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Show The Women's Room By Kate McCutchan I'm excited. In the next few weeks, I'm going to do some "shadowing". That means I'll be following Franci Eisenberg of KTVX Television, around the city one day as she does the ground work necessary for her 90 second spots on the news. Every night at 5 p.m. she reports the results of her day's work. The story may have been assigned her by the station, or it might have been information she found relevant to her own special interest; consumerism. "People get their information second-hand, through me", Eisenberg said. "That means I have to thoroughly understand what I'm reporting on before I can get the story across to others. Eisenberg told me that working for Channel Four News is the hardest thing she has ever done, and the most challenging. There is a lot of pressure, and of course, the work is very deadline oriented. "The news goes on at 5 p.m. and you can't change that". She laughed and described covering a forest fire last year in Kamas. "My cameraman kept telling me to back up and my shirt is melting. ..it was the most frightening experinece ever." She gestured with her arms to describe the explosions that went on behind her. "The station likes us to become involved, to experience the news. We're there to report on and share the news with our viewers," Eisenberg added. Every Tuesday through Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Eisenberg steps into a different world. "There is usually something new each morning. I don't bring my work home with me unless I'm doing a series - then I dream about it all night long." If she is in the office when a story breaks, then she is off and running. She arranges for camera equipment, personnel, interviews with the right people and tracks down the background material necessary to give both sides of the story. , When all the groundwork is laid, she does the interviews with her cameraman, asking questions that will hopefully prompt succinct and to-the-point answers. Efficacy is of the essence. The hours that are spent on research and arrangements, and the minutes of video-taped interviews, must be condensed into a 90-second package that makes sense. Broadcasting was always one of Eisenberg's desires. She worked for years on the periphery covering "one side of the story." She graduated from Ohio State with a degree in Speech related to Radio and T.V. "In 1965 women didn't get jobs in radio and T.V. There was alot of discrimination," Eisenberg said. "They told me they couldn't use me because I was newly married and I would soon be having babies." . . - ' Eisenberg went into advertising for several years and then moved with her husband and son to Washington, D.C. There she worked on the White House Conference on Children and Youth, using her advertising background in the Press Office to promote the conference. She worked briefly in the Press Office of the Secretary of the Interior, moving on to become Press Secretary to John Gardner, chairman of the non-partisan , citizen's group, Common Cause. There she' met Tom Matthews, head of the Press Office and part-time Park City resident. Eisenberg came to Park City in 1974 and decided that she loved it. She wanted to live here and, miracle of miracles, it all turned out just as she dreamed. Bill Kimball of P.C. Art Center and John Gardner were on the Board of Stanford University together. . Kimball needed an assistant to help him direct the jpromotion and advertising for his new art center. Franci Eisenberg got the job. She brought her son (she and her husband were divorced) and left her house, furniture, dishes, and plants behind. She worked with" the Art Center for four years, until February 1980, when she applied for the job at KTVX. "I like providing useful information for people. I'm working on a special series now called "Inflation Fighter," Eisenberg said. "It will air May 18 and go on every night at 5 and 10 p.m. for five nights. It's information on saving money on gas, food and home energy. "I'm using some of the stuff I covered on my 'coupon special' - the things I discovered were so incredible and there was so much public response," Eisenberg said. "I've learned so much being a reporter. I've learned that truth is stranger than fiction. "Much stranger! And that there are always two sides to every story. There is always more to learn and you must keep pushing to find it out," she finished. |