Pepperdine graduate Melissa Giaimo lives life in the fast lane working for Al Jazeera English, a major news production company. Giaimo is an interview producer, better known in the journalism world as a “booker.” She arranges guests to appear on the talk show “The Stream,” which airs Monday through Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Al Jazeera Network, owned by the state of Qatar, has more than 65 news bureaus worldwide. Giaimo, a 2010 graduate who was a leading journalist for Pepperdine’s student newspaper, The Graphic, is stationed in Washington D.C.
Al Jazeera English’s staff members represent more than 50 nationalities, creating a diverse working environment. The network broadcasts to more than 220 million households in 100 countries, primarily to an Arab audience.
Al Jazeera came under scrutiny in the United States for its coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as the network’s coverage of the United States’ war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The station was perceived by some as being too favorable to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
However, Giaimo says she has never experienced a negative response from others when they learn about her employment with Al Jazeera. Washington D.C., she says, is a very “cosmopolitan” area, and people only show a “very positive and interested” response.
“While of course the network has a point of view, this editorial viewpoint is much more mild than American news outlets,” Giaimo says.
“People are craving for news that causes people to rethink their point of view,” said Giaimo. “Al Jazeera puts aside prejudices in a way U.S. news does not.” She says in the two years of working for Al Jazeera, she has been able to see the company’s footprint grow.
Giaimo majored in international studies. She describes her experience with The Graphic as “fantastic.” She says that her Graphic experiences, along with internships, helped her the most with her career.
“It doesn’t get much harder than having a full student load and writing for a newspaper. It really prepared me for my job now,” said Giaimo. She explained that having newspaper experience on a resume stands out to employers because “it shows that you have your act together.”
Her Graphic advisor, Professor Elizabeth Smith, said Giaimo was “really involved and motivated.” She agrees that Giaimo’s experience with The Graphic gave her a strong journalism background and taught her all of the aspects of publishing a newspaper.
Smith also said that Giaimo was the first to take on the bigger and controversial topics. Giaimo never stopped asking questions until she found the answers she was looking for. She was never afraid to take on authority to find the inside scoop for her news stories.
“Melissa is very bright,” says Smith. “Her success is not a shock to me. She was always very mature and grounded.
“She was the caretaker. She not only made sure everyone had their Graphic jobs taken care of but, she made sure that they were personally taken care of.”
Giaimo started working for Al Jazeera as an intern during the summer prior to her sophomore year at Pepperdine. In June 2010, she was hired as a freelance writer. Then, in March 2011, she was hired as a staff writer and then moved to the programming division where she now works with “The Stream.”
“Every summer, I went home [to Washington D.C.] and pursued a journalism internship,” explained Giaimo. “One day, we took a field trip to Al Jazeera and right away it was electric.”
Her typical workday starts with a meeting at 9 a.m. to review and discuss the news and topics for the show. The staff members participate in a conference call during which they discuss news gathered from many different news agencies and determine which stories to pursue.
The rest of her day consists of finding and scheduling guests to appear on the interviewing segment of the talk show. Guests appear on the show either in person or via Skype. Most guests are interviewed via Skype since they tend to be located in many countries throughout the world. At least one day a week a live interview is conducted in the studio.
“Since I majored in international studies, I find it easier to pursue guests around the world,” said Giaimo. “Knowing more about the world has given me much confidence, especially when talking to people from far away countries. I feel like I know enough about their environment to be able to have an intelligent conversation with them.”
According to Giaimo, the benefits of having the guests appear via Skype is that there is a much wider variety of guests available. “You get to interview people that you normally wouldn’t be able to get in person.”
Recently, Giaimo was challenged to find guests for “The Stream” that were as close as possible to the recent developments in the Middle East. “The killing of Bin Laden and Kaddafi were events that had to be covered with very compelling guest interviews. These stories upped the ante for finding interesting and knowledgeable guests.”
When searching for the perfect interviewee, Giaimo finds people from “all over the place.” Sometimes you get sources directly from the event, or sometimes you must call around to find the perfect person. One of the challenges that many interview producers face is finding contacts. Giaimo explained that sometimes co-workers wouldn’t share their contacts because they don’t want others to benefit from the contacts that they have developed.
As an interview producer, she says, “your best day is having the perfect candidate for the interview.” Giaimo says her favorite part about her job at Al Jazeera is “the sensation you get as a story progresses. Breaking news moves very fast. Everything is on the line
“I work well when it’s fast-moving,” said Giaimo. “I don’t get hindered by the sense of fear of failure.” She explained how some of her co-workers don’t work well under the pressure of fast-moving news stories and demanding bosses. “I think it helps to have a type A personality in this business.”
There are many challenges in her position, such as when an interview does not meet the station’s expectations. She explained sometimes it is nerve-wracking because you never know what the person is going to do or say. It is also stressful because “you get all the blame if something goes wrong.” If a client is late, or is suddenly unavailable, or says something controversial, Giaimo, for example, could get the blame.
Giaimo likes being “close to the news,” so the fact that the company’s headquarters are in Qatar can make the job a little harder. There is a six-hour time difference between Qatar and Washington D.C., which can sometimes make things “a little bit disorganized.” The frenetic pace of the news cycle is challenging, but Giaimo seems to be meeting that challenge and thriving in an industry that never slows down.
