The first Instagram user that I decided to look at was a local reporter, Alexandra Stone of KETV, who uses Instagram to post about the news that she is working on and her travels to exotic places.
She uses Instagram to also post pictures of her from certain areas of her reporting. For example, she screenshots the news of her in the midst of reporting on-air and captions it with something similar to what she was reporting on during that shot.
Her posts rarely have comments, but when they do, they typically compliment her or make a comment about her post from her reporting.
Lauren Taylor, a reporter for WOWT, uses Instagram to post pictures of her dog, raise awareness and her time at the studio reporting with Sharon Chen.
She uses Instagram to enhance her storytelling by posting with other anchors about what they are reporting or when they are reporting, such as her post about delivering news on Labor Day with Sharon Chen and David Koeller: “We’re laboring on Labor Day but loving every second of it! Join us at 10 on @WOWT6news.”
Other Instagram users comment on her photos with compliments like “You ladies rock! We love the wowt 6 news team!”
Another local reporter, Jennifer Griswold of KMTV, uses Instagram to post with her children, exotic places she has traveled to and write her thoughts. Unlike any of the other reporters, Griswold is seen to write more than the average user on her captions. She uses them to describe her goals for 2020, make other mothers feel normal about the questions they have and working out.
On her posts regarding working out, Griswold receives a handful of compliments and pieces of encouragement.
On the national spectrum, Zain Asher of CNN uses Instagram much like reporters on the local level. The only difference between Asher and Omaha reporters is that Asher has more pictures with people of importance, like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George Bush.
It seems that her exposure at the national level has helped her get the chance to interview more celebrities and tell stories that apply to viewers from around the country.
Asher has a similar number of comments in comparison to Griswold, Taylor and Stone. Each comment either hands out a compliment or words of encouragement.
Elaine Quijano of CBS News uses Instagram to repost other Instagram posts that she feels her viewers should see, introduce her coworkers and share videos of places that she has visited such as Pingvellir National Park, Atlantic City Boardwalk and the Eastern Market.
Quijano has fewer posts about herself and more posts about the places and faces that she has seen.
Her Instagram followers comment “Love it!” and “So pretty!” on her posts.
On both the local and national level of reporting, I did not find any inappropriate pictures, videos or captions from the reporters which is understandable because they are in the public eye, therefore what they say and do has a longer-lasting impact than people who don’t have to provide news in front of a camera.
Alexa's Media Storytelling II Blog 