See it rather than say it: How to clue in anchors during live TV.

It was early on a Saturday morning. But weekday anchors up and down the East Coast were in their respective newsrooms waiting on a big story to arrive named Hurricane Irene.

As I waited for my on-air shift to begin, I was multitasking as usual: reading over the scripts the producers had written, watching a stream of storm updates cascade down Tweetdeck, and listening to a friend’s broadcast over the internet as he prepared the viewers in his market for what was to come.

Then it happened — that cringe-worthy moment all of us anchors dread. The voice on the phone stopped talking. But my friend was caught off-guard and had no idea what the man had been saying. Producers were talking in his IFB at the time and he was caught with his proverbial pants down on live TV.

What’s worse is that all that chatter over the IFB prevented him from doing his #1 job in a time of crisis: being a reporter. Yes, he was chained to the desk. But that phone was his — and his viewers’ — lifeline to late breaking information about a story that was changing minute-by-minute.

If an anchor isn’t able to hear a phoner or a reporter on a satellite shot in a breaking news situation, he quickly falls behind. In subsequent ad-libs, he can sound disconnected, out-of-touch, and out-of-date.

Unfortunately, it’s not a rare occurrence even on network television. And it’s just as likely to happen during a satellite interview any day of the week.

There are no easy answers for how to make sure the magic happening behind-the-scenes doesn’t intrude on the viewer who’s just trying to find out what’s going on and whether her family is threatened.

But let me throw-out some ideas:

Bring in the interns! It’s the excitement they’ve been waiting for anyway. All those mornings of filling-up the printers and opening the lobby doors for studio guests should at least have this payoff. For goodness sakes, let’s ask them the day before if they’d be willing to help us with our breaking news coverage. I bet they’d love it. (And if they don’t show much enthusiasm they should find another career.)

Use them as runners. To reduce the amount of chatter producers engage in over IFB, I say go old school. Station at least one intern right next to the producer in the control room. Arm them with a stack of paper or a small dry erase board. Have them run routine messages (like the names and titles of guests coming up or the latest statistics on the story you’re covering) to the anchor desk. As an anchor, I want my mic to be hot so I can interrupt or question the person on the phone or the reporter out in the field at any time. So I can’t talk. And I really need to hear what’s being said over-the-air. But I’ve still got my eyes and my hands. When I see I’m off-camera, I can look at what the intern is presenting me, write down any questions or concerns I have for the producer, and send the intern back into the control room.

If your station doesn’t usually have interns, consider an associate producer or the news junkie on the sales staff for this role. If the breaking news comes out of nowhere and you had no time to plan for it, consider the options below.

Text messaging over teleprompter. It’s breaking news. Your anchors aren’t using the teleprompter all that much anyway. Write a message at the top of the story that’s currently cued-up. “***GM has canceled ALL breaks. Stretch. Ad-lib at will! ***” It’s especially useful when you need to quickly convey street closures. “City closing these streets: Broadway from 3rd Ave to 9th Ave & Water Tower Road from Main to Robinson.” Most of us in television are visual people. We digest information easier if we see it rather than if you’re trying to tell us the details over IFB — especially if we’re in the middle of an interview.

And anchors, don’t be afraid to write down this information on-camera as you’re delivering it. The viewers know it’s an extraordinary time and you’re trying to make sure the information is accurate. So write it down. Set it aside. You’ll need to come back to it throughout your coverage. (And your producers have a lot more important things to do than regurgitate information they’ve already given you once.)

Instant messaging/“Top lining.” We have ENPS at my station and my producers are great at doing this. If my co-anchor and I are busy talking and interviewing people on-air, they’ll send us information in an instant message, which appears as the top line in ENPS.

Anchors, the judges will not deduct any points for reading detailed information off of ENPS on the computer screen on your desk. Again, it’s breaking news. They’ll understand.

Any more tips for creating smoother communication during breaking news coverage? Be sure to let us know by commenting below.

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Matthew Nordin is a morning anchor and investigative reporter at WMBF News, Raycom Media’s NBC affiliate in Myrtle Beach. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewNordin.

 

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Reporting Alliance : Your Key to the desk.

Reporters often feel left on their own.  There is some truth to that feeling since you are out and about, and your bosses are not there to really watch you work.  Assumptions are made about what you do and don’t do by managers and producers.  Often you are not given the benefit of the doubt.

