We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matt McGovern a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

Out of the eleven years and counting that I’ve been working in the TV / news industry, I have been a web producer to some capacity for eight of those years. Starting with the third TV station I worked for, I was the very first web and social media producer in the history of the station (KGNS TV in Laredo, Texas). I did everything myself with very little help or instruction and made something out of it. Eventually, they added on to the web department and I became the Senior Web / Social Media Producer. At one point, I managed two other people in the newsroom.

When I decided to continue my career, I moved to Waco, Texas to work for FOX 44 News as the main Digital Content Producer (same position and duties). At first, it was just me doing it. Then there were two other web producers who came in, and I taught them everything I know.

For hobbies, it’s just me managing any kind of social media presence. I don’t trust anybody else to do it for me.

Matt, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Matt McGovern. I’m from south Mississippi, but moved to Texas in 2012. I graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2009 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Radio / TV Production and a minor in Religion.

For my career in the TV / news industry, I decided I wanted to go for this job due to growing up and seeing my mom do special projects at our local TV station for many years. I initially wanted to follow in her footsteps and do what she did, but I found out there was more of a need for stuff in news, especially if you want to use cameras and edit video. That went from a Production Assistant entry level job, to a News Photographer job, and then to a web producing job – which I have done for most of my career and am still doing to this day.

No matter which position you work inside of a newsroom, things are hectic and unpredictable. You have to be able to immediately react when big stories break out. Being a web producer is basically a desk job, but when news happens I’m usually the first person who lets people know through the power of the Internet.

Now let’s focus on some of my current hobbies outside of work. I am into occasional photography, modeling – and sometimes writing and playing music. My photography ventures happened when I started getting into jet skis and personal watercraft years ago. I heard about a local event and I wanted to meet cool people and wanted to get involved in the scene. I found out about a magazine that covers this stuff, and asked them if they wanted me to report on this event and take pictures for the magazine. They said “Sure.” This led to me regularly submitting pictures and articles for Texas-based jet ski events for about seven years. Then I wasn’t really needed anymore, because now the events coming through Texas have their own media people and I’m not really needed for anything right now.

However, around this time, I came across several Facebook groups in my area full of people wanting to work with other people, usually models and photographers, and portrait photography just kind of happened by accident. I decided to step in front of the camera because I felt like I had something to prove. I created an Instagram (@mattsavagechamp05) for just this kind of stuff. Now here we are almost in 2023 and I have over 50 publications as a jet ski photographer and writer, a portrait photographer, a male model, and even an occasional article where all that stuff is combined into one big thing!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

For anyone in a newsroom, or in any business in general, a professional and understanding attitude makes a world of difference. Also, the personality and mindset of your boss will affect a lot. At my first few jobs, even before my career started, I made several mistakes because I was new to the job and also because this was my first time doing a lot of this stuff in general.

Whenever I made a mistake and had a cool attitude about it, I either got berated by whoever was in charge or I got written up for something very small and petty. It wasn’t fun. But then as I grew up and started a career, when I made a mistake I was acting like it was the end of my world. But my boss at the time was cool about it and had one of those “It’s okay, next time will be better” attitudes. A terrible attitude will lead to unnecessary stress and a high work turnover. A cool, understanding attitude will lead to good employee morale and a nice work environment.

Whether you’re in charge or assisting in a group task, don’t dominate the conversation. Let all parties say what needs to be said. Listen to what others have to say. Understand where everyone’s coming from. Good communication is golden.

This exact information also applies to any creative hobbies and collaborations, too. Communicate your ideas and boundaries, and respect what people have to say. Get out there and have some fun!

Oh, and here’s a golden rule that applies to everything: BE ON TIME!!!!!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For my day job and career, the most rewarding part is getting news out there and informing people of what they want to know and what they need to know. Depending on the story, I may or may not get a chance to be creative when I write and post these news stories online. If it’s a crime story or any type of serious breaking news (such as a crash, a fire or police activity somewhere), don’t even think about it – just get the facts and get it out there. But if it’s a light-hearted story, such as a local holiday event or anything where the local creative industry prospers, why not have some fun with it? There was a time where the Grinch got arrested at a tree-lighting ceremony at my town. It was staged, with a police officer in a costume, but I saw it as a perfect excuse to write a news story in rhyme – from start to finish. It was the most-viewed web story on my current station’s website for at least two days.

For any of my hobbies, just being able to do them and see how they turn out is a reward all by itself. I’ve been published over 50 times and counting, and those first 24 publications were done with a point-and-shoot camera and basic editing software. I never had a professional camera at all until recently, which came with its own editing software. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be a male model. A nine-time published male model, as of this writing. I felt like I had something to prove, and I guess I did! You really just don’t know what you’re capable of doing if you don’t get out there and try.

Every time I get published, meet-like minded people and get requests to do certain things for certain people – these things serve as reminders that people like what I’m doing and how I’m doing them. Who’s to say what the future will hold?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattsavagechamp05/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mattmcg87

Image Credits
Photographers: Matt McGovern, Axel Torres, Christopher Winston, Forgotten Film, Laura Lee Cobb, David Pinto. Models: Matt McGovern, McKenzie Molina, Sasha Reyes.