Out on TV: ABC 6 News Reporter Paul Mueller

Paul Mueller has been a familiar face to television viewers in New England for the last decade. Mueller is the co-anchor for the 4 pm newscast on ABC 6 in Providence. Mueller also reports stories for the station's 6 and 11 pm newscasts.

Mueller, 35, spoke with EDGE recently about his career and what it's like to be openly gay in television news.

Mueller says ABC 6 is a comfortable place to work for gays and lesbians.

"Most newsrooms I find tend to be very liberal," Mueller noted. "I've always been open. I've always been out. That's part of me. If someone can't deal with the fact that I'm gay, that's their issue, not mine. Gay doesn't define my career. Being gay is one small snippet of my life. It doesn't affect every single thing that I do."

The desire to become a journalist hit Mueller at a very young age.

"I always wanted to do TV news," Mueller admitted, noting him and his friends would stage mock television newscasts while he was growing up in New York.

Mueller attended Boston University's College of Communications and got his big break at WHDH in Boston, where he was assigned to work on the overnight news desk.

Mueller later reported for the BBC in New York and then took an anchor/reporter job in Tyler, Texas, where he worked for 2 years. Going from a city of over 8 million people to a town of just 70,000 people was a huge adjustment.

"It was a very tough experience for me," Mueller remembered. "But in the long run it was a really good experience. It toughened me up so I could move on to my next venture."

Mueller's first stint at ABC 6 lasted from 2001 through 2003. One story Mueller covered was the devastating Station nightclub fire in West Warwick.

Over 100 people died and more than 200 others were seriously injured trying to escape the inferno after a pyrotechnic ignited during a performance by the 80s rock band Great White.

"I was out there 12 hours that night," Mueller recalled. "There was a line of fire trucks, ambulances, lights, sirens, paramedics, any kind of emergency personnel as far as the eye could see. It was the worst sight that I've ever had to see in my life. There were people out there, the lucky ones who made it out (of the building), were out on Cowesett Avenue in a daze, confused. Here in Rhode Island, it's such a small state, that everyone either knows someone who was there that night or knows someone who knows someone who was there that night."

Mueller later served as weekend anchor and reporter at The Ten O'Clock News on WB56 in Boston.

The experience was "phenomenal", Mueller said, noting he was thrilled to be working in one of the biggest media markets in the country.

"I was very grateful for that opportunity," Mueller said. "To deliver the news in Boston was what I always wanted to do. It was going home finally."

Mueller was laid off from the station in 2006 and did freelance work at stations in New Hampshire and in Seattle.

When he heard ABC 6 was being sold and that there was an opening for a news anchor, Mueller applied for the position and was rehired in 2008.

"It was like going back to a safe, familiar place," Mueller said. "It was kind of like a homecoming of sorts. I know the market. The Providence-New Bedford market. I know the players. Primarily we focus a lot of our news at Channel 6 on Providence. It's the biggest city in the state. But we also go wherever the news takes us, because we serve all of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts."

The ability to multi-task is a must for television reporters, who are expected to be able to write their own scripts and edit stories, Mueller said.

Mueller believes in maintaining high standards as a journalist, adding he has no tolerance for errors: "I will come down hard on myself for making a mistake. I want it to be perfect."