That’s why it is crucial to form good relationships with a group “on the inside.” In your case that group should be assignment desk editors.  The assignment desk is the 411 of newsrooms.  Editors on the desk can be intense and bark orders.  But remember, they are under the kind of pressure you face the last two hours of your shift, all day long.  There is little to no down time.  I had friends on the assignment desk constantly get bladder infections because they could not break away from the desk long enough to  go to the bathroom regularly.  I am telling you this, because having the knowledge of what the assignment desk goes through helps you know how to build a smart alliance.

Reporters (like producers in our Producing Alliance article) will get priority day-to-day based on how they treat the assignment editor.  Sure, if you are on a breaker, you will get more attention and help. But when it’s just day-to-day, run of the mill news you can bet the reporters that are respectful to the assignment desk get more support.

So what can you do to build a smart alliance with assignment editors?  First, don’t call the desk for simple phone numbers.  With technology today, there are plenty of ways to get numbers without calling the desk.  Remember, the assignment desk is looking for fresh news all day long in addition to planning segments and stories for managers, making beat calls and answering the phone all day long.  As someone who sat next to the assignment desk for more than a decade I can attest, just answering the phone can be a full time job.  It doesn’t let up until about 9 at night.  Respect the fact the assignment editor is busy and is not your personal receptionist.  I never got over how many crews in the field really thought assignment editors just existed to be glorified receptionists for the newsroom.  Not the case.

When you do have the luck to be done with your package early in your shift, occasionally sit on the assignment desk and help out for a little while.  This is a huge sign of respect.  Sit up there, and answer the phone.  It can also be a great place to drum up story ideas and source build a bit.  The assignment editor knows who talks on what shift and who is good to call on the down low when you need to fact check.  This is smart to do, especially when you first move to an area.  Sitting on the desk to help out a little here and there will help you build sources quickly.  (See How to generate story ideas when you are swamped for more help on that)  Assignment editors also help do futures planning, so sitting up there gives you a chance to express interest in an upcoming story or special that the assignment editor is researching.  They will often let managers know, if you expressed interest, to try and help you get the assignment.

Check in regularly with the desk.  A lot of crews resent this and consider it a sinister plot to spy on you and track how hard you work.  You don’t have to give a full report if you happen to be done with your package early and are working sources for future stories.  Just call with a location and how long you think you will be there.  Assignment editors love when crews do this.  It takes 10 seconds and speaks volumes for your respect for the role of the assignment desk.  No the assignment editors are not plotting what to send you on next to work you into the ground.  They are constantly being hounded by management and producers over where crews are and how viable the stories assigned to them really are.  Just calling and saying:  “Hey we are in such and such city and will be here approximately 1 hour” helps the assignment editor show management that he/she is in touch with the crews.  It also makes you look very responsible and a team player.  Yes, you might occasionally get sent to something else because of this.  I did notice that most of the time the assignment editors fought for the crews that called in.  They could tell management this reporter has an hour left on their package so let’s pull someone else.  Knowledge is power and the assignment desk goes out of its way to protect content.  That is a key element of the position.

Finally, if you are done with your story and are sent to breaking news, don’t gripe to the desk if you and the assignment editor know the story is probably bullshit. The assignment editor more than likely has management breathing down his/her neck and often will report if you are being difficult.  If you say okay and suck it up and go, the assignment editor appreciates one less fight in the day and will likely try to prevent sending you on the next wild goose chase.  The point, in case you missed it:  If you gripe, you will get the crap job more. The assignment desk controls a lot of your destiny including which photographer is assigned to you most days.  If you want less hassle, give the assignment desk less hassle.  You both will appreciate each other more.

 

 

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Producing Alliances: Assign and direct.

Line producers are often in a very uncomfortable spot in newsrooms.  You are in charge of a newscast, yet you are not a manager with any teeth.  Competition between producers generally is pretty intense so you cannot really confide in another producer at your station.  Your job is confusing for other people in the newsroom to really grasp.  You don’t want to spill your guts to your EP, so it can appear in your review a few months later.

So who do you align yourself with?  I always had the best luck with directors and assignment editors.

In the article “Right Hand Meet Your Left” I describe why having a good relationship with your director is important.  Now I want to talk more about the benefits of this smart alliance.

