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Nate Eaton was living in Virginia, where he had worked in television news for nine years, when he received an offer that would change the path of his career.
Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho businessman who wanted to launch a news website for Eastern Idaho, offered Eaton the opportunity to direct the organization, EastIdahoNews.com.
He received this offer because of the preparation he began in college, Eaton said.
Eaton attended Brigham Young University-Idaho from 2003 to 2005, and as a student, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to get a job or perform well on camera, he said.
Because of this, Eaton contacted TV stations in Idaho Falls and in Utah seeking opportunities to observe and learn from anchors.
Eaton had friends who worked at KSL, a news organization in Salt Lake City, Utah, and through his connections, he was invited to shadow professionals at the station.
“I sat in the studio watching people,” he said. “I read lots of news stories and saw what others were doing. I tried to work as hard as I could to make sure I was ready to have a job lined up.”
[endif]--Eaton said he gained additional shadowing experience during his four-month internship at KUTV in Utah. He said his internship experience “made all the difference” in preparing him for his career.
“In TV, you have to [create] a tape to show [that] you can perform on TV,” he said. “The fact that I was able to go to the TV station and cover stories and do camera work stood out [to prospective employers].”
Eaton’s internship was motivating because he had autonomy, he said. One of the most beneficial things he said he did was asking permission to shadow reporters. Because of that, Eaton said he learned how reporters worked and how they put stories together. “I had to act rather than be acted upon,” (see 2 Nephi 2:26) he said.
Eaton covered 30 news stories during his internship. Eaton said he recommends internships to people in any field.
Like internships, networking can also prepare communication students for their careers. Eaton said he networks everywhere he goes, “whether it’s standing in line at the grocery store or at a business meeting,” he said. “It’s all about getting to know people.”
Eaton said he thinks that face-to-face interaction is a more effective way to network than online means. He recalled that when he was a student, news anchor and Ricks College alumnus Art Rascon came to speak at BYU-Idaho.
“I made it a point to attend and exchange contact information [with Rascon],” Eaton said.
When Eaton started his career, he asked Rascon to review some of his professional work. “I’ve been in touch with him, sending him video clips and asking for feedback.”
Eaton’s efforts led him to his first job in news two weeks after graduating; he was hired as a reporter at KIDK in Idaho Falls, where he worked for three years.
An aspect he has enjoyed about his career, Eaton said, has been going different places and meeting great people.
One of these times was when he wrote a story about a single mother of four children that was broadcasted on WRIC. Eaton recalled that the family’s home had dysfunctional plumbing; sewage was flowing from the toilet to the street. The woman had called their landlord for two months but had not received a response.
After the story aired, there was an outcry from the community, Eaton said. People reached out to support her, and she found new housing.
“I don’t know if I have one big accomplishment,” Eaton said about his career. “It’s the little things that add up.”
It was while living in Virginia that Eaton received the job offer from VanderSloot.
As a reporter for KIDK Idaho Falls in 2008, Eaton had interviewed VanderSloot and produced a biographical piece about him; five years later, he was hearing from him again.
Even though Eaton felt honored by VanderSloot’s job offer, he didn’t immediately accept it, he said. He had been working in television news since graduating from BYU-I and loved his position at WRIC, where he had worked since 2009.
“It was kind of a risk for my career,” he said. “Once you get out of the [television] business, it [can be] hard to get back in.”
When considering the position, Eaton said that he wondered whether he could adequately cover news online. Another thing holding him back was that he liked living in Virginia near the beach. Moreover, Eaton had just signed a two-year contract with WRIC.
A few months before Eaton’s contract ended, VanderSloot reached out to him again with the offer.
Eaton accepted it, and today he works as the news director for EastIdahoNews.com, which launched July 1, 2015. The site combines several kinds of journalism—audio, photo, print and video—and Eaton said that people seem to enjoy its multimedia approach.
Eaton said that his fear of not being able to cover news adequately online diminished after he first received a job offer from VanderSloot because technology had evolved, and he saw people obtaining news through the internet.
Of course, online news has its challenges, Eaton said.
“People want news now, as it is happening,” he said.
When breaking news happens, Eaton said he and his news team immediately head out, even if they are in the middle of a project.
He said social media is an advantage to electronic news. “The world goes so fast with social media,” Eaton said.
He said the pressure of producing news quickly can be demanding, but he is proud of what he and the site’s staff have accomplished.
“One night the website crashed with so many people on [it],” Eaton said. “What a great problem to have!”
Eaton encourages students to network and meet as many people as they can.
“You never know how the people you’re with now can impact your life later on,” he said. “Networking is vitally important.”
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