby had been born two months early, explaining the respiratory struggle he has not yet overcome. The woman, Pamela Rauseo, jumped from her car and began screaming for help. A passerby pulled over and came to assist. In the car behind them happened to be Al Diaz, a photographer for The Miami Herald. Diaz walked down the expressway for more help, and found a police officer. In the meantime, Rauseo began giving the baby CPR. The police officer took over when he arrived. Also stuck in the same traffic? A Captain and Lieutenant from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. 

The story quickly gained national prominence. Partially for the abnormality of it. The baby is so, so young. And stopped breathing in traffic on the expressway? It was kind of chilling how real the situation is for all of us who ever sit in traffic on an expressway. And it's a very real reminder that tomorrow is never promised… for any of us.  Further, the fact that the photographer who found the cop happened to be on the Dolphin Expressway. This was lucky for the baby, and lucky for us, because without his photos, there would quite seriously be no story. Moreover, the aunt and baby were on their way home from a doctor's appointment. And lastly, the fact that the two men from Fire Rescue were sitting in the same traffic related to this very incident when they heard it over their radios. 

So today at around 10 a.m. I was sent to meet a photographer at Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. 

I showed up and parked where it said, "Media Parking." I quickly found my photographer. We walked over to the entrance to the building where the interviewing was taking place. The media coordinator for the Fire Rescue team came over to me and said she didn't believe we had met, and proceeded to introduce herself. I made a mental note that in the future, I should be the one to say I didn't believe we had met, and introduce myself.  

I said, "I'm Jordan." She said "With…" and I said, "NBC News."

After I said it, I thought to myself, Holy shit. I'm Jordan Schuman with NBC News. Haven't I waited a really long time to be Jordan Schuman with NBC News? Today, I was. 

I interviewed both men who responded on behalf of Fire Rescue. I re-learned why it was best to interview them separately. There are a few reasons for this, actually. It's very awkward when you have a shot of two subjects and only one of them speaks. It sometimes causes the viewer to question why the second person is there in the first place. Secondly, when two people are together in an interview, one tends to dominate the conversation, and the only way to keep this from happening and truly get the most information is by separating the subjects.

My photographer was planning to leave Fire Rescue and shoot some video of heavy traffic on the Dolphin Expressway where the emergency occurred. I was going to head back to the office. 

Before we left the parking lot, the photographer received a phone call from our Bureau Chief letting him know we were to instead head to the aunt's house to interview her, and another photographer would get the traffic. I asked, "is someone meeting us there?" I was expecting him to tell me Mark Potter, the correspondent working on this story, would be there too. Instead, he said, "nah, we can do it."

It was this moment I realized no matter how many people were necessary to make this story happen, NBC would not have sent me if they didn't think I'd act professionally, ask the right questions, etc. I was thrilled to be on this adventure considering that as a bureau, most of our shoots are a long distance drive or plane ride away, and planned in advance and not on days I'm working. I was just lucky this news broke and was relevant when I was sitting at my desk. 

We headed to interview the aunt and arrived at the house at 11:45 a.m. It turns out the interview was scheduled for 1 p.m. so we went to lunch and returned shortly after 12:30 p.m. Also in the driveway was a photographer and reporter from Telemundo. They're on our team. 

We waited for Pamela Rauseo and in the meantime, reporters from the ABC & Univision and FOX affiliates also joined us outside the house. The tension was palpable. 

When Pamela's husband arrived, he told us he had committed to interview with us and Telemundo, and everyone else would have to wait. Why? Because we had called ahead and set up an interview, while the other reporters showed up and hoped for the best. It was that moment I knew I was on the right team. 

We went inside the house to set up for our interview and Pamela walked in. Before this, I realized that Pamela would be walking through the front door which was being crowded by aforementioned unscheduled reporters. There was nothing we could do if Pamela stopped to answer their questions first. We hoped she wouldn't because it would set us back in our schedule immensely. She didn't. Instead, she told them she was going to go ahead with her committed interviews with us, and if they wanted to wait they could. They didn't want to wait. 

I felt bad for Pamela for a little bit. She did a truly wonderful thing and saved her nephew's life, but yesterday, she was just a woman who lives a quiet life in Miami and has a 5-month-old nephew. Today, everyone wanted to talk to her. After she walked in, she handed her phone to her husband and said someone would be calling from Anderson Cooper. I couldn't imagine how overwhelmed she felt. 

