Broadcast journalists cover election night: Samantha Watkins

On election night, senior broadcast journalism majors Greta Wall and Katie Seals, junior broadcast journalism major Marissa Hornaday, senior media communications major Angel Zamora and I arrived at Golden Hall with equipment ready to film. The first step was to claim a spot and set up our equipment. We didn’t have a fancy stage like the television stations or even a table like Carlsbad High School. A little square on the ground became our home base and we took off.

We broke up into teams, Greta and Katie went to Republican Carl Demaio’s and incumbent Scott Peter’s election at hotels while Marissa, Angel and I stayed in Golden Hall where the rest of the politicians remained. On our smart phones, we looked up politicians to get background information and a current photo that helped us track them down. Thank goodness for smart phones because without them, we would have to write everything down beforehand.

In the midst of election night, I spotted Lorena Gonzales, assemblywoman for the 80th District, speaking with Fox News and I went right there by the sidelines to wait. That was the game of the night: find the politician who was being interviewed for a major network, wait by the sidelines until she finished and then prance. There was no room to wait or the politician would get moved on to the next network.

It was extremely helpful to have Angel with us as he worked the camera for Marissa and me as we tracked politicians and brainstormed questions. We always had the microphone and camera next to us, so when we got a hold of a politician, we were prepared. They were always short on time.
The highlight of my night was interviewing San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer as I was able to ask him his opinion on candidates who were running for city council like Chris Kate. Greta and I had interviewed Faulconer last year when he won the mayoral election. With that, all of us broadcasters took a photo with him. It was not a selfie as we hoped, but just as good.

Check out the twitter @CoastlinePLNU to see more photos from that night.