Honing Skills – Page 12 – Survive Your Job In Television News

Meet my conscience: The importance of setting up gut checks.

Recently in Chicago, there was a drive by shooting. A freelance photographer got an interview with a 4 year old who mentioned when he grew up he was going to have a gun. The sound bite aired. Trouble is, after that bite the child added that he wanted to become a police officer. The police officer part did not air during a morning show at a local station. The breakdowns in ethics in this case are numerous. Did the photog get the parent’s permission? Did the person who wrote the vo/sot watch all of the interview before writing? Why were the boy’s words taken out of context? Why air sound from a 4 year old at all, especially in a vosot? This wasn’t a perspective piece. It was a quick pacer story. This is not an isolated case of something that is clearly dicey, ethically, ending up on the air. Recently a station in Bristol, RI admitted it aired video from a golf tournament without explaining the video was a staged reenactment.

Ethical issues like this do happen and some would argue they are getting more common as stations grind more news out. A recent RTNDA/Hofstra University study shows nearly 35 percent of stations added newscasts in 2010. With more news churning out and smaller staffs to accomplish it, more ethical mistakes will happen unless there are systems of checks and balances as well as continued training on how to effectively write under intense deadline pressure. Sometimes even the news managers are so tied up just trying to churn out the news, they cannot truly serve in a supervisory role. University newsrooms cannot replicate this type of environment. It is simply too dangerous to do while also teaching the basics of being a broadcast journalist. But once you get your first job you are often thrown in, and there may not be set checks and balances to review your work. For example, in several shops where I worked there was not an EP overseeing shows. In fact there wasn’t a news manager at all during several shifts. There was no one with clear editorial control. You would write, the anchor would rewrite then, maybe, an associate producer would rewrite the copy again. In other shops there was a manager (usually an assistant ND) who was ostensibly overseeing the daily mix. But that manager was so swamped you could go all day without seeing the person. Even if there is not a set system of checks and balances at your station, you need a personal one. That means setting one up yourself, and leaning on fellow staffers.

So let’s talk gut checks. In each shop I set up a relationship with several co-workers where we could give quick calls and exchange thoughts on issues that would come up. This usually was not someone with the same job as I had in the newsroom. I wanted someone with a different perspective and different crunch times. Remember it is easy to armchair quarterback, but when you are standing in the pocket with a nasty linebacker bearing down, you just want to get rid of the ball! As I mentioned, often there was no EP on staff to help oversee and check my work. Other producers would think more like me or possibly have bad habits like watching raw video only until they heard a “good” sound bite, then starting to write without watching the rest of the video. As a producer I leaned on my anchors for help. If a story just didn’t feel right, or children were mentioned, I asked for a gut check read from an anchor that I trusted. If the anchor was an attacking type personality, then I went to veteran reporters in the shop instead. I even had my associate producers and editors watch raw tape and tell me what stood out as possible ethical issues on sensitive stories. Notice some of the people had more experience, some less. All of us had enough ethics training that someone’s gut check would go off.

Reporters, your photogs are a great resource you probably have already considered. Here’s another great resource, anchors. They tend to have a little more free time to brainstorm with you. If you are lucky enough to have an EP on staff, lean on him/her. That person is paid to help you gut check. Don’t let him/her off easy. Call in. If you do not trust your EP, or there isn’t one on your shift, lean on the anchors more. Depending on the time of day, your producer is also an asset.

It is also critical that you set up a person with final say on rewrites. If there’s no EP, then a producer or veteran anchor should have final say. This should be clear to everyone who copy edits for the newscast on your shift. That includes reporters. That way if a fact error or ethical dilemma comes up there is a clear cut person who either makes the call or is in charge of contacting management so the bosses can make the call.