A producer did end up coming to the house to help us. She conducted the interview. At the end, it's customary to ask the person if there's anything we didn't touch on that she wanted to discuss. She said no, so my producer then asked me if there was anything we didn't touch one that I wanted to discuss. There wasn't, but I was really glad she asked. 

Afterward, we shot some B-roll in the baby's room. The photographer shot Pamela looking through a closet of too-cute baby clothes. Baby clothes make me all sentimental even when they aren't assigned to a child. Especially tiny little precious baby shoes. I suggested my photographer get a shot of the pairs of shoes on a shelf.

He told me he already did, but said I had a good eye for catching them.

There's a famous piece of literature believed to be authored by Ernest Hemingway: 

                                                              For sale: baby shoes, never worn

It is often considered the shortest novel in history. I know how much these 6 words say, so imagine them in pictures? I thought about the very different story we could have been covering if not for the kindness of strangers and the assistance of nearby officials. The baby shoes would speak even more volumes that way. I'm so glad they didn't have to.

At around 2:04 p.m., my photographer asked me if I was a fast driver. I said yes, because… I don't know why. I just said yes. He gave me the tape to bring back to the bureau, since this story was for Nightly News and we were on a very tight deadline. 

I didn't speed, but I wondered if I had, if a police officer would understand and/or care and/or empathize with the fact that, "I need to bring this tape back to the office as soon as I can because it's going on Nightly News tonight- that's NBC- and I'm only going soooo quickly because, well, see I'm only an intern but I worked really hard on this story and I need to get it to New York!!" I was glad I didn't need to say any of that to anyone.

I brought it back to the office and immediately started logging with another producer. I log a lot, but this time, instead of hearing Mark Potter or Kerry Sanders ask the questions, I heard my voice. Remember, I'm Jordan Schuman with NBC News.

At 4 p.m., we had a script. It was sent for approval and was approved. I could not believe this was going to be on Nightly News. I watched an editor in the edit room which slowly filled up with producers. By 6:30 p.m., Mark Potter, me, an editor and two producers were in the room. We were on the phone feeding the story to New York around 6:27 p.m. I could not believe this story was going to be on Nightly News. On the other end of the phone was the control room at 30 Rock. You know 30 Rock. Where NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams is shot? Well we heard a countdown from 10 and we were on the air. Though I still could not believe this story was going on Nightly News, I started to. NY had our story at about 6:28 p.m. The show went live at 6:30 p.m. 

I breathed a sigh of relief after the time-crunch story-chasing day we had. I said goodnight to everyone at work, and we celebrated a job well done. 

I drove home. 

When I got home, I received an email that the Senior Producer at Nightly loved our story, and people were saying "yay!" in the control room.

That would've been more than enough for me, but this tweet from @MarkPotterNBC didn't hurt either…

"@jordanschumantv We are thrilled to have Jordan working with us. She is so smart and has such a bright future!"

You know, just in case you weren't sure this blog is the blog to be reading.

It is :)

You heard it here first,
Jordan

See the full piece here.

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February 13th - Fear of Missing Out is Nothing to Fear

2/13/2014

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This morning I left my room with a backpack for school, a tote bag with hair and makeup and high heels, a mug for coffee, and a hanger with a dress for an interview I'm doing later today. But not the dress I'm wearing on air tonight. Oh, and I was still wearing my slippers. I quickly opened my door and changed once I realized my mistake.

On the way to class today, I called my mom and she asked me a question that related to Thursday and for some reason I automatically assumed she meant tomorrow which meant today had to be Wednesday which meant, did I wake up and prepare every single thing to be ready to go on the air tonight if that's not happening until tomorrow???

I am 20 years old. I really genuinely thought this losing-your-mind was supposed to happen 40 years from now.

Is my Fear of Missing Out so bad that I've just decided to mentally skip days to avoid the reality that I can't actually do it all? Freud, help a sister out here. I do have Fear of Missing Out. I love crossing things off of my to-do list, but I hate crossing things out just because they won't get done. I really really hate that most of all. More on my to-do list here.
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A very close friend told me recently that he thinks I'll be successful someday because of what I'm doing now. I appreciated how direct he made Point A and Point B seem. I think he was referring to the no-finish-line-in-sight marathon of busy that is my life, and the package-deal Fear of Missing Out that accompanies it. He is the very same type of busy. You should see how long it takes us to make dinner plans.

