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ARAKSYA KARAPETYAN - THE STORY BEHIND FOX'S NEW FACE
Easy Reader
http://www.easyreadernews.com/50381/araksya-karapetyan/
May 1 2012
When Araksya Karapetyan returned to Armenia in 2006 - 16 years after
she'd immigrated to Palos Verdes with her family as a seven-year-old -
she didn't want to be a tourist.
Karapetyan had just graduated from Syracuse University with a degree
in broadcast journalism and international relations, so she picked
up her camcorder, stuffed it with tapes and was off to explore.
Her family had left Armenia in 1990, just before the collapse of the
Soviet Union and after the 1988 earthquake that devastated much of
the country's northern regions, killing thousands and leaving even
more homeless.
On her trip, Karapetyan noticed earthquake victims still living in
trailers provided to them after their homes were destroyed.
"They had interesting stories and it felt like those were the people
(who) people walk by and don't pay much attention to," she said. She
spent her days interviewing sunflower seed vendors and visiting
orphanages, psychiatric wards and elderly homes.
"I go home sometimes and I'm like, okay I know I didn't cure cancer
today...but maybe I brought light to an issue...or I gave someone a
chance to have a voice when they have no voice."
Hearing their stories ignited her passion for journalism. When she
returned to California that summer, she simultaneously took on two
internships at KABC-TV in Glendale and KFI Radio, and a job at Torrance
Citi Cable 3. She'd wake up at midnight to work the overnight shift
at KABC, after which she'd head over to KFI in Burbank, and finish
her day in Torrance a couple times a week. "I'm very extreme with
what I do," she laughed.
Her husband, Amir Yousefi, noted Karapetyan's determination. "They
ask her to come in to work for nine hours she goes in for 13 hours,"
he said. "She knows what she wants."
And her mentors noticed. "She really stuck out," said KFI reporter
Steve Gregory. "She's by far my most impressive intern and I've been
doing this for 30 years."
Upon meeting her, Gregory recalled asking her: Do you want to be a
TV star or do you want to be respected? "She said she wanted to be
respected," Gregory said. "She was very eager, she was like a sponge.
She wanted to learn everything." Gregory took her everywhere from
red carpet events to a Santa Clarita detention center.
The 29-year-old was recently hired as a fill-in news anchor and general
assignment reporter for FOX 11 news. Karapetyan gleaned experience
from her two previous jobs in smaller markets - she spent two years
at a local television station in Idaho Falls and another two at a
CBS affiliate in Portland.
Her career in news was foreshadowed early on. As a kid, she'd pretend
to be a news anchor with Scarlett Davis, her first friend in America.
One evening, the two were sitting on the living room carpet among a
stack of National Geographic magazines, while Karapetyan's family was
watching the news. "She handed me one and she said, 'Ok, pick out an
article and we're going to pretend like were news anchors like the
lady on TV now,'" Davis recalled.
Growing up, Karapetyan was a performer, said her mother, Gayane
Tumanyan. "Whenever there were people gathered together, she'd
find something and make it look like a microphone and start talking
reciting, singing, dancing," Tumanyan said, with a laugh.
She credits her work ethic to summers spent working at Malaga Cove
Ranch Market, a grocery store owned by her uncle. Her grandfather, at
84 years old, still goes to work there everyday. "There was no cutting
corners. If I didn't do it, my grandpa would have to do it," she said.
"I wasn't looking to get out of there, clock in, clock out. If I was
sick, I was still showing up to work...That's really what shaped me."
As a reporter in the small town of Idaho Falls, Karapetyan described
herself as a "one-man band." "I had to shoot, edit and be the
reporter. On weekends I would produce, sometimes report on a story
and anchor all in one day," she recalled. "It was hard work. It was
a lot, especially when you're not getting paid very much."
She looked at the experience as graduate school, a training ground
on which she could hone in her skills. On occasion, she'd imagine
pulling over on the icy road and plugging a hole in her tire so she
wouldn't have to continue her assignment. But she never did. "If you
don't care, then you're not going to do justice to the people there
or the story," she said.
For one particularly memorable story, she headed to Mexico with KFI's
Gregory to report on an amusement park at which park-goers simulate
the border-crossing experience. Would-be immigrants gathered on a
dark campground - rife with border patrol officers chasing them,
demanding for papers - to act out what it would be like.
Her station couldn't afford to send her abroad, so she paid her own
way. She'd promised her news director she'd find a local connection -
why would this story be relevant to the Idaho Falls community? So
she navigated through the Hispanic community, eventually finding
an immigrant who'd crossed the border illegally from Mexico who was
willing to share his story.
