Politics from the control room

On a 2010 co-op with NBC News, Michele Richinick helped the network cover a broad range of stories, including the earthquake in Haiti, the nation’s ongoing economic woes and the meltdown of Tiger Woods’ marriage.

But when the six-month experiential-learning opportunity ended, she remained on call, covering gubernatorial elections from Rockefeller Center in the fall of 2010. Earlier this year, she helped NBC cover a Republican debate from Concord, N.H., where her responsibilities ranged from wrangling campaigns to driving the network’s president from the airport to the debate.

Richinick, who graduated in May with a journalism degree from the College of Arts, Media and Design, summed up her role thusly: “I was doing pretty much everything that might need to be done.”

The hard work paid off. Earlier this month, Richinick, who had been working as a part-time content producer for Boston.com, started working as a full-time production coordinator for NBC’s news specials division. In her role, she will coordinate coverage of the Republican National Convention, the presidential debates and the inauguration.

In particular, Richinick will prepare the network’s coverage of the five-day RNC from Tampa, a two-week stint in August that will require the coordination of countless details.

“I’ve only been at work for two weeks but I’ll never look at a convention or a debate the same way,” Richinick said. “There’s so much work that just goes into even the littlest thing.”