Catherine Kim: Producing the News
Like many people, Catherine Kim, 34, wakes up early, pours herself a cup of coffee and sits down to read the newspaper, then another and another. And like most people she catches the morning news before heading off to work. Unlike most people though, Kim catches as many news programs as possible, and reads everything she can get her hands on: newspapers, magazines, websites, everything.
Staying informed is imperative for this network news producer for CBS Sunday Morning. “The more you read the more you are able to come up with good story ideas,” Kim said. “But it takes a lot of time to stay current.”
When she isn’t reading, she is finding stories, editing and writing them. Scripting for a news feature can take up to a week and editing one to two weeks. Multi-tasking is a must for this job; it is a constant juggling act. “It is a six day a week job,” Kim said. “And even on your day off you are still working and thinking.”
It is her work ethic that has gotten her to where she is today. Her resume reads like a dream to aspiring producers. She graduated from New York University in 1991 with a major in broadcast journalism and while her first job at on air Channel One, which was a 12-minute broadcast pumped into school. She supplemented it by freelancing at CBS. She took a job at CBS corporate reviewing ads and programming to assure CBS quality and in 1992 applied for an opening as assistant to the executive producer of 48 Hours, Andrew Hayward. When he moved to a news magazine program with Connie Chung, she went with him and in six months was promoted to a researcher.
The story only got better when within a year and a half she was promoted to assistant producer on 60 Minutes with Ed Bradley. Kim spent four and a half years there before moving onto her current position as a producer.
She credits her quick climb up the ladder with putting in long hours and working, working, working. “A lot of it is hard work, some of it is just luck, and most of it is a combination of both” Kim said. “Probably the most valuable thing to me has been having mentors who promoted me, very early on I distinguished myself, and I had a lot of people who cared about my career and pushed me along.”
Although Kim is quick to glow about how much she loves her job there are tinges of other things gone by the wayside, like life. “This has been a great job for me, but for people who want to get married and have a family it is hard,” Kim said. “It is tough to choose work over a social life, and there are times where I haven’t had a weekend off in several weeks, but it is worth it to me.”
She loves the high pressure world of news. “At 34, I feel like a veteran I’ve been here so long,” Kim said. And yet, when thinking about her future she can’t see anywhere else being a fit for her, although a job change isn’t out of the picture.
“I’d like to try hard news next,” Kim said. “A prime time news magazine interests me; there is something about daily turnovers that I feel is a great way to sharpen your news judgment.” Kim constantly thinks of how to better herself and hone her skills as a news reporter. And that is what sets her apart.
Some people think of their job as a job, and for others their career is their life and that is the way they like it. A life in the news business means that you’re almost always working and for Kim that is just fine. “The biggest sacrifice has been my personal life: missed parties, cancelled plans, post-poned engagements. But I really can’t honestly say that it’s a sacrifice because I love what I do and my closest friends and family know and respect that,” said Kim. “As I walk down this road it is endlessly satisfying and a constant education, you can’t ask for more out of life.”
And with that, she was off to the editing room, back to work, to finish piece she is “crunched on.” You can imagine she takes her lunch at her desk while perusing a few magazines and catching up on what happened in the world that morning while she was busy making news.
—Dana Young, G’03