Interview: Candice Nelson, WSLS 10 reporter

By Whitney Law
November 18, 2008

With her roots grounded in Southwest Virginia, a hometown girl from Collinsville finds success as a local reporter.

Candice Nelson, a 2006 graduate of the Virginia Tech communication department, is in her second year as a full-time dayside reporter for WSLS News Channel 10 based in Roanoke. In a little less than two years, Nelson has covered various stories on topics ranging from local forest fires to smelly four-legged rodents. 

What follows is a selection of questions asked of Nelson in regards to her career.   

Q: What made you choose Virginia Tech?

Nelson: It was really just the scenery. Ever since I can remember I wanted to go to UVA because Katie Couric went to UVA. She was an anchor on the Today Show and I wanted to be her! My senior year, after I sent out all of the applications and everything, I came to Virginia Tech and I came in here and loved it. So, I have never even been to UVA, except to their stadium for football games ... Then again, UVA doesn't have a communications department either, so I came here specifically just because of the scenery, and I'm glad I made that choice.

Q: When did you initially have an interest in a career in journalism?

Nelson: It was around sixth grade and it was only because of 4-H. They would always have the 4-H public speaking competition every year. I got involved in that and would always compete every year. I really just liked getting up and talking in front of people and that was the only reason I got into journalism - because I liked to talk. I guess the journalism aspect wasn't until college. I pretty much just got into this business because I liked public speaking and the journalism part came later. So thank goodness I liked that part.

Q: Well, at least it stays interesting, right?

Nelson: Yeah. (Laughs)

Q: While you were a student at Virginia Tech you were involved in the Collegiate Times and VTTV, correct?

Nelson: Right, more VTTV than the CT. It was really Professor Roland Lazenby that got me into the CT because I took the media writing class, and everything. After my sophomore year I interned at the Martinsville Bulletin, which is our local newspaper in Martinsville-Henry County where I'm from. I really got into the CT because I needed to get that experience before I took the internship with the newspaper, but VTTV, I did freshman through junior year.

Q: Which did you prefer working for VTTV or the CT?

Nelson: Each of them had their own perks. I like doing the TV side of it because it's fun to get on camera, but I when you work with the newspaper you can get into all the nitty-gritty details, and I'm a detail person, myself. Now that TV is also pushing the online side of it, and putting our stories on the web, we are also able to get more details in that way. So it's working out ... If I had to say which I preferred better, I would say VTTV.

Q: Did these experiences shape your career path? If so, how?

Nelson: Yeah, I think just because I've always known that I wanted to work at a TV station. It's definitely a lot more stressful because you have to make sure you get your stories straight, then write it up and give it to your photographer to edit. Then, it has to make slot ... But each thing that I've done has helped shape my career just by the experience and the people you meet along the way. Working for the CT and VTTV, pushed me to get into internships. I interned three times at Channel 10 ... One thing was a building block that led to another.

Q: As an intern for Channel 10, you covered a forest fire that burned over 2,500 acres. Can you tell me a little about that experience?

Nelson: Yeah. That was junior or senior year. It was Easter weekend and I was interning on weekends ... It was a very large forest fire and homes were in a lot of danger. Whenever there are these big forest fires like this, the media get together with the Department of Forestry and they'll take them up to the mountain, so I got to see all of that ... I was following Britt Conway. She doesn't work at Channel 10 anymore, but it was Britt, me and our photographer and all of these other TV stations. We stayed up there for an hour or so and watched them do all the back burning ... Usually I like to cover forest fires, that is if there is no one in danger, because the firefighters are so willing to take you up there, put the gear on you, and show you what they're doing.

Q: As a student at Virginia Tech, were you an active reporter during the events of April 16^th?

Nelson: Yes, I was a senior interning at Channel 10. What I remember most about that day is had the shootings not happened, the wind would have been the biggest story of the day. I don't know if you can remember, but there were flurries everywhere and the wind was going everywhere. That's what they sent me out on as an intern - covering the wind, power outages, and schools were letting out. It was crazy. Century old trees were blowing down. ... I call into my assignment director and I'm saying, "Hey there's a school that's let out because of a power outage. There are trees down and houses are damaged." And he was like, "Candice, I don't care! Get back to the station right now." And that's when I found out.

Q: Did the media coverage of April 16^th affect your view of the media at all?