I stayed at work yesterday 2 hours past 5 p.m. I was logging the Michael Dunn trial closing statements. I didn't tell anyone I had plans to shoot a story last night. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is a fraternity on our campus based in music, and they provide Singing Valentines on campus for 3 days around Valentine's Day. I love Valentine's Day and I wanted to shoot the story. I crossed "Singing Valentines" off of my to-do list in the worst kind of way. The just not gonna happen way.

I could've left work at 5 and let someone else finish the logging, but I truly believe a task is not over when you are done, the task is over when it is finished. I stayed.

That's my Fear of Missing Out. Some college students' Fear of Missing Out refers to missing a frat party or a trip to the beach, but mine requires missing work for more work. I do not mind it that way, but I fear it just the same.

Some days it's hard. Today. I go to class, class, class, food?, (outfit 1) hair, makeup, interview, (outfit 2) NewsVision, (outfit 3) and then I have 3 plans for 8 p.m. Which requires saying no to two of them.

Some days I really miss the pool. And Fridays are hard too because they play country music at the campus restaurant and if I am anywhere near it, it's a magnetic force that I lose all control over.

Yes I keep a physical to-do list, but I also keep a mental one. It has personal career goals of mine, big big dreams and some tasks that wouldn't even seem possible today. It has the serious stuff. I appreciated hearing from my friend that he thinks I will accomplish all of that, because I try to tell that to myself too.

Even if you don't verbally tell yourself or even mentally tell yourself, you have to, have to, have to believe in, understand and subscribe to the idea that the big list, the really important list, the list that actually matters, will only get done if you get up and do what's on the list today.

So my alarm went off at 8 a.m. today. And I got up and got to it.

You heard it here first,
Jordan

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Day 13: The World Does Not Stop for the Olympics

2/12/2014

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On Sunday I said, "You don't get to stop living life just because everything else falls apart around you." (Or something like that.)

I said it in a very dramatic moment of heat, sunshine, dehydration, hunger, doing the same thing all weekend long-ness, and yes, PMS.

I said it at Sportsfest, which took place this past weekend at UMiami. Sportsfest is a weekend-long event full of athletic competitions. It takes place from about 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on a Friday, 9 a.m.-11 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to about 2 p.m. on Sunday. There's not much time for meals or hygiene. Not to mention the months of preparation and tireless hours of painstaking work.

Nope, the world does not stop for Sportsfest. I'm realizing now this is a blessing and a curse, as sometimes continuing to live in the hot sun and watch kickball without eating lunch for just one more minute just seems absolutely horrific. But I also know that sometimes, even though you want to stop, you can't. You just have to keep going. (Honestly, I think this reality is someone up there doing us all a very big favor.)

Remember aforementioned dramatic moment when I wanted to stop living life? Sportsfest followed a weekend of RA Selection (about 11 hours of evaluating candidates) and prefaced a week of two stories, a newscast and two tests. As I took on each assignment, I felt myself overextending. I knew there was a moment when I was supposed to say no to something. I didn't.

I've said before that not every day has to be a good day. Some days, you get credit for getting up, putting on real clothes and living that day anyway. And most days, that's what I do. I get up, I put on real big-girl clothes and I live that day anyway. Ok wait, all of my clothes are real clothes. I do not have imaginary clothes. But I do that. I wake up and live. I'm just lucky that most of those days end up being really good. Or I work very hard to make sure they are. And on the days that aren't because you're tired or you want to cry or you really genuinely thought Flag Football and Capture the Flag were the same thing, the world does not stop for Sportsfest… er, the Olympics.

But now I realize that we like it that way.

So at work on Monday after a very busy weekend of spending time with freshmen and running around to make athletic events happen, (game time is forfeit time, and we do not forfeit) I was logging tape.

NBC paid for 1500 hours of Olympic coverage. NBC paid $775 million for the rights to exclusively broadcast the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. 98 events are scheduled, including a dozen new sports events aiming for younger demographics.

But even NBC knows the world doesn't stop for the Olympics. News is made elsewhere. Tapes need to be logged, Atlanta is icing over, trials and hearings occur.

It's true-- and actually a good thing -- that my life could not stop for Sportsfest and it's also good NBC's doesn't stop for the Olympics… because what would I be doing at work if it did?

You heard it here first,
Jordan










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Leno's Last Tonight

2/7/2014

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If you can imagine the world of television as a high school cafeteria, I can tell you exactly who would sit where.

