The Real "30 Rock"

When my professor first told us we would have to create a blog for class, I won’t lie that I spent countless hours staring at my computer thinking of what I could actually write about to keep my attention span for the entire semester (just kidding, sort of). After realizing that the whole time I was attempting to write I was distracting myself by reading every article on The Huffington Post, it hit me that I should write something related to my guilty pleasures; media, politics and the news. Therefore, I decided to focus in on one of the best in the industry, The NBC News Publicity Department, which has been going strong since David Sarnoff founded the National Broadcast Company back in 1926.

This past summer, instead of lying by the pool, drinking lemonade and sunning myself, I spent the long summer days in the dark and dreary offices on the tenth floor, east wing of NBC News studios- just kidding, it was wonderful! I was able to see firsthand the powerful influence that the media has on society as well as how important, hectic (hectic doesn’t even begin to describe it!) and exciting the world of public relations at a major media corporation is. Not to mention I got to attend TODAY show concerts, meet talents from NBC and help with special events. There is no doubt that I was taught a lot this past summer, however, three months anywhere is nearly an introduction. Although I don’t know what my future holds, I hope to one day submerge myself into the field of media publicly which is why I would love to spend the semester digging deeper into what the real “30 Rock” (and by this I don’t mean the show) is all about.

Even during the first assignment in class, I saw myself quickly drawing links between the topics disgusted and NBC News PR. One of the major topics our first assignment brushed upon was the expansion of social media in society today and how many PR practitioners are finding it difficult to research as well as keep up with. During the readings I immediately thought of NBC News PR, because they really have hopped on the social media bandwagon, but I mean who hasn’t right? However, NBC has been one of the first in industry to create a director of social media within the department in order to design unique ways to use tools like twitter, facebook and YouTube (hard life). But really, this job position is crucial considering we are in the midst of a social media phenomenon and I must admit I totally didn’t mind offering a helping hand to the director considering my generation is the prodigy of this phenomenon. The following link can be used to read an interview with the director, Ryan Osborn, on how social media plays a huge role at NBC News.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/06/nbcs-ryan-osborn-wants-to-use-social-media-for-storytelling155.html

There is no question that whether you are into the news and media or not that a corporation like NBC has certainly left a mark in not just the media publicly field but society in general. Hopefully I have got your minds thinking about the real "30 Rock" and we shall meet again next week!