"I found that connection then went off to Mexico," Karapetyan said,
with a bright smile. While she traveled with Gregory, the two were
reporting separately. Again, Karapetyan was a one-man band. "Sometimes
I wanted to be in the shot to do standup, so I would hand the camera
to someone, give them a quick lesson: this is what you do, follow me
when I go this way, pan and zoom."
After collecting 10 hours of footage, she headed home to edit. The
story earned her a regional Edward Murrow award for best hard news
feature in 2008.
Still, Karapetyan is continually looking to improve. "I watch my work
every single day, I watch it to see how I did it and how I could've
done it better," she said. "No matter where you are or how far up you
get, that's the only way you'll keep growing and getting better. There
should never be a point where you are satisfied with your work."
A main factor in choosing to pursue a job opportunity in Los Angeles
was to be near her family. She wanted her grandparents to be able to
turn on the television and see her reporting the news, live. "They
made a lot of sacrifices to come to this country," she said. "I know
it's very difficult when you're established in another country, you
have a position, you're respected, you've built your whole life there.
Then you come to a whole new country, you start all over...It was
important for me to be able to be here for them so that they could
know that it was worth it."
The family has remained tight-knit - Karapetyan said it's like
Thanksgiving every night, as her grandma often cooks for the whole
extended family. Karapetyan's family and friends call her Nana. "I
see her in the morning, then I see her on TV, I can't really imagine
that it's the same person. It's Nana, it's the same Nana on TV,"
her mother said, adding that Karapetyan often gets called into work
at or before 4 a.m.
At Fox, Karapetyan wants to continue to cover stories that are
memorable and have an impact. "Sometimes I think we get caught up
with the flashy stuff, the drive-by shooting, the car chase or the
fire," she said. "I think that sometimes the real good stories kind
of get lost."
Karapetyan's family and friends note that she's always wanted to make
a difference. "I go home sometimes and I'm like, ok I know I didn't
cure cancer today, I know I didn't invent some invention that's
going to change the world in any way," Karapetyan said. "But maybe
I brought light to an issue that otherwise wouldn't have, or I gave
someone a chance to have a voice when they have no voice. That's the
most fulfilling thing."
From: A. Papazian
Easy Reader
http://www.easyreadernews.com/50381/araksya-karapetyan/
May 1 2012
When Araksya Karapetyan returned to Armenia in 2006 - 16 years after
she'd immigrated to Palos Verdes with her family as a seven-year-old -
she didn't want to be a tourist.
Karapetyan had just graduated from Syracuse University with a degree
in broadcast journalism and international relations, so she picked
up her camcorder, stuffed it with tapes and was off to explore.
Her family had left Armenia in 1990, just before the collapse of the
Soviet Union and after the 1988 earthquake that devastated much of
the country's northern regions, killing thousands and leaving even
more homeless.
On her trip, Karapetyan noticed earthquake victims still living in
trailers provided to them after their homes were destroyed.
"They had interesting stories and it felt like those were the people
(who) people walk by and don't pay much attention to," she said. She
spent her days interviewing sunflower seed vendors and visiting
orphanages, psychiatric wards and elderly homes.
"I go home sometimes and I'm like, okay I know I didn't cure cancer
today...but maybe I brought light to an issue...or I gave someone a
chance to have a voice when they have no voice."
Hearing their stories ignited her passion for journalism. When she
returned to California that summer, she simultaneously took on two
internships at KABC-TV in Glendale and KFI Radio, and a job at Torrance
Citi Cable 3. She'd wake up at midnight to work the overnight shift
at KABC, after which she'd head over to KFI in Burbank, and finish
her day in Torrance a couple times a week. "I'm very extreme with
what I do," she laughed.
Her husband, Amir Yousefi, noted Karapetyan's determination. "They
ask her to come in to work for nine hours she goes in for 13 hours,"
he said. "She knows what she wants."
And her mentors noticed. "She really stuck out," said KFI reporter
Steve Gregory. "She's by far my most impressive intern and I've been
doing this for 30 years."
Upon meeting her, Gregory recalled asking her: Do you want to be a
TV star or do you want to be respected? "She said she wanted to be
respected," Gregory said. "She was very eager, she was like a sponge.
She wanted to learn everything." Gregory took her everywhere from
red carpet events to a Santa Clarita detention center.
