Non-female profession: TV journalist

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Having worked for two years as a correspondent for the television news "Inform-TV", I understood one hundred percent: a television journalist is not a woman's profession. We'd better seek recognition in something else.

At the age of 18 I had a period of homegrown feminism. Then I was focused on a career and angrily brushed aside all encroachments on my hand and heart. And so fate gave me a job on television. I was a correspondent for the city's main television company. My voice sounded from the blue screen 2-3 times a day. Such persons as V. Putin, G. Seleznev, G. Zyuganov, the Governor of St. Petersburg V. Yakovlev and other prominent politicians, theater and pop stars flashed in my stories. Neighbors unanimously asked if I was going on a business trip to Chechnya. The girls envied me. And I was angry with them - precisely for this envy. Because when TV people say that they have a crazy life, they are not flirting at all. And the word "madness" is used absolutely literally.

Judge for yourself. Arriving on TV, I almost immediately realized that apart from work, from now on, I would have nothing in my life. If you are not a seasoned journalist (and there are only a few of them), then you must constantly gush out ideas, be cheerful and always on full alert. And it doesn't matter that yesterday at 23.00 you were filming the fire, but today at 8.30 I was sitting at the computer, watching the news feeds for the morning broadcast. For the happiness of working as a correspondent, I gave up ballroom dancing, French and business school - everything that I dreamed of. It followed from everything that television will henceforth be the only thing that I can do.

However, education is a separate problem. I came to TV in the second year of the Faculty of Journalism of St. Petersburg State University. And from that moment on, my studies stopped. No, I didn't quit Univer. The set two days off - if there was nothing extraordinary at work - I planned for Monday and Wednesday in order to attend the most necessary lectures. The rest of the information (this is in the third year) passed me by or was assimilated from textbooks - at night, in transport. On tests and exams they let go "with a creak". I, an excellent student, did not have "automatic machines" and "tails" appeared.

I hardly talked with my friends. They were quite rightly offended that I abandoned them, that, like the last bore, for the tenth time I refused to go with them to the disco, referring to an important shooting in the morning.

Television is also difficult because you have to show a non-feminine character. Like a man, it is tough to break through the police cordon, pester some high-ranking man with a request for an interview, communicate with criminals and semi-deaf pensioners. Over time, I realized that I was becoming more cynical and also that I was becoming like everyone else. It is very difficult to be a woman first and then a journalist. You have to forget that you are soft, gentle, that a man protects you from all the unsightly moments of life. You need to be ready to dig into someone else's dirty linen, breaking off a French manicure.

Clothing is another problem. Personally, I just can't imagine myself without heels and prefer skirts to trousers. But on TV it may well happen that you are signed for the construction of a monument or the launch of a new ship. And so you hobble along the sand and gravel in thin heels, cursing the operator who is in a hurry, they say, "we still need to catch a bump."And it also happens that you cover a meeting, and then rain or snow - and mascara flows down your face, and your hair turns into icicles. In general, I quickly realized that the best clothes for a journalist are jeans and boots, a ponytail on the head, or better, a short haircut, and a cleanly washed face.

By the way, about sex. The personal life of a television reporter is such that it is either absent or goes on without interruption from production. Television is swarming with office romances. During the two years that I worked, at least 7 couples were formed with me, of which 3 managed to get married. There are plenty of opportunities to get to know each other on set. And with the best representatives of men. There are no opportunities to meet. There is simply no time.

As for the female function of "homemaker", during my TV career, my mother generously removed my household duties from me. And if you get married? What kind of husband will tolerate that his wife comes home at 12 at night and does not at all seek to cook borscht and, at the most, can make sandwiches. The television world is insidious - until you become "someone", you cannot get out of it for a second. A replacement will be found quickly.

And most importantly, I realized that it is difficult for TV people to get along with anyone other than a colleague. Only such a husband will understand his wife's wild work schedule, and an uncooked dinner (I don't know how long he will be so understanding) and, most importantly, your problems. Oddly enough, but I broke up with my fiancé, working on TV, already on another channel. The situation is trivial: the boss shouted and rode about my professionalism. Hastily called by me, beloved and loving person tried to console me, but all his words flew by. He didn't understand me. And the director, whom I knew for several days, said simply: Remember, Lenka: there will always be someone on television who will say that you you will say: “You yourself g.. but.” These words hit the mark. I calmed down and realized that he was damn right.

Of course, I have outlined the negative side of working on television for a woman. But, working on TV, I could not imagine life without my news, I sincerely loved what I do, and, most likely, I will continue to work in my specialty. But the fact is also another: having come to work on TV, a woman is faced with so many problems, in the solution of which she will need not femininity, but courage. And the cost of success can be so high that not every woman is willing to pay it, even if she can.

Elena Zverlova

5.03.01