Honing Skills – Page 4 – Survive Your Job In Television News

Coming out of the black hole, how to make the most out of late news live shots

I’ve been traveling and one market I was in, is really putting heavy emphasis on its late newscasts. Competition is tight, a new broadcasting powerhouse just bought a station and it’s ready to make a big play. Veteran journalists know what this means. More live, more often, even if it’s in the pitch dark. So I sat and watched the new competition come in and make it’s presence known. The takeaway, live shots in black holes. Live for the sake of being live. Showcasing that the reporters are everywhere with a simple word, in an upper corner of the TV screen, repeated over and over: LIVE.

As a former nightside EP, I get it. I remember the countless strategy sessions about the importance of live crew placement. The incredible marketing involved with people driving by your station’s microwave or satellite truck for hours on end. Then there’s the promise that you will deliver breaking news. That means night crews are working out of live trucks no matter what. You must be ready to jump!

But here’s the thing, shooting a lovely reporter whose face glows in the dark like a street lamp against a pitch black background is not acceptable. So let’s break down why these live shots happen and alternatives to the glowing head in the black hole.

So, why do those “work you to the bone” nightside managers require you to go live, even when the story is “over” and there’s nothing to see in your background? For two reasons: Breaking news and marketing. Here’s what I mean by that: If you have two crews, and four counties in your DMA you need to spread everyone out. If everyone heads back to the station with look lives, you could end up screwed. That’s when the huge breaker will happen on the outer fringes of your DMA. You must cover the bases. So if the crew is out in a live truck anyway, you might as well get that live super up. That’s the thinking.

As for marketing, if your crew is parked in a busy section of town or better yet in a part of the DMA you know brings in a lot of viewers, or is full of opportunities to grow viewers, you want the exposure. That huge mast or beautifully painted satellite truck is a mobile billboard. That advertising is priceless. Billy drives by the truck and calls Bob to say, “Hey channel 8 is here.” Bob calls Sam and so it goes. The nightside managers task is always to grow audience. You can bet this is on that managers mind every night. We ask ourselves “Where can I send the truck that will get the most eyeballs and then new viewers?” It’s the simple truth.

So now that you know why the nightside crews get “stuck” live all the time in the dark, let’s talk execution strategies. The crews need to avoid black hole live shots, and the managers need to help. Yes, that’s right: The mangers need to help you avoid black holes.

First let’s talk about what nightside crews can do. I used to get into it with photojournalists all the time for refusing to set up a frigging light on the background behind the reporter. I get that it’s a little extra work. I get that it’s just an empty building. Personally, I hate that kind of live shot background image also. But, if you are in the part of the DMA I’ve been told to increase viewer numbers in and it’s ratings and I have a HUGE lead in, I may feel I have to showcase that we have a crew there RIGHT NOW. The station is deeming a particular community important. We are there watching out for you. And whether you the crew or I hate the dark shot, there are payoffs sometimes. So get out the light kit and make the effort.

That said, if you don’t have spare gear, or if you have an imaginative look live option, call it in. Nightside managers, remember you can still have your cake and eat it too. Let the crew feed in the great look live elements. But keep them parked in the truck during news time. You get the marketing exposure and the ability to jump on breaking news if needed. Sometimes it is worth losing the live super to avoid the black hole. When you really think about it, you could get to a breaker even faster if the crew does not have to break down a live shot.

But, news crews, if the nightside manager gives you this option, that doesn’t mean you “cheat” and head back to the station a little early. When you get busted, you will ensure yourself a set lot in life: Live shots in a black hole each shift for as long as you are nightside. The strategic planning cannot be sacrificed just to make your life easier.

Banner coverage: How to come up with all those chyrons.

Today, TV journalists are asked to be marketing specialists more than ever before. Producers often tweet about the production elements they design, the graphics packages they approve and the pre-produced opens and teases they come up with. This is where producing gets really creative. It truly is a place where you can make your mark.

It also is the place where weaknesses are painfully exposed. Misspelled supers, OTS’s with weird slugs, and tickers full of factual errors KILL you. There are methods to keep from making these embarrassing mistakes. Let’s start with supers where you must “name” each story.

The name game:

Think story slug
Use alliteration sparingly
Avoid cliches

When you have two line supers that need a slug on top and location on the bottom, keep it simple. You need to clearly summarize the story in two words. Think story slug.

You must define what the story is. This helps make sure you use alliteration sparingly and hopefully avoid cliches. If you get too cutesy you stand a high chance of trivializing the story. So avoid being cute, unless it is a really fluffy story.

Now the art of naming an OTS. Keep it simple. Again, a story slug kind of name is good. If you try to include too much detail, you can cause problems. If this is for a copy story, remember the OTS name will sit up next to your anchor’s head the entire story. You do not want it to refer to one specific line of copy in the story. For example: an OTS that says arrest, when the arrest is not mentioned until the last line of the story. That is very confusing for the viewer.

Finally, errors are the number 1 credibility killer for “banners” and tickers. These must be proofread. You must spell check