Ranji Sinha is a reporter for News 12 New Jersey based out of Edison, NJ. He has 10 years of reporting experience and has covered many news stories, his favorite being the coverage on Hurricane Sandy. You can also find Ranji Sinha on many multimedia platforms including Twitter and Facebook.
Can you give a little background story for those that don’t know you?
Ranji Sinha: I was born and raised in Long Island, which seems surprising to some, and I was raised with other Indian-Americans but there were far fewer than there are now. I also have been working for 15 years-plus. I graduated high school in ’93 and college in ’97.
What was your major and minor if you had a minor?
RS: I was an English major, and my minor was journalism. It was a minor at Tufts University where I went to school.
What inspired you to go into Journalism?
RS: I wanted to do something different, and my parents had pressured me to do a “traditional” field. I also found out through internships and jobs that I was doing alright with it and figured I would keep pursuing it.
Did you always know that you wanted to go into the journalism field?
RS: Believe it or not I didn’t really know I wanted to do this until college, I had always been exposed to the news, but not until Sophomore year did I really choose it.
How did you get to where you are at News 12 NJ?
RS: I had my agent apply and eventually a recruiter considered me.
Was it hard to break into the journalism field?
RS: It was difficult but also I started at really small places first which gave me stronger consideration. Moving up was difficult, but I simply kept at it.
How would you describe your duties?
RS: I report on General Assignment five nights a week. I come in pitch ideas, or get assigned a story. I make calls, set up interviews, do the interviews and write the pieces.
What is your typical day like?
RS: I start around 1:30 PM research stories online and read over our assignment roster. We have a news meeting at 2pm when we decided for stories for the evening, and then we head out for coverage. I usually report live in the 7, 8 and 10 pm newscasts, turning our stories by then.
Are there any accomplishments that you are most proud of? Why?
RS: I was proud of our Sandy coverage, and the connections I’ve made through it. It was the biggest story that I’ve ever covered and I was glad to be able to be part of it. Within that I shot a standup in the water in front of the roller coaster that fell into the ocean. I believe I was the only reporter to do so.
What do you enjoy about being a newscaster?
RS: I enjoy the variety, work is different every day, I’m out in the world, not behind a desk, and I also don’t have work come home with me in the traditional sense.
How do you think the future of the journalism field looks?
RS: I think it’s heading online even more and more. I also like the edgier news outlets that hit stories in a different way. I’d love to see the anchor-reporter news set ups applied in a way to those edgy outlets. Unique sets, not so traditional dress, I think it would be appealing in general to another generation. Then again, I could be wrong.
How do you use social media to connect with your audience and followers?
RS: I tweet and post on Facebook to publicize what I’m working on. It’s a fairly simple strategy, but I also feel like I could be getting better engagement if I was a little more savvy.
Do you think social media is beneficial to the journalism field? Why or Why not?
RS: I think Social media is a benefit, since it drives viewer and readership, if my engagement was better I think it could produce story ideas.
From your experience, do you see a difference in technology in the field of journalism?
RS: I think technology has advanced tremendously, we have remote backpacks that allow for live shots and feeding video, we also can use the internet to FTP. These are all things that at one point could only be done with sat truck. I think Sat trucks still produce a better picture though, and are useful in situations where that is important, active lives etc.
What are three pieces of advice that you could give a journalism student like me who is trying to break into the journalism field?
RS:
1) I work in TV so my best advice has often focused on that but I’ll try to modify… I think you have to get work samples of any sort to use for applying for a job. For TV people want to see you on video and that you look good and know what you’re doing. But getting that material is key.
2) I think starting small can help you break in, but if you have the chance and timing at something new or groundbreaking –a new network or site– try hard for that, because it could get you into something faster and frankly better.
3) It sounds pretty basic, but people skills need to be developed, as does asking questions and being direct about it. As silly as it may sound getting really skilled at typing helps a great deal since it will just help you crank things out faster.
Hannah Fakhrzadeh 