Chapter 10 about opportunities

About Opportunity (1) I believe in a word, opportunities are for those who are prepared. Many people think that I am very lucky, because I feel that in Fenghuang, all the good interview opportunities are given to Luqiu. In fact, I want to say that maybe the first time is a bit lucky. The reason why I say this is because you don't know when your first chance will come. I joined Phoenix Satellite TV in June 1997 and became the only financial reporter at that time.The reason why it is called a financial reporter is that Phoenix, which has just established a news department, has already filled up all positions, except for financial reporters.At that time, my job had to cover one piece of financial news every day, because we had a ten-minute financial news program.Fortunately, I have worked in an international accounting firm. Otherwise, the daily English annual report and the professional financial terminology at the press conference would definitely confuse me.

But at that time, the main column - "Current Affairs Express" had only one reporter, and the program was half an hour a day, so in addition to guaranteeing financial news, I also had to cover local news in Hong Kong. It happened to be around the time of Hong Kong's return to China. I remember that at that time, I had to interview five or six news items every day.Fortunately, there is only one news period at 9 o'clock in the evening, so I shuttled back and forth between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon during the day, and then sat in the car to start writing during the interview.Returning to the company at five or six in the afternoon is definitely the busiest time, dubbing, looking for scenes, and then throwing the manuscript to the editor, which is a bit of a factory assembly line operation.

After two weeks like this, one day my boss said to me mysteriously, you have to audition today and go to make up in the afternoon.No one told me what the audition was for, but after the makeup, the director threw me a script and said, take it easy and take it easy because it's going to be a light show. My audition process was quick, nothing NG, and it was done in about five minutes.A week later, the boss said, from now on, every week you and Yan Ligeng will host a financial program together. At the beginning, I was a little puzzled. I am not beautiful in the company, and I have no experience in TV hosting before, so why would this opportunity be given to me? The shortage of staff in the company is one reason, but there are still other people there of.

It was only later that I found out that it was my big boss who decided to let me audition. At that time, I remembered that during the days when we were reporting on Hong Kong’s handover, there was always a tall man wandering around our work place.Every time he sees me, he always gives me a friendly smile.Although I also returned a smile, I really didn't know who he was at the time, because I was busy doing interviews outside every day. I think that choosing me must be because of my work performance.My big boss is the kind of guy who goes through our newscast every day, and to this day he can still call every reporter by name.Sometimes it is praise, and sometimes it is to point out some mistakes made by reporters.Fortunately, when I entered Phoenix, because Phoenix had just started doing news, there was no comparison, and some only had to see if I made progress every day.The boss chose me, I guess, because I was the reporter with the highest output during the two weeks in Phoenix, which means that my appearance frequency is relatively high, which increases the boss's impression of me.Or he thinks that this girl is quite pleasing to the eye on TV, why not give it a try.

TV reporters are like this. They don’t need to be beautiful, but they need to give the audience a kind of credibility in front of the camera.I belong to such a person, this is born, and I am destined to eat this kind of food. With such an opportunity, the next step is to look at your own performance.I think the first opportunity is very important. If you grasp it well, you will gain the trust of others. When something important happens, you will be ranked first on the list. My first business trip abroad was in 1999, when Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council visited the United States and Canada.At that time, I still had an identity, and that was as an assistant to my colleague Wu Xiaoli.My job, in addition to doing the work that all assistants need to do, is also to find out more peripheral news that I can do.Because the main news is done by my colleagues.In addition, because the Chinese delegation has to fly to 14 cities in two weeks, when our home team can't keep up, I have to fly to the local area by myself first, and use the locally hired photography team to conduct interviews first.That time was really tiring, and for me who went abroad for the first time, I often went to a strange city alone in the early morning or late at night, which was quite exciting.But fortunately, I came over and achieved a lot of exclusives.Soon, I changed from an assistant to a reporter who made the company think I could be alone.

