Arlington High School
Lindsey took some basic journalism classes while in High School, which sparked her interest in this field.
Anchor & MMJ
Lindsey Mills
In this interview we asked Lindsey about her path to becoming a newscaster and her favorite thing about work. From picking up her camera equipment and chasing down a story, to pitching it to her editors and reporting it on the five o’clock news.
How Lindsey became a Newscaster
Connecting The Dots
Class of 2007
Winter 2008
Intern Arlington Advocate
Lindsey took an internship with her town’s newspaper. Her time there made her realize that being a newspaper columnist was not the right fit for her.
Class of 2011
Endicott College
Lindsey majored in Communication and was the Editor for the school’s newspaper. She credits her success to her professors and the internships she had.
Winter 2009
Intern with HR at WCVB Boston
Sophomore year, Lindsay took an internship with WCVB Boston, and was assigned to shadow people in different departments to learn how a TV station functions and what are the responsibilities of each department.
Spring 2010
Intern at WCVB Newsroom
Junior year, she was required by Endicott to take a semester long internship which she did with the same network as the year before. This time she was assigned to the newsroom.
2010 - 2012
ENG Producer & Writer at WCVB
Senior year, WCVB Boston hired Lindsey as an ENG producer (Electronic News Gathering, which doesn’t exist anymore), the job was to gather the tapes and make sure they were filed in order. As she attended to her duties, co-workers would encouraged her to practice being in front of the camera and report a story. Lindsey sent these recordings to different news organizations across the country.
2012 - 2014
WVII in Bangor ME
WVII Bangor offered Lindsey a job as a newscaster. Her contract was for three years and it was a great opportunity for her to learn how to shoot and edit video within a strict deadline.
2014-2017
WMBD Peoria
WMBD offered a wider audience and Lindsey made the move. This was a great opportunity to learn about anchoring and producing.
Present
News Center Maine
The contract with WMBD ended and Lindsey searched for yet a bigger network. News Center Maine is now where she is a multimedia journalist (MMJ) and anchors the 5 o’clock news .
Industry Details
Newscasters, correspondents, analysts and reporters inform viewers about the news and events at a local, national and international level. Editors will assign topics and stories to research and report on, but a reporter can also chase down a story and pitch it to their editors. Gathering data, setting up interviews, traveling long distances and writing the story is all part of the job. There are different media organizations a reporter (correspondent) can work for like television networks, radio stations, newspapers or websites. Reporters that work for a television news network will be broadcasting live or recorded for future broadcast, so they have to work within very strict deadlines.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Job Outlook
A 10% decline by 2028
Declining advertising revenue will negatively affect the growth of employment. New applicants should expect strong competition for jobs.
Median Pay
$43,000 per year.
This varies depending on years of experience, city and network.
Required Experience
2-3 years of experience.
While in school, a student should intern for newspapers, radio or TV stations.
Schooling
Bachelor’s degree in journalism or communications.
Lindsey Mills
I love to be the one to inform my community,
I love being involved in my community
and all of that goes into being a reporter.
Important Skills
Being able to communicate clearly and efficiently is important for a reporter to successfully and ethically report the news and communicate with their respective editors and interviewees. Interpersonal skills are important to be able to build good relationships with others, from co-workers to interviewees. Most reporters will be responsible for writing, recording and editing their video, so computer or software comprehension is important and operating other relative equipment. Being able to stay motivated and energized is important, since journalists often work long hours under pressure and fast paced situations that can be exhausting. A journalist needs to be persistent.
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