Directors tend to be extremely detail oriented.  That means they can pick up on things you might do that you aren’t even aware of.  When starting out as a producer, I had problems with my weekend newscasts timing out correctly.  During the morning and weekday noon shows, I had no timing problems.  I tried different techniques for several weeks with no luck.  I was ready to pull my hair out!  Then I decided to ask the director for advice. But, he was much more experienced and I was concerned he would think less of me.  When I finally asked if he noticed anything about my timing he said: “Yes. I’ve been waiting for you to ask. I didn’t want to seem pushy.”  Turns out, the final commercial break varied wildly from the rundown format.  I had never known to check the traffic log for my breaks.  That was never taught to me.  He showed me where to get the log and what to look for.  I never mistimed a show again.

Directors also tend to be dismissed by managers and other newsroom employees during a shift. Because of this, they hear everything and if you have developed a strong relationship based on trust, your director may give you a heads up when something big is about to happen that involves you.  Several times I found out management was considering moving me to another newscast, from my director.  I had several days to prepare before news management got around to telling me.  I never betrayed the director’s trust and was able to arm myself if I didn’t like the shift change to try and fight for “my show.”

In some shops directors are considered managers.  They are consulted before changes take place especially when it comes to formatting newscasts.  You want a heads up when possible and you want to be able to weigh in.  Several times directors came to me with proposed format or policy changes and asked my opinion before weighing in themselves.  We wanted to be on the same page to protect our shift.

The other smart alliance is with assignment editors.  (We will dedicate an entire article to assignment editors soon.  They are unsung heroes in many newsrooms.)  I went out of my way to develop a relationship with my assignment editors because often they are the next closest thing to producers in terms of constant grind.  Again, assignment editors are a type of manager, yet don’t really have teeth, just like producers.  And, just like producers, they sit down to work and don’t get downtime until they are in the car on the way home.  Assignment editors are also consulted on things that impact your shift, but involve the crews more.  They are a great resource for understanding what the crews in the field are going through during an actual shift.  Usually the crews are too swamped to fill you in themselves.  Crews know management will check in with the assignment desk and therefore usually tell the desk any elements first.  If you are not respectful to your assignment editor, you will not get as many updates about the crews and will not get to weigh in on how you want those updates. This can have a dramatic impact on your day-to-day job duties.  Also, if you are curt toward your assignment editor, you will end up having to constantly check the assignment file and scroll through hoping to figure out what the newest information is on local vo’s etc.  If you are respectful, you might get a top line or quick phone call so you know when to write local elements and when to wait for crucial information.

So how do you set up a solid relationship with the assignment desk?  If you have even a moment help make some calls when the desk is overwhelmed.   I used to ask my associate producer to check with the assignment editor to see if he/she needed a quick break once or twice a shift.  My AP could listen to the scanners and answer the phone and my assignment editor could at least walk the building or grab a snack and relax a little.  If breaking news hit, I had the AP get on the desk with the assignment editor and help make calls or, if the assignment editor preferred, be in charge of sending me top lines about the information like a crews’ ETA to the breaking news scene.

Bottom line, producers cannot do their job properly without information, and without a way to cleanly place that information on a television screen.  Treat the people who allow you to perform these key tasks with respect and you will get the help you need to put on the best newscast possible each day.

 

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Ah-ha! What Meteorologists Can Learn From Story tellers.

It is no secret that meteorologists are often the number one reason viewers tune in for newscasts.  Still the weather section of rundowns is not always getting the numbers it used to.  There are several reasons for this. Let’s take a look at one that can be tricky to solve: Trust.  Research keeps showing that viewers, even though they still watch newscasts do not always think they are getting accurate information. In fact, a recent survey by George Mason/Yale Universities on climate change showcases some of the issues for weather coverage.  It interviewed more than a thousand Americans in May, 2011.  52 percent said they trusted “television weather reporters.”   48 percent said they distrust “television weather reporters.” Nearly 50/50 isn’t bad you say?  Consider this:  The trust level for TV forecasters is down 14 points since a poll in November 2008.

You might be saying this was specific to weather climate change, a small element in our day-to-day coverage.  It still points to trust levels for a perceived large weather event.  Trust over severe weather coverage is a make or break for many stations and, therefore, its staff meteorologists.