What if you do have an EP or assistant ND on staff monitoring things during your shift? Set up a gut check system with other staffers anyway. No one is perfect and managers are often pulled away or distracted by other duties. It is good to have other staffers to lean on in case you feel like the manager is too distracted to help. In the end, if you wrote the story you will be held accountable. If you end up making an ethical mistake, and we all do at one time or another, you need to protect yourself by being able to say you took steps to check your work. This should not get the other staffer you consulted with in trouble. At least that never happened with me. If I wrote the story, I was held accountable. Showing you made efforts can make the difference between a stern scolding or suspension or being fired. These gut checks will also help you grow as a journalist by seeing other perspectives and staying on your toes. So ask someone to be your other conscience and return the favor. As you can see from the examples at the beginning of this article, our industry needs more gut checks.

Bottoms up! Making sure your newscast is ready, no matter what.

It’s is one of the hardest things to pull off as a producer: Making it to air, clean and polished, despite managers constantly changing your rundown and getting slammed with breaking news.

One time I had a news director reworking my rundown so much, I ended up having just two hours to turn an hour long newscast. I made it with help from associate producers and my anchors, but vowed never to be in that horrible position again. Many of us know producers who write during the newscast, printing scripts a block before they air. This is preventable. Here’s how.

You produce bottom’s up. No you don’t take a flask to work for your top drawer (as tempting as that can be). You literally produce from the bottom of your rundown to the top. It works for all newscasts. Here’s how to do it, using an hour long newscast as an example. Usually the final two blocks of your rundown are segmented and similar day to day. Format, assign the anchor reads & graphics and write these blocks first. Have these stories edited first as well. Next, work on the c-block and :45 block. Put these to bed. Then, do the :30 block and the b-block, except the block leads. Again, finesse what you write, and have the stories edited quickly. Now, in the last two hours, you can concentrate on the a-block as well as the b-block and :30 leads. This way when all hell breaks loose you can slam out any breakers that pop. You will have segments finished that look polished and are complete. So if a breaker doesn’t make it in time you have lots of finished content.

Now let’s talk about backups. Have plenty on hand, stashed throughout your rundown. These backup stories should vary in length to fit different timing needs. This will help make sure you can hit meters nearly to the second. You assign these backup stories to your associate producer (AP) early in the day, and whenever interesting stories develop. Some producers even make AP’s rework package scripts into vo/sot backups in case the reporter moves to breaking news and the newscast gets heavy on time. Again, you want these assigned as early in your shift as possible. That way you can spend the back half of your shift rolling with management decisions and breaking news.

Wait to assign which stories you tease in which spots in the rundown, until one hour before printing. You do this because if the bosses make you blow up your rundown, changing the teases can eat a lot of your precious time. Write those teases in separate scripts at the bottom of the rundown, so editors can put them together. Then move the individual tease scripts up into the rundown and assign anchor reads an hour before printing.

A final trick, put dummy scripts in your rundown that have basic formatting (i.e.- “take vo” cues etc.). If your shop allows it, you can even have these built into the rundown format so you don’t have to create them every day. Also, throw in anchor reads for the block leads the night before.

Here’s a summary:

How to produce it quick!

Bottom’s up!
AP writes backup scripts of differing lengths.
Write entire blocks early.
Assign teases to their spots 1 hour before printing.
Format dummy scripts.
Assign some anchor reads the night before.

The Weather Authority: Common links between incredible TV meteorologists

My career began covering a major flood. I was a one man band, standing knee deep in floodwater, sandbagging in between shooting packages. I also learned how the power of video combined with a knowledgeable meteorologist can captivate audiences.

Then, through the years, came tornadoes and hurricanes and massive snow and ice storms. I produced newscasts through it all watching, and when I could, helping meteorologists explain what happened. Over the years I worked with some big names in the biz. They all had several characteristics in common that made them among the best at what they do:

An unending hunger to learn more about the area in which they worked
Great talent for boiling down conditions and clearly explaining impact
The ability to make weather coverage interesting even when the skies are sunny and clear
A drive to improve each day
Lots of volunteer work in their community

The thing that struck me the most watching these incredible meteorologists over the years was their unending hunger to learn more about the area they covered. These meteorologists were always looking over maps from past to present, researching and looking for trends and coordinating with the local weather service. They never tired of looking for a new nugget of information about the area.