The 29-year-old was recently hired as a fill-in news anchor and general
assignment reporter for FOX 11 news. Karapetyan gleaned experience
from her two previous jobs in smaller markets - she spent two years
at a local television station in Idaho Falls and another two at a
CBS affiliate in Portland.
Her career in news was foreshadowed early on. As a kid, she'd pretend
to be a news anchor with Scarlett Davis, her first friend in America.
One evening, the two were sitting on the living room carpet among a
stack of National Geographic magazines, while Karapetyan's family was
watching the news. "She handed me one and she said, 'Ok, pick out an
article and we're going to pretend like were news anchors like the
lady on TV now,'" Davis recalled.
Growing up, Karapetyan was a performer, said her mother, Gayane
Tumanyan. "Whenever there were people gathered together, she'd
find something and make it look like a microphone and start talking
reciting, singing, dancing," Tumanyan said, with a laugh.
She credits her work ethic to summers spent working at Malaga Cove
Ranch Market, a grocery store owned by her uncle. Her grandfather, at
84 years old, still goes to work there everyday. "There was no cutting
corners. If I didn't do it, my grandpa would have to do it," she said.
"I wasn't looking to get out of there, clock in, clock out. If I was
sick, I was still showing up to work...That's really what shaped me."
As a reporter in the small town of Idaho Falls, Karapetyan described
herself as a "one-man band." "I had to shoot, edit and be the
reporter. On weekends I would produce, sometimes report on a story
and anchor all in one day," she recalled. "It was hard work. It was
a lot, especially when you're not getting paid very much."
She looked at the experience as graduate school, a training ground
on which she could hone in her skills. On occasion, she'd imagine
pulling over on the icy road and plugging a hole in her tire so she
wouldn't have to continue her assignment. But she never did. "If you
don't care, then you're not going to do justice to the people there
or the story," she said.
For one particularly memorable story, she headed to Mexico with KFI's
Gregory to report on an amusement park at which park-goers simulate
the border-crossing experience. Would-be immigrants gathered on a
dark campground - rife with border patrol officers chasing them,
demanding for papers - to act out what it would be like.
Her station couldn't afford to send her abroad, so she paid her own
way. She'd promised her news director she'd find a local connection -
why would this story be relevant to the Idaho Falls community? So
she navigated through the Hispanic community, eventually finding
an immigrant who'd crossed the border illegally from Mexico who was
willing to share his story.
"I found that connection then went off to Mexico," Karapetyan said,
with a bright smile. While she traveled with Gregory, the two were
reporting separately. Again, Karapetyan was a one-man band. "Sometimes
I wanted to be in the shot to do standup, so I would hand the camera
to someone, give them a quick lesson: this is what you do, follow me
when I go this way, pan and zoom."
After collecting 10 hours of footage, she headed home to edit. The
story earned her a regional Edward Murrow award for best hard news
feature in 2008.
Still, Karapetyan is continually looking to improve. "I watch my work
every single day, I watch it to see how I did it and how I could've
done it better," she said. "No matter where you are or how far up you
get, that's the only way you'll keep growing and getting better. There
should never be a point where you are satisfied with your work."
A main factor in choosing to pursue a job opportunity in Los Angeles
was to be near her family. She wanted her grandparents to be able to
turn on the television and see her reporting the news, live. "They
made a lot of sacrifices to come to this country," she said. "I know
it's very difficult when you're established in another country, you
have a position, you're respected, you've built your whole life there.
Then you come to a whole new country, you start all over...It was
important for me to be able to be here for them so that they could
know that it was worth it."
The family has remained tight-knit - Karapetyan said it's like
Thanksgiving every night, as her grandma often cooks for the whole
extended family. Karapetyan's family and friends call her Nana. "I
see her in the morning, then I see her on TV, I can't really imagine
that it's the same person. It's Nana, it's the same Nana on TV,"
her mother said, adding that Karapetyan often gets called into work
at or before 4 a.m.
At Fox, Karapetyan wants to continue to cover stories that are
memorable and have an impact. "Sometimes I think we get caught up
with the flashy stuff, the drive-by shooting, the car chase or the
fire," she said. "I think that sometimes the real good stories kind
of get lost."
Karapetyan's family and friends note that she's always wanted to make
a difference. "I go home sometimes and I'm like, ok I know I didn't
cure cancer today, I know I didn't invent some invention that's
going to change the world in any way," Karapetyan said. "But maybe
I brought light to an issue that otherwise wouldn't have, or I gave
someone a chance to have a voice when they have no voice. That's the
most fulfilling thing."
From: A. Papazian