Nelson: I really don't think it did. I think the hardest part, when you're talking about April 16^th in the media, is the difference between the national media and the local media. One of my jobs that day was to call people that I knew and saying, "Hey would you like to do an interview with us?" And I was able to get some of those people on the air to talk, but you can't be pushy especially when you're local media and you know those people. I guess it really changed my perception of how we handle things and I'm very proud of how we handled it that day.

Q: Can you explain your typical work day as a reporter?

Nelson: Pretty much a typical day is, if you work dayside it's 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and if you work nightside it's 2:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ... I come into work at 9 a.m. and by that time I have already gotten online at my home and saw if there was any breaking news of the day ... You're supposed to walk in to work everyday having a pretty good idea of what you want to pitch for your story that day.  We (the staff) all go into a conference room and pretty much just go around the table and give our story ideas for the day ... Maybe there's a skunk stuck in a trash can. I did that story last week. (Laughs) By the end of the meeting, they (assignment directors) tell you to go for it. That's pretty much where your typical day ends. From there it's just so different everyday.

Q: Therefore, you basically have a lot of freedom in what you want to cover?

Nelson: Yeah, I think it's different for every station, but a lot of times they (assignment directors) will say you need to cover this or sometimes they'll say, "Whatcha got?"

Q: What has been your most difficult news story to cover?

Nelson: The stories that are difficult to cover are always the ones where somebody has died. You have to go up and knock on the parent's door and ask them if they would like to talk. That is the absolute hardest... The hardest story I've had to cover, it was this girl from Buchanan. She was in a car accident that was only a couple miles from her home, and it was a fatal accident. It was her freshman year and it was on a Friday night. Just like all of the freshman, she liked to come home on the weekends. I'm given myself chill bumps just talking about this. I had to go up and knock on the door. The dad opens the door, and you just don't know what to say. You can't say, "Hey, how are ya?" ... There's no good way to say it. It's always going to sound like you're heartless. But they actually agreed ... We were only in there for 30 to 45 minutes, and it felt like three hours. That was definitely the hardest story I've ever covered.

Q: Have you been involved with any of the presidential election coverage?

Nelson: Yeah, a lot of it. I covered when Barack Obama came down to Martinsville. A lot of times they will send reporters down to cover a sidebar story, how traffic's being impacted or covering the actual event itself. I've covered Todd Palin who went to the Martinsville Speedway. That was kind of fun! I've talked to Evan Bye ... when Joe Biden was supposed to come to Roanoke a couple weeks ago, and then canceled because his mother-in-law died.

Q: Do you think that the media has put too much emphasis on this election considering election coverage started well over a year ago?

Nelson: I think it's been a good thing because it's such an important presidential election year. We're always trying to find good information to give to you ... I really don't think you could give too much information or have too many stories because it is so important.

Q: Have you had any stories that you have covered taken negatively?

Nelson: Well, whenever you cover political stories somebody's going to take something negatively. As a journalist, when you go out and do each individual story, you try to get both sides of it.  If Obama's in town, I try to do something on the McCain side and put it into the same story, but you're never going to make everybody happy. As a journalist, you have to say I'm going to cover both sides of it and you have to be fair in the soundbites that you choose. Sometimes media will want to pick on one side and choose the dumb soundbite. You have to balance it out, but I think it's up to the reader to just read it from the facts and go from there.

Q: Do you take this criticism personally?

Nelson: At first I took it really personally, but when you're doing it everyday, you're bosses are telling you it was a good story, and you know you were fair and balanced, you have to take it with a grain of salt ... You're not going to make everybody happy, that's for sure.

Q: What advice do you give to college students pursuing a career in journalism?

Nelson: Internships! You have to because so many people want to get into this business. Getting an internship isn't enough. You have to go in and act like it's your job. With my three internships at Channel 10, that's how it helped. The first time I was an intern, I just did what they told me to do. I would answer phones or just look through paperwork to help reporters find information for their stories, but the second time I got there, they let me do one package that aired ... It just built up. By the third time, gosh, I think I did two more packages ... I was contributing so much.

Q: What are your future career plans?

Nelson: I plan on staying on the local level. I'm not really a big city girl myself. I really like local news. I guess I'm kind of the hometown girl since I'm from Martinsville-Henry County, so I know the area really well. As far as distant plans, having a job as a professor or journalism professor would be really cool too. ... I don't really know yet since I've only been working for a year and a half. I don't even know what I'm doing five years from now, but we'll see what happens!