SoJ Web Report | Dec. 13, 2011
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| Courtesy photo |
| Lauren Gores, BAJ'09, with her co-anchor at KMIZ. |
Lauren Gores had no idea she’d wind up working with a fellow IU alumna when she got the call from KMIZ. The station found her through consultants Frank N. Magid Associates, which each year assembles a “Fresh Faces Reel” of newly minted journalism school graduates. She didn’t know Erica Nochlin, BAJ’07, in Bloomington — the two were two years apart — but they worked together at the Missouri station and Nochlin became Gores’ biggest mentor.
For the past seven months, Gores has solo anchored and co-produced ABC 17 News This Morning, the station’s 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekday newscast — a post that has her in bed by 6 p.m. and up for the day at midnight. She was a full-time reporter for a year before taking advantage of an open anchor slot.
Wherever it takes her, Gores’ next step will likely involve crazy hours; she says she’s simply fallen in love with mornings.
“As an anchor, there’s a specific relationship you develop with morning viewers,” she explains. “I’m having a cup of coffee with them in the morning. I’m getting them out the door. I’m letting them know what happened around the world while they were asleep.”
Of course, morning shows take a lot of forms, and news is only one of them.
“My ultimate goal is to stay on the morning shift,” Gores says, “whether it’s a news program or a talk show. The possibilities really excite me.”
Already, her efforts at KMIZ have earned her the kudos of her colleagues. She recently picked up a first-place award for Best News Series from the Missouri Broadcasters Association for a three-part report on texting and driving. The first highlighted the problem, the second was a demonstration with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the third, she says, “questioned state lawmakers on why the laws are so weak.” The series also netted her a gold Society of Professional Journalists Kansas City Heart of America Award in the general reporting category.
Like all journalists in the 21st century, Gores knows her way around digital media, working with KMIZ’s new media committee to develop ways to boost the station’s website. She’s also active on Twitter.
But digital isn’t the only way to tell a story, Gores says.
“There are a number of ways to reach people, whether through the newscast, the website or through social media,” she says. “News is everywhere, so as journalists, we have to be mindful of how we’re delivering it.”
That means if there’s breaking news, it has to get on the Web, on Twitter and ultimately on the newscast. “That requires us to set priorities,” she notes. “If we’re 30 seconds from show time, the priority is getting the story on the air.”
She credits the IU School of Journalism with providing the foundation for everything she’s accomplished.
“It sets you up for a good career,” she says. “I still use interviewing and networking skills I learned there.”
Even more important to her current success, though, are two former instructors who made her excited about journalism. “For broadcast, it was Mike Conway,” she says. “And for print, it was Steve Higgs. They recognized my talent and pushed me to run with it.”
She’s used to running — well, to moving around a lot anyway — splitting her time growing up between Los Angeles and the Grand Rapids suburb of Holland, Mich., which she considers home.
“Having the opportunity to spend so much time in two drastically different parts of the country is part of the reason I think I became a journalist,” she says now. “The cities have two very different personalities and cultures. But the emotions people feel are the same everywhere.”
Indeed, that’s what she considers the best part about being a journalist. “Stories connect the public,” she says. “Journalists bring people together through that common emotional thread shared worldwide.”
Questions? Comments? Email the Web editor.