Opportunities have a lot to do with company policies and strategies.When Phoenix just started, the host played a very important role, because the popularity of Phoenix was very limited at the beginning, so the famous host can play a role in opening up the situation.Later, with the development of Fenghuang and the expansion of its popularity, people’s attention to Fenghuang has shifted from paying attention to the host to paying attention to the content provided by Fenghuang itself, such as news. People are more concerned about what we report, rather than who reports it.It is precisely because of this that journalists like me have more room to play and have more opportunities.

Many people envied me that I could become a war correspondent.This point also has a lot to do with what kind of media a person works in.Because Phoenix has always hoped to become the CNN of the Chinese. It is precisely because of this positioning that when wars happen, whether it is the anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan or the Iraq War, Phoenix hopes to have its own first-hand reports on the front lines. .So the reporters in Phoenix have more opportunities than others.So, sometimes, you don't need to make trouble with yourself, thinking why you don't always get this or that opportunity.

It's just that, many times, opportunities need to be fought for by oneself, and when fighting for them, one must understand whether one is ready or not. I went to Afghanistan largely because the company felt that I was the one with the most experience in interviewing abroad in the company at that time, so sending me out to lead the team had the highest insurance factor.But it is precisely because of my arrival in Afghanistan that although the company has always told me that if the United States and Iraq really fight, the first person the company will send must be me.It turned out that the first one wasn't me, and the second one wasn't going to be me either.So I asked the company why.The answer from the company's management is that because you are a woman, we don't want the audience to criticize that the company is too cruel.

About Opportunity (2) At that time, it happened to be the two sessions.So the company arranged for me to report on the two sessions in Beijing.The company said that the two sessions are also very important news, and it is not yet known when the battle will be fought. I said yes, but there is one request, that is, can I get the relevant visa first while I am in Beijing.My plan is, no matter what the company's arrangements are at that time, at least I will make all the arrangements myself first. Getting a visa to Iraq is quite difficult.My colleague used it for half a month before.So when I arrived in Beijing, apart from the interview at the Two Sessions, the most important thing I had to do was to apply for an Iraqi visa.

I was greeted by an Iraqi with a beard.It was not easy to meet him, I called countless times, and he got a little impatient with me and said, well, come here. On the first day of the meeting, I only got the form, and he promised me that he could contact him again the next day. The next day, I took the completed form and went to see him at noon.As a result, he didn't even mention the visa issue, but kept talking to me about the situation in Iraq.Fortunately, I came prepared, because before I came, I had asked many people about the visa officer's temper, and everyone said that he is not a bad person, but he likes to know your political views.

