Kaylee Rucker English 101 Interview Essay November 8, 2016 The Lara Moritz Interview From reporting on a midnight basketball league to interviewing the President of the United States, Barack Obama, Lara Moritz has a wide range of experience. As a successful news anchor for KMBC 9 News and a mother, Moritz faces many challenges. However, her passion for her job makes all of her success worth the struggles. Lara Moritz’s story as being a TV broadcaster includes her journey, passion, hard work, obstacles, and enjoying every moment.
Moritz is passionate about her job and loves giving people power through their voice. She loves her career and the challenges her job puts in front of her. She said, “I have so much passion, it sometimes gets me in trouble.” She never knows what is going to happen and likes that journalism keeps her from ever getting bored. Moritz also said, “I love going out and interviewing people. Giving people a voice is my favorite part of the job.” Moritz’s favorite topic to report on is inspiring stories.
Moritz’s job as both a full-time news anchor and mother can be difficult to balance at times, especially emotionally. She verified that juggling her job and being a mother can be rough. Moritz had a job offer to work in Boston, but she declined it. She stated, “I stayed in Kansas City because I felt that KMBC was very family oriented.” She said that she felt that she could raise her kids in and from the office; and she feels like she has. She explained, “You’re not going to be the best employee and the best mom around, but you have to do your best.” Moritz said that she used to bring her children to the newsroom when they were too little to be left alone. Her children are now 16 and 19 years of age.
Moritz, despite the obstacles that her career and motherhood entails, is extremely successful and has learned many lessons along her journey. She loves journalism, but she willingly admitted that the job is not always an easy one. Yet, when asked about others choosing a career in journalism, her response was, “Do it. Any job you will get frustrated and have bad days.” Moritz says that when she has a bad day at work, her college friends are the first people she calls. She recalls college as being the best time of her life and making her life-long friends there. Giving advice on college, she said, “Have a blast! Go and experience everything you can.” Moritz believes that college is hard work, but can also teach people their best lessons and introduce them to their best friends. Broadcasting was was not a career path that Moritz had always wanted to pursue, but she’s happy with making that choice. She said she absolutely loves her job and would never choose another one. However, Moritz decided quite late that broadcasting was what she wanted to do saying, “I did not know I wanted to go into journalism until my junior year of college.” Moritz recalled that one day during her junior year, her mother called her with the idea of TV broadcasting. She got her degree Knox College in Gilberg, Illinois, and it took her six years to complete. Getting her degree was a lot of work but she stated her biggest motivation: “If you get an education you can do anything.” She always had to study hard, but that did not always guarantee her a good grade. Hard-work and dedication got her through college and to where she is now.
Although Moritz’s face is typically known as just the one that is seen during broadcasts, her job is time consuming, and she does much more of her work behind the scenes. Moritz gets into work at one o’clock and she said, “I sit down immediately next to our four and five o’clock producers to see what has been going on.” She helps them write many of the stories that go through. Then, they do a run down at 2:15, and at 2:30 they go through the stories and decide what should go through to being on air. From 3-4:30 she anchors; then Moritz and the rest of the news crew sit down after and have a meeting over what went well and what needs improvement. She reads through the scripts and stories for a while, has dinner at her desk, and checks on social media. Then from 9-10:30 she is on air again. Finally, she is done with her day at 11. However, she never knows when she could be needed. She said, “I’m on call 24/7 for breaking news.” Her work day is quite busy but she loves that it is not boring.
Lara Moritz’s success in life is nothing less than admirable. Her task of being a full-time employee as a news anchor for such a huge channel and also be a mother at the same time is difficult, yet she embraces it. Many would be unable to handle such a life, but because of her love for her job and the lessons she has learned through her life, she has had great success in achieving her life's goals.