Alisha McDevitt is the News Director at WMUR. Although her time is spent off-screen, her successes in her career have placed her front and center at the station.

An alumna of the University of New Hampshire, Alisha graduated with a degree in journalism. "I didn't know what I really wanted when I was a freshman, so I signed up for a writing class and I absolutely fell in love with it. After deciding that I would be a journalism major, I worked on the school newspaper and I secured an internship at the WMUR newsroom in 1993. In 1995, I began working at WMUR as a freelance producer."

Alisha says she has always been interested in current events and writing. One professor at UNH, Lisa Miller, influenced Alisha's career choice greatly. "She was fabulous, and working in the newspaper program with her really helped me decide that journalism was the path that was best for me."

As News Director, Alisha has a lot of editorial control over the newsroom. "I take part in editorial meetings, I write a lot of content, I work with reporters, I take suggestions on who to talk to for stories, I add direction and visual aids to stories…basically, I make sure everything is TV-friendly. There are special projects as well as the day-to-day work, but I have my eye on the big picture," she explains.

Alisha has consistently met with success in the newsroom, winning an Emmy award for WMUR's coverage of the 2008 Presidential Primaries. "When I found out that we had won, it was so exciting! It was a great honor, and also very humbling. The award was a team effort – you can't cover any news story by yourself. There are so many aspects to a story: video, planning, writing, and even web content. Everyone contributed, and I am very proud of everyone's effort."

When talking about the challenges and rewarding successes of everyday newsroom activity, Alisha shares "It's difficult to pull everybody together and work on the big stories that matter, like the New Hampshire Primary, and still be able to get people last-minute information in states of emergency as well, like the recent Nor'easter. Our crews are up against a lot, but they do it for the viewers who really rely on the information we present. When gathering information we have to keep ourselves safe, but we also have to keep the citizens safe. Everyone has to be on the same page and move ahead as a local news station. On a larger scale, we want to be able to cover not only the local news, but also news on the national spectrum. The team mentality really comes into play here."

She explains further, "Everything is changing in the business, especially since we are moving into the digital world, where people expect information on the web. We're working on communicating with people twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."

Even though the demand for up-to-date information is constant, this doesn't discourage Alisha and her team. "It's an exciting time to be in the field of journalism because everything is changing, and in this digital path, we don't necessarily know what is going to be the next great thing. We're constantly figuring out what we are going to do next, such as live-stream press conferences, or covering news events in real time with webcams."

Alisha is truly passionate about and devoted to her career at WMUR, and it shows in her accomplishments. To readers who would like to pursue a similar path, she says, "Get involved in your community! We all need to be aware of things that are happening around us, and once you start getting involved with these things, opportunities will become more and more apparent."

For more information about WMUR visit www.wmur.com.

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