Kathryn Tunis, '02, Monitored Programming, Advertising at ABC

Watching television ranks as a favorite pastime for many Americans, but few stop to consider what goes into the production of television programs. Kathryn Tunis, ’02, who worked for American Broadcasting Company (ABC, Inc.) from October 2003 through August 2006, recently shared her insights on this field.  

Tunis described her job as an editor in ABC’s Broadcast Standards and Practices Department as more akin to the work of a censor than to that of a traditional editor. She monitored both programming and advertising to ensure moral, ethical and legal compliance to standards.  

“I told people what they could and couldn’t say on the air,” Tunis said. “And I made sure advertisers followed ABC’s guidelines and were able to substantiate the claims they made in their advertisements.” 

Tunis worked with programmers on shows such as “One Life to Live” through all the production phases, from the initial program outline, to the finalization of the script, to the rough cut and filming, to the final production stage.  

Monitoring live broadcasts of sporting events and programs like “The View” can be especially challenging, according to Tunis. “I used the five-second delay button to screen out inappropriate content,” she said. “We didn’t want a repeat of the [CBS] Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl.” 

Effective screening became more important than ever when Congress voted in June to raise the fines the Federal Communications Commission can levy for broadcast indecency violations from $32,500 to $325,000 per incident per affiliate. “When you have over 200 affiliates,” Tunis said, “that’s a lot of money.” 

Tunis spent as much time monitoring advertising content for ABC as she did monitoring program content. She was surprised to find that Jepson’s “Research Methods” class proved particularly helpful in this regard.  

“I always said I would never use what I learned in ‘Research Methods,’” Tunis said, “but I found myself using it on a daily basis to analyze studies that would prove or disprove the claims advertisers made.” 

Tunis also cited the value of the critical-thinking skills she learned at Jepson. “I learned how to look at something in a different manner than most other people do,” Tunis said. “If you can bring something else to the table, you already have a leg up on the competition.”  

Her Jepson education also helped her hone her people skills, Tunis said. “A Jepson graduate can identify and acclimate to different leadership styles more easily than other college graduates can,” Tunis said. “The group work I did in Jepson taught me how to compromise and make things work so that the end product is the best it can be.” 

Although Tunis loved her job and the fast-paced work environment at ABC, she left in mid-August to move to San Diego where she hopes to find another job in television. “It’s a fascinating field,” she said. “I could never really predict what my day would be like when I worked for ABC.”