Sidney Wu

Early Life

University of Oregon and School of Journalism and Communications alum, Bernice Amaya spoke about her love for entertainment journalism. Amaya graduated from UO in 2020 during the midst of the pandemic with a degree in Journalism. Throughout her time at UO, Amaya was heavily involved in numerous extracurriculars; including, the student broadcast, Duck TV News and the Duck TV creative show and the student radio station, KWVA, where she spoke about all things entertainment. She also interned for GoDucks where she learned hands-on video production experience. All of which experience she accredited to get to where she is today. 

About Entertainment Tonight

Amaya described her position as, “currently under construction,” but she works for research and clearance for the Entertainment Tonight show. ET is a talk show described as, “an inside look at television, film, and music, including interviews with each industry’s biggest stars.” ET is broadcasted every day on CBS and is currently hosted by Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner. The show has been on air since 1981 and Amaya has been working at ET for the past three years. After taking a gap year, she started as a production assistant at ET and worked her way up to script editing for the nightly shows. 

An example of ET’s content from their recent Instagram post this week.

The importance of Entertainment News

Amaya is a big advocate for watching entertainment news, as views also keep her job afloat. However, on top of her work, Amaya said, “I think news that affects new directly is the most important, but beyond that, none is more important because they’re both in their own realm that are forms of escapism.” She explained that consuming entertainment news is just like another way to lay down and read a book or listen to music and go on a walk, all of these tactics are ways people use to briefly detach themselves from the real world.

Looking Forward

Following the pandemic and the SAG strike, Amaya said she was excited to hear more TV/movie announcements and see what projects actors will be taking on in the upcoming months. She concluded by saying, “I get excited about entertainment news because you can tell that it’s an escape for people, any story no matter how niche and it allows people to come together over topics they are passionate/excited about.”

For more information on Bernice Amaya, check out her LinkedIn.