Now let’s talk news icons.  The people you trust when you watch.  Here are two names to consider: Charles Kuralt and Bob Dotson.  Both master storytellers, who took facts, gave them meaning, and made you think of your world a little differently. (Dotson is still doing it for NBC News.) “Television weather reporters” have the same burden, despite being the scientists on staff.

So how do you connect the two?  Let’s take some basic storytelling principles and apply them to weather coverage.

Storytelling Principles for Television Weather Reporters:

  • Start with an image.
  • Be able to explain story in one sentence.
  • Showcase how it impacts people.
  • Find an Ah-ha moment. Let viewers see the situation in a way they haven’t before.

All of these bullet points are aimed at helping you provide perspective.  For all elements of television news this means identifying and clearly explaining an image.  This is why, when there is severe weather clean up, you hear management asking for the most compelling picture of the damage.  The goal is to burn an image in the viewer’s mind of what the storm meant for people.  Using visuals has to be more than calling up a weather map, full screen.  That’s because, for most viewers, weather maps look pretty much the same.  If you see something interesting on radar that you want to make your “headline” for a weather hit you need to be able to explain it in one sentence right away.  Spell it out.  Then expand on it.  Be visual while you do it.  Draw diagrams, telestrate, ask for interesting video or animation to spell out what the viewer should watch for.  This helps the viewer relate to the weathercast more.

The easiest way to pick your headline and spell it out is showcasing how an element of the weather will impact people each day.  Yes, you already sort of do this with hourly forecasts, school bus stop forecasts, game forecasts etc.  But it all looks the same, usually falls at the end of the weathercast and in a very predictable manner.  I know research shows holding those graphics helps with the all important meter points.  This means making the beginning and middle of the forecast more personal with mentions about how the weather will impact certain activities and neighborhoods while showcasing it in a more visual way than just putting up a map like viewers are used to seeing.

Often you are asked to give themes to each weathercast when you have multiple hits in a news show.  Frankly, many of those themes are not obvious to the viewer until the final outlook is put up with the weekend forecast, or a look ahead to an event.  The beginning of most weathercasts seems the same and can be confusing to viewers.  To viewers, the information is not clearly supported with visuals.  Remember, after a while, maps can appear like video wallpaper to the viewer:  Always there, no reason to stare at it.  That’s why I mention telestrating, animations and video to explain your headline along with those maps.

If you take away one suggestion for storytelling from this article make it this one:  Give viewers an “ah-ha moment” out of your weathercast every day.  Storytellers call this their “surprise.” Often it is an ironic twist or a very interesting fact that you didn’t know, or did not see coming, and makes the story relatable.  Weather has universal appeal, but forecasts often are not easily relatable for the viewer.  You watch all the graphics and hope you are actually guessing correctly where your location is on the various maps so you can figure out the impact.  I understand a meteorologist cannot give every person across the ADI a personal twist specific to their area.  But you can give them a headline that has impact and explain it in an extremely relatable way.  A recent example: Florida got a bunch of rain for a week this summer.  It lasted all but a few hours a day.  Usually Floridians see a couple of hours of rain late afternoon or early evening.  Many meteorologists focused on where the rain was in a broad base and what the next day would look like.  Helpful yes, because I was trying to figure out when to hit the amusement parks and beaches.  But everywhere I went I kept hearing: “Why is it raining like this?”  I watched the news for several days.  A few off hand comments I could not understand.  I went onto the weather channel website and searched “Why Florida rain?” Bingo!  I found a great explainer on why this was happening.  It was a change in a low over Texas and part of the midwest that drifted over.  Too often weather reporters are told to put so many graphics up for futurecasting etc, that the “why” gets glossed over in the middle of the weathercast.  You don’t need extra time to showcase the “why”, you just need to define it clearly in a sentence, with an image then, expand a few lines.  Here’s a big secret from storytellers:  The “why” in a story is often your most compelling and potentially ironic element.

Yes, many of the things I am mentioning technically exist in weather hits already.  So, what’s the big deal?  Too often the message is lost in the delivery.  The comments are thrown in as asides or transition lines when talking with the news anchors.  The perspective and the “why” elements need to take precedence.  This is where you establish that you are keeping watch, wanting to make sure the viewers are safe.  These elements will build your trust with viewers.  Storytellers are trusted.  They know the facts and can let viewers see those facts in a way that wasn’t clear before.  So learn from the storytellers and provide more “ah-ha” moments.  Your credibility in your market will soar!

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