Communiqué
Samantha Wiesneth uses her WOUB experience to create content for the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security
< < Back to samantha-wiesneth-uses-her-woub-experience-to-create-content-for-the-u-s-house-committee-on-homeland-securityWiesneth was a journalism news and information/political science double major who graduated in 2021
ATHENS, OH – As digital director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, Samantha Wiesneth is in charge of telling complicated government stories through creating compelling video and audio pieces and sharing them on social media. Wiesneth says these are skills she honed at Ohio University and WOUB.
“At WOUB, the emphasis is on being able to wear a bunch of different hats, not narrowing down what you want to do to one thing. You do all of it, video, audio, writing, production,” said Wiesneth. “They want you to be skilled to help where needed and learning all of that correlates directly to what I do now.”
Wiesneth grew up in Geneva, Illinois and worked at her high school TV station. When she was looking for a college, she knew she wanted to find a place with an excellent reputation where she could continue to work on her TV skills right away.
“Once I toured Ohio University, I definitely wanted to come to Athens,” said Wiesneth. “It was very clear freshman could get involved at WOUB right away. WOUB was part of the tour, and we walked right past the newsroom in the Radio and TV Building. That was my biggest interest.”
Wiesneth was interested in both news and sports journalism. She came to the first meeting of the semester for WOUB’s weekly high school football program, Gridiron Glory, and was instantly hooked.
“I volunteered to do whatever they needed me to do,” said Wiesneth. “I was involved in every show I could be from then on through my senior year.”
In addition to Gridiron, Wiesneth got involved with WOUB’s high school basketball program, Hardwood Heroes. She eventually co-hosted the show with fellow student Tee Willis. During her senior year, Wiesneth also started working on WOUB’s nightly TV news program, NewsWatch.
As Wiesneth approached graduation, the journalism news and information and political science double major started to think about pursuing a career outside of broadcast TV where she could use both of her majors and all the skills she learned at WOUB.
“I started looking for jobs in Washington D.C.,” said Wiesneth. “After graduation in 2021, I got a job as a press assistant in Montana Senator Steve Daines office. During the year and a half that I worked there, I was promoted to deputy digital specialist.”
In February 2023, Wiesneth was hired to work on the communications team at the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security.
“I attend a lot of hearings and get to do quite a bit of travel,” said Wiesneth. “I create all of the visual content related to the committee. I produce all the photos, videos, social media and graphics needed to tell the story of what is happening so those interested can understand it clearly.”
Wiesneth says creating the video content is her favorite part of the job.
“I’m very proud of the content we have put out,” said Wiesneth. “And I use the skills I learned at WOUB to create it and everything that I do. While this is not the career path I originally planned when I started working at WOUB, I wouldn’t be here without the experience that I gained there.”