At one table, you have mornings: Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Natalie Morales, Al Roker, Willie Geist, Norah O'Donnell, Charle Rose, Gayle King, Lara Spencer, Robin Roberts, Josh Elliot, George Stephanopoulos and Ginger Zee.

At another table, you have evenings: Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer, Anderson Cooper, Scott Pelley.

There's entertainment: Giuliana Rancic, Terrence Jenkins, Ryan Seacrest, Mario Lopez, Catt Sadler, Jason Kennedy, Nancy O'Dell, etc.

Midday: Kelly Ripa, Michael Strahan, Ellen Degeneres, Barbara Walters, etc.

The legends: Dan Rather, Roone Arledge, Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, David Brinkley.

And then the late night: Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno.

I always pictured the evening news table the "popular kids." Cool, collected, classy, kind. If only for a day, that's where I want to sit. Or at least I'd want an invite to the prom to come from their table. The entertainment table is definitely the most fun. I feel like they'd just laugh until the bell rang? I'd like to sit with mornings too - trust me, that's the dream... but I feel like they're not as liked across the board as the evenings are. But late night is the party table. Late night has genuine good fun, is there to bid goodnight to America. And I'm pretty sure they have Dunkaroos and Sunny D (but you didn't hear it from me.)

Late night is full of rich history, it explains society and the world through laughter, and the hosts are as much of our family as our parents are. For those of us who turn on a certain show every night without fail, it is a big deal when the host leaves. Late Night tucks you into bed on your good days, and cuddles for a little on your bad.

Jay Leno has hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno since 1992 (this was before I was born). He left for a brief 146 episodes but returned, and in total hosted 4,610 episodes. He has never had an agent, and does not have a manager. He has interviewed Presidents, musicians, news makers and culture-shakers, and commented on tragedies, celebrations and just an average Wednesday.

In his final goodbye, Leno thanked his audience, and said he would not have been on the air without them. He said these have been the greatest 22 years of his life. Please do not forget the immense prestige, power and potential The Tonight Show boasts. He calls The Tonight Show an institution. I love love love that word. It is based in rich history, tradition and professionalism. He quoted Johnny Carson, and he cried. There is something so so special about sitting in a seat that an icon has sat in before you. I say special but even that doesn't seem enough. Please recall Jay Leno is only the 5th person in the entire world to ever do what he did: Host The Tonight Show.

Watch Leno's Goodbye Here.   And please do yourself the favor and watch it.

Jimmy Fallon, formerly on SNL and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, will be taking Leno's seat and bringing Tonight to NYC on February 17th, which is also the 60th anniversary of the show. I happen to love Jimmy Fallon. Leno said it makes total sense that Fallon takes over his job- he is young and connected. He's collaborated musically with both Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus. He will surely usher in the new generation (I think this means me?) into the Late Night television world. The new generation will grow up with this show, the way my parents' generation did with Leno.

Further, Fallon does everything with such excitement and vigor. You can tell he is still the kid who came home from school and stayed up late to sneak in some late night television. I'm excited to see where he takes the show. But what I really love the most is watching these men navigate the transition. You can see how grateful and humbled Leno is in his final moments on the show, and you can see how hopeful and wide-eyed Fallon is as the torch is passed to him.

I'm curious to watch it happen. Torch-passing is not always easy, as we learned from The Today Show and the book that inspired this blog post.

At the close of his show, Leno joked that now that he had brought the room down, everyone needed some lifting up. Out came Garth Brooks to sing Friends in Low Places. Please understand I've cried every time I've watched this clip.

Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
and ruined your black tie affair

I knew the lyrics to this song before I was in 1st Grade. If you will, this song is in my roots. I have vivid memories of this song blasting in the living room in our Melville, Long Island house. My dad would play it, and I'd sing and bop along. I love this song. I would argue this song is the reason my love of country music resurfaced years later.

In his last goodbye, Leno said, "And when people say to me, 'why don't you go to ABC, why don't you go to Fox?' I don't know anybody there." It got a laugh but I don't think it was supposed to be funny. The point is, NBC is Leno's roots. 

And you know what they say about roots. You're never supposed to forget them.

Thank you, Jay Leno! Fallon promised that whenever you want a stage, you've got one. And I think it's a sure bet your seat at the cafeteria table is safe too.

You heard it here first,
Jordan

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