I grew up in a household that had four newspapers delivered every day. I would wake up and read the papers every morning before school. I started with the comics and Ann Landers and slowly migrated over to the rest of the paper. In 6th grade, I pitched the (very local) paper the idea that they needed a children’s page and that I needed to be the editor of this section. Voila! In 8th grade, I started emailing with a local reporter at the newspaper because I loved the way she wrote. She then left the paper and went on to write very popular books.
Needless to say, I was a strange little child. But luckily, I had decent parents who allowed my somewhat-strange interests to flourish and never made me feel weird. So I decided to interview them for my series “How Do You Get Your News?”
Meet Robyn and Neil. They don’t work in the news business and they only know one person who does work in the news business. (It’s me.) They live in South Jersey. My mom tweets…sort of. My Dad plays solitaire on the computer and once did the ice bucket challenge in a leopard-print bikini (SFW) solely to make his children cringe online. So they get it.
Robyn and Neil always get a kick out of answering questions so here they are, talking about their news habits.
**1. How do you get your news? **
Dad says he gets his news from newspapers, radio, tv and the computer and I get mine from all except for newspapers. (Ed note: My mom wrote these responses because my Dad hunts and pecks and this would have taken an hour.)
2. Who’s your favorite child?
You are, says Mom (Ed note: She says this to each child who asks and always says that child.) Dad says 1/3 of each.
3. TV news vs. radio news vs. the newspaper. What’s your favorite and why?
My favorite is TV news because I like the format. It’s easy to understand. Dad likes TV because it’s more current and he likes to see the video segments.
4. Who’s doing it right in news? </span>
KYW… this is mom… and I like the local FOX affiliate because they seem more like real people…Dad says ditto.
5. What’s the first news event that you remember?
I remember the assassination of Martin Luther King because we were at my grandparents house for my grandfathers birthday. Dad says he remembers the Kennedy assassination.
6. What was the best thing that happened to you this week?
It will happen in a few days. My oldest son is getting married, can’t wait. Dad says the wedding and seeing his 3 kids together.
7. Describe yourself a little bit.
I am a down-to-earth easygoing happy person. My favorite role in life is being a mom. I love it! It has been so fulfilling and fun and I feel lucky to be a mom. Dad is an easy going guy. He loves to take photos of nature and loves gardening and feeding the birds. He pretty much loves anything in nature. He loves being a dad. He takes pride in telling “dad” type jokes and loves his kids’ reactions! He loves what he does for a living and he feels lucky to have his life.
8. May I use your real name? First and last? Twitter handle?
Robyn L Kramer…Neil R Kramer..Robynkramer7
9. Where do you live? Region is fine. City is better, but optional.
We live in Cherry Hill NJ.
** 10. What do you absolutely hate about the news?**
I hate the repetitive format… The weather is not breaking news..it’s December..it’s cold..it snows.. This is not news. They lose me when the repeat the same things over and over.. I glaze over and don’t hear them…mom and dad.