It’s fairly simple. In theory, that is. The ideal work day for me as a foreign correspondent would combine time of the day with the highest usage of a particular medium at that moment.
That means I would do something for radio in the early morning, when most listeners tune in. Around lunch time I’d like to have published a piece on the website, since lots of people start surfing at work. And leading up to the evening (when people come home to watch the news, hopefully) I would prepare one thing or another for television.
If only it were that simple. Sometimes it actually works, but that is mainly due to a bigger news event. In that case you get up and only sit back after a loooooong day full of two-ways, packages, quick articles, and maybe a feature if time and energy allow. Exciting, but thank god, it’s not like that every day.
It is the theory, stupid. In practice it’s not that easy to divide your time like that. Demand is high, from all different directions, from all kind of shows. Therefore it feels that you underperform for the three media. You can’t please them all the time, can you? You’d like to, but you just can’t. It stinks, that realization. It really does.