When severe weather struck, these meteorologists could boil down what was happening in clear terms. They explained what was happening without using a lot of extra adjectives. They didn’t pass judgment on a storm’s potential impact. In other words, they didn’t say things like “this is going to be a scary one folks.” They would just say, “Now is the time to take cover. Bring your TV or turn on a radio if you can. We will tell you when it is safe.” These meteorologists knew which schools were on spring break, or when kids would be at a bus stop for each section of the DMA. They were walking encyclopedias of the outdoor recreation areas, even able to casually mention specific places to take cover. They could talk about how deep a mark you needed to claim hail damage on insurance and other little tidbits you needed to know. They truly came across as a friend and confidant that would never lead you astray.

I truly enjoyed working with these meteorologists on sunny days. They still made their weathercasts interesting with those tidbits of information. They educated on cloud types, topography, or what local weather watchers might find interesting in the coming days. You learned a little something every time they spoke. These true experts made weather teases easy to write. Most were also not in it for the “face time.” If there wasn’t much to say and no interesting weather video to discuss, they came to me saying “let’s cut back the time.”

The most interesting trend I noticed over the years though, was how they took sunny days to work on their on-air performances. One would come sit with me to talk about how I wrote news copy and why I used certain phrases. Many would review tape of recent severe weather and critique themselves. (to learn how and why to do this check out our previous article: “Humble pie; why a slice of self-examination can change your career”) Sometimes I was called into the weather center to discuss what we could have done better. We would sit and brainstorm and make plans to implement before the next storm hit. These meteorologists truly managed all aspects of weather coverage.

Finally, these meteorologists all had an intense sense of community. They truly felt like civil servants to the families that watched them. Many routinely went to schools to give talks and volunteered at various charities. Their commitment to the community was inspiring. On the days that severe weather struck, the example they set made us all want to perform even better at our jobs. We did not want to let these weather experts down. They set a standard that guaranteed your newscast would be worth watching.

Step out of the box, will you?

It’s a phrase that makes many journalists cringe and roll their eyes: “People, we need to think out of the box.” What does that mean?

Well, it means don’t pitch the same story ideas over and over. It means the station wants more than police blotter stories. It also often means news management is getting creative to attract specific audiences. This is an opportunity to have fun at work again if you know a key secret. The best TV stories focus on three things: Real people with compelling video and audio.

When management starts talking about thinking “out of the box,” you need to start presenting ideas in a visual way. Describe your story idea by explaining your first shot in it. Another way to pitch is with the “character” you will showcase. Thinking “out of the box” is a catch phrase for asking journalists to put a human element into a story.

Here’s how to execute “out of the box” for different news philosophies: If you work in an “action news” shop, managers want to see reporters and anchors interacting with the news in a more visual way. Add more sequences and nat sound. Look for a person or interesting business to focus on for a different twist to a news of the day story. Producers should include more interesting anchor tags with information from the anchor to make them appear more of an expert rather than just a reader. Add cool opens to blocks with video and nat sound. Replay cool video in slow motion.

If you work in a “big J” type shop, do what you can to showcase how news headlines impact real people. Write in a more conversational way. Look for interesting characters.

If you work in a headline news type shop where you normally just chase breaking news, play up any interesting video. Let some emotional sound bites “breathe” more than you usually would.

“Out of the box” also means thinking beyond putting stories only on television screens. More and more shops want to see you pitching ideas that also have life in social media or at the very least the station web page. It really is just another way to establish human connections. The only difference is making the story more accessible for people to react. That doesn’t just mean creating a blog for people to sound off. This can be an opportunity to empower with links to associated groups and content. It just depends on the station’s philosophy how far you will go online.

The best part about being told to step “out of the box” is that your news management team is thinking beyond old fashioned TV journalism. It is looking for ways to integrate technology with storytelling and to redefine news coverage. This is an opportunity for you to get really creative and carve a niche for yourself not only within the station, but in the industry. So go ahead, think “out of the box.”