When we talked about the United States, he asked me if I think the United States is hegemony.I said, I know what you want to know, I can tell you my personal opinion, but I must make it clear that as a reporter, I just want to tell my audience what is going on in Baghdad now.I can only tell you what I saw.If you think it’s not fair that we can only translate what the Western media has, then you should allow us to report what we see.This is why I hope to get a visa and report to Baghdad. He looked at me and thought about it for about two minutes, and then, I got the visa for Iraq, I got the visa with my photographer, and I started lobbying the management of the company.I told them that if they don't let me go to Baghdad because they think I'm not capable enough, then I won't have any opinion, because after all, the size of my ability should be judged by others, but if it's just because I'm a woman, then I Really unacceptable. Management is still very hesitant.I understand them too.On the one hand, I believe that if I go, I will not have any worries about news interviews, but on the other hand, I am reluctant from the bottom of my heart.But at this time, my colleague's visa had expired, and the company faced the choice of whether to send someone to make it up.At this time, only me and my two photographers had visas on hand.The reason for two photographers is because I thought it was necessary just in case, and it turned out that I was right, because after a car accident in Jordan, my photographer Chen Hanxiang was injured, and another photographer Cai Xiaojiang was able to make up for it immediately . Under such circumstances, the company informed me that they hoped that I would leave immediately and go to Iraq. In Hong Kong, I booked a flight ticket from Amman, the capital of Jordan, to Baghdad. But when the plane arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from Hong Kong to wait for a connecting flight, my mobile phone rang, and it was the Chinese ambassador to Iraq who called. He said that he knew that I was going to enter Iraq, and hoped that I would not do so, because all the Chinese Are preparing to evacuate.I said okay Ambassador, as long as you are in Iraq, we will not enter. I said this to leave a way out for myself, because as long as the ambassador evacuates, then if I go in later, it will not be considered a breach of my promise to him. When I arrived in Amman, I finally waited for the day when the United States gave an ultimatum.I figured what I should do is go to the closest place to Iraq, which is the Iraqi-Jordanian border.The border town has been filled with foreign media, and we only brought bedding and dry food, because we don't know how long we will be guarding the border. When we got to the border, we found that we were the only ones waiting overnight at the border.I was a little uneasy in my heart, why no one else came, could it be that my decision is not very wise? But since it is here, it will be safe.A few hours later, the Hong Kong headquarters called and the United States launched a bomb into Baghdad. I know I'm going to get ready for work.A few hours later, I was greeted by the first car from Iraq, the windows of which were shattered by a bomb.The people in the car told us that on the way from Baghdad to Jordan, the US military was constantly bombing.They are one of the victims. It was getting brighter.A group of people appeared on the border.My instinct told me that these people should have been evacuated from Baghdad.In the end, my judgment was correct. Although they were not Iraqis, they were the first to evacuate from Baghdad.In this way, I became the first person to interview these refugees.Just as I put away the microphone and was about to transmit, other foreign media arrived one after another.Watching them scrambling to interview, I still feel a little proud in my heart. Next, I was faced with the question of whether or not to enter Baghdad, or when.I got a driver, learned about the local conditions, and was ready for the day of entry.But at this moment, we had a car accident.Fortunately, I prepared an extra photographer in advance. At the same time as the injured photographer flew back to Hong Kong, Cai Xiaojiang flew from Hong Kong to Jordan. Opportunities are like this, if you are not careful enough, they will pass by your eyes if you are not prepared enough.If the company allowed me to go to Iraq to replace my colleagues, but I only started to apply for a visa at that time, I think the visa has not been processed yet, maybe the war has already started, then I missed the opportunity to go to Iraq.If I hadn't made extra preparations for an extra photographer, when the car accident happened, all I could do was probably go home with the photographer.I wouldn't have been the first journalist in the world to interview the first refugees if I hadn't tried.All of these make me believe even more that opportunities are always there, but only for those who are prepared. About Opportunity (3) In many cases, it is not a good thing for oneself to win an opportunity, if one does not fully understand one's own abilities. As a middle-level manager, I never believe that opportunities should be equally distributed to my subordinates. The more important things are, the more I will give this opportunity to my trusted colleagues.Because television is a very cruel industry, everyone's behavior will be seen clearly on the screen. There was such a thing, a colleague of mine, she used to be a senior newspaper reporter, but she just started doing TV.I have always felt that her work habits are not suitable for the TV industry.As a result, I gave her a very important overseas interview assignment out of the idea of ​​giving everyone a chance to shoulder the load.As a result, her film was not sent back in real time. What was particularly terrible was that when she was doing online reporting by telephone, she kept eating screws, that is, she was not articulate, and this was seen by the management.As a result, the management asked the news department why such a person, whose expressive ability is also a problem, took on such an important interview task. To be honest, with her usual working ability, her performance shouldn't be so bad, but it is precisely because her ability has not reached the level that she can handle any occasion, she did not seize such an opportunity. Therefore, when a person faces an opportunity, or strives for an opportunity, it is very important to think about whether he is competent or not.Because if you perform well, opportunities may continue to flow from here on out, but if you fail, you may block your own path from now on. Many people always think that they are a very capable person, and some people always feel that they are underappreciated.I feel that as long as I give myself a chance, I can prove it to everyone.But in fact, things are not so simple. Sometimes I really need to reflect on it frequently. When opportunities arise, why is it always someone else instead of myself, and what areas I still need to improve. The Chinese like to say that gold always shines.I think in real life.Not all gold is able to shine, and it must be admitted that there is a lot of gold whose light is covered and no one can see it.But one thing is unquestionable, that is, what shines must be gold.