Political Hotbed – Page 12 – Survive Your Job In Television News

“Hey, she got more time!” Reporter’s secret? Humor the producer.

We are telling you about some smart alliances in newsrooms to help you get your job done better. One of the biggest problems in newsrooms is a real lack of understanding of what other people’s jobs entail. A big disconnect can come between reporters and producers. Since reporters are out in the field all day, it is hard to relate to each other. So, reporters, here’s a quick summary of what producers face. Producers face deadlines all day long, not just before news time. Graphics are due by a certain time, video is due by a certain time, even in this high tech age. Teases must be written by a certain time. Animations must be turned in by a certain time. The list goes on and on. Producers crunch in one way or another all day long. That’s why you get curt phone calls and that’s why the producer will interrupt you and demand the bottom line then hang up. It takes years to get used to the constant demands. This isn’t meant to make you feel compassion for the producer. We all have tough jobs in a newsroom. But this knowledge should help you form a smart alliance. Remember, producers are the ones that allow you to take more time for a story you really believe in. If you can get a producer to back you on a story pitch, you have a better chance of getting your story aired.

So here’s what to keep in mind to build a smart alliance with producers. Producers love reporters that think like producers. What does that mean? It means thinking of elements outside of your package to enhance your story. It means writing anchor intros that allow the anchors to seem knowledgeable without giving your story away. It means making sure your package and live scripts get into the rundown before the newscast airs, unless you are on breaking news. (Read Live shot died, there’s nowhere to go.) It means sending in natural sound or sound bites early for teases. It also means calling and requesting interesting graphics several hours before the newscast.

If you are saying wow that’s a lot of work, take a breath and read on. You probably already do some of this anyway, especially if you are a story teller. You just need to present it in a way that allows the producer to see you are helping.

First, when you write your package start with the anchor intro. (We will delve into the many benefits of this in depth in another article.) For the purposes of forming a smart alliance, this means you will have a script in early for the producer to fine tune if necessary for flow in the newscast. Turning in all of your live scripts and your package script early also gives the producer backup options if your live truck dies or a thunderstorm pops up. It shows respect for the overall product. Remember the producer is in charge of the overall product. If the show goes to hell, the producer gets it big time. You show the producer that you care about the newscast by writing your anchor intro early and turning in all your scripts. If you can provide an interesting element to segment out the story (Read Produce it up to see why) producers will appreciate you even more. It helps the producer showcase you and the anchors, as a team, gathering information and relieves a lot of pressure. Otherwise the producer, on top of everything else, is trying to find these elements to make the newscast standout from the others in town.

Producers also use teases to try and differentiate newscasts. The use of natural sound can make a huge difference when writing (tease writing articles for clarification: You’re Hooked, Ultimate tease challenge , Reel ‘em in without exaggerating). That’s why you are getting calls asking if you have interesting sound and/or video. Many reporters consider these requests annoying and send the video or sound in last minute. This let’s your producer know you don’t get the whole picture and don’t care if your story is promoted well. Realistically, you can often have your photographer feed in the tease video and sound while you write your package. It doesn’t hurt your chances of turning a great story and it helps showcase your hard work more.

Same is true if you need graphics inside your package. Turn them in early, ask the producer what the deadline he/she adheres to and try to make the same deadline if you can. Producers understand you will get information late in the day sometimes and will try and get a graphic for you last minute. It helps if, more often than not, you turn in your work early. Then the producer is more willing to pull favor for you. If you consistently turn in these elements early, it also will give you a better chance of becoming a go-to reporter for the producer. The benefit? Many shops are so called “producer driven.” That means what the producers ask for in their shows carries a lot of weight. They determine content more than reporters. So if the producer believes in you, he/she will start requesting you for the highly showcased stories. Producers will tell management you are a loyal and solid employee. This will help you get noticed by management. If you don’t help the producer out, the reverse is true. The producer will ask not to have your package in the newscast. They will tell management you are unreliable and difficult. You will be labeled. When it’s time for the cream assignment, you won’t get it or if you get lucky and can go, the producer may not cut you slack if you run into trouble. This relationship is a huge case of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Show respect. Think like a producer. Win a huge ally that will fight tooth and nail for you. It’s a smart alliance to make, for sure!

The live shot died and there’s nowhere to go!

I recently saw a producer tweeting about his frustration over this predicament. A reporter on a live shot didn’t call in scripts, then, the live shot died. That means no backup. The anchors do not have a little information to draw from and then move on. So they are stuck saying: “Sorry about the technical difficulty. We’ll get back to so and so when we can.” Losing a live shot and having to do a mea culpa is a big deal. Viewers do not like waiting for something they were promised and then not getting it. Think about it, neither do you. It is so easy to hit the remote and never look back.

For this reason many stations have policies that require reporters to turn in complete scripts to the producer before the newscast airs. This means actual written copy for their live standups. With Smart Phones, laptops and remote access this should be easy. But some shops still do not have the technology synched up.

In every station where I worked several reporters fought this tooth and nail. If you want to get on a producer’s bad side, this is the way to do it. In a breaking news situation everyone understands reporters are just trying to make air. Producers gladly take the risk and go to you without a script. But when you are just doing day-to-day news, providing your script should be doable in some form. I used four techniques as a producer to eliminate the problem of not getting them.

Getting reporter backup scripts

Email script for copy paste or transcription
Backup vo/sot required
AP writes backup from earlier show
Staggered script deadlines

In some stations where I worked the reporters were turning two packages on two different subjects every day. If they could not just write in the rundown, I would give them the option to email me the approved script so I, or my AP, could move it over. I understood every second counted for these reporters. They can’t help if the technology was such that there was no way to write directly into the rundown.

In cases where the reporter had one package a day, I required a backup vo/sot be written and sent to my AP. That way if the package didn’t make it, or we had to push it aside for a breaker, we had something to go to. For my feisty reporters that didn’t appreciate being asked to do that, I had the nightside producer or morning show producer call and request a vo/sot. The reporter wanted to get home and would usually write it up quickly. The other producer got a vo/sot they may or may not ever use and I got a backup!

If the reporter is turning several packages, he/she is legitimately too swamped to turn in backups for producers. In that case I had my AP write backups from earlier newscasts, just in case.

Finally, if reporters were willing to send in backups, I was willing to be more flexible on feed deadlines. I would stagger when pkgs were due, then let the reporter voice before turning in a final approved script and/or vosot backups. I wanted to give reporters more breathing room and a chance to focus on their packages.

Reporters, if you really want to befriend a producer, provide your live scripts every day. If the technology makes this nearly impossible, then at least call into the producer or AP with a sound bite so they can try to write a backup. You will make a loyal ally. Scripts and potential backups are in the best interest of the show and everyone’s credibility.

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 3^rd Ave to 9^th 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.

———————————————————————————————————————–

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.

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.