CARIBOU, Maine — When Ben Ezzy thinks about what shaped his budding career in TV news, he needs to look no further than Caribou.
Ezzy, a 2016 Caribou High School graduate, and his news team of eight at the University of Miami are nominated for their 4th College Television Award from the Television Academy Foundation.
For Ezzy, the nomination is a testament to his commitment to local news coverage. While still in high school, Ezzy interned at Aroostook’s television news station and learned firsthand how to choose and develop stories that impact peoples’ lives. Now he’s using that experience to mentor young journalists.
“The close-knit environment [in Aroostook] definitely helped me find local stories that matter to peoples’ lives,” Ezzy said.
During his time as a college student, Ezzy went from being a volunteer production assistant to directing NewsVision, the university’s 30-minute nightly news broadcast. He took those lessons from Aroostook into the newsroom, helping students develop relationships with people in their community.
In their nominated broadcast, which aired April 7, 2022, reporters go live from the site of a train crash and tell viewers about a community’s reaction to a local park entrance and a physician’s assistant who went beyond the call of duty to save two lives.
The broadcast was one of Ezzy’s last as a student director. He graduated from the University of Miami’s Master of Fine Arts program for interactive media in 2022, after having earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism in 2020.
“It’s a testament to our entire team, how they go out into the community and find these great stories,” Ezzy said, about the nomination. “We have this mantra that if a story is interesting to you, then it’ll likely be interesting to a wider audience.”
Ezzy and NewsVision crew members will represent UM at the College Television Awards in North Hollywood, California, on April 1. A few days prior, the group will take part in networking events that will connect them with broadcast industry leaders.
Though Ezzy is open to new opportunities, for now he has found great rewards in mentoring up and coming TV journalists.
After earning his master’s degree, Ezzy became the UMTV coordinator and a UM broadcast production instructor. He now helps students develop, write and edit stories and oversees productions for UMTV’s nine shows.
Ezzy credits his middle and high school teachers in Caribou for inspiring him to combine his love of the news and mentoring young people.
“They taught me the importance of community, hard work and nurturing positive personal and professional relationships,” Ezzy said. “It’s great for me to see students who have never picked up a camera before produce stories and become leaders.”
