Sarah Halliday: Making data visual to expand the conversation

Many stories on Consider This are inspired by polls, academic studies, and analytic reports. It falls on graphics producer Sarah Halliday to make sure the information is displayed onscreen in a compelling, easy-to-understand manner. In this Meet the Staff profile, Halliday shares how she came to work in TV journalism, how she uses her skills and passions in support of the medium, and how people entering the industry can learn from their more seasoned co-workers.

Q. What is a typical workday like for you? 

A. My day typically starts a few hours before I'm in the office, reading the news, seeing if anything really piques my interest. My day really gets going after our editorial meeting. Once we have decided what we will be discussing that evening, I start reading up on what we will be talking about. For me to do my job well, I need to know as much about the topics as I can.

Throughout the day, I am communicating with the producers, talking through graphic elements with them, and really working as a team to make graphics that work to tell a part of the story. I help design and create all the graphics elements that go into our show.

Before the show starts, I'm in the control room checking all the elements for spelling and accuracy. Once we're on air, I follow the conversation we are having and make sure that the graphic elements that we have made — names, full screen graphics, fact straps — get played out at the right moment.

Q. What makes for a good visual element for TV? 

A. I think there are many ways of making a successful graphic element. Just like any part of the show, the graphics need to be clear, informative, and accurate. But more than that, graphics should grab the viewer. If there's too much or not enough on the screen, the element will fall flat. It's a balancing act of making an element interesting without overloading the viewer with too much visual information.

I am a lover of photography, and editorial photos are a great way to help give visual support to the often dull business of numbers. You can tell a story about, say, veterans in the U.S. without a picture, but with the right picture to back it up, the viewer has a more emotional connection to the data. Those numbers have a better chance of sticking with people with that connection than without.

Q. What got you interested in journalism and TV production? Had you considered other areas of work?

A. Honestly, I always wanted to be a storyteller. I have done a lot of different things with that initial idea, but I've always come back to that. In high school I wrote fiction stories, some coming from personal stories, some from strange dreams I had. I somehow knew that I wasn't cut out for the fiction-writing business, so late in high school I joined the paper and started writing on a regular basis.

I got published in the Long Island Press in my senior year of high school, and for me, that was it. I went to SUNY Purchase for journalism and met my mentor and professor, Mary Alice Williams, [the former news anchor and vice president of CNN's New York bureau]. All she had to do was put me in a control room and I was sold. I never thought I would find a job that utilizes all of the things I’m good at: Writing, photography, and theater production. And there is nothing like the adrenaline you get in a control room for a live show.

I have considered lots of areas of work. Theater was a huge part of my life, and I think that it will continue to be a part of my life no matter where my career takes me.  I think that when I retire I will invest all of my money in theater production. For now, I already do many other things to keep my body and mind active. I'm a photographer, building my portfolio and learning new skills for the future. I also hope to have a hula-hoop dance workshop here in New York next summer.

Q. What jobs had you worked at previously and what did you learn from them?

A. I worked at Current TV before this, with Keith Olbermann on Countdown, then with Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer [and then] John Fugelsang. Current TV was my first job in broadcast, and it was a crash course in live television production. What I had learned in college had just scratched the surface.  

Before I landed at Current, I had a series of odd jobs while working as a freelance reporter/photographer for the Riverdale Press in the Bronx. I worked in theater set construction, data entry, and promotions for a Long Island bar. In all of my jobs before this I learned the value of teamwork. There is no way to get a job done well without the guidance, support, and knowledge of co-workers.

Q. What kinds of journalism do you like? 

A. I love long-form journalism. I read a lot of National Geographic, Rolling Stone Magazine, and The Verge, and I watch a lot of documentaries. I love long-form journalism that explores the lives of real people to illustrate a larger point. I also must admit that I thoroughly enjoy The Onion and The Daily Show. I truly believe that a little laughter can solve most problems, and satiric outlets like these bring genuinely troubling topics to those people who aren't searching out hard news.

Q. What advice do you have for someone entering the field of journalism? 

A. Be persistent and ask questions, whether it's in an interview for a story, or your first day on the job. You need persistence to get the job, to get the story, and to get the answers to questions that need to be asked. There's always something to learn about the industry, about an angle, about how to create contacts.

In my personal experience, the people who have been working in this industry for a while want their successors to be good at their job. So ask questions, ask for someone to help edit a rough draft of a story. You'll consistently be a better writer, producer, photographer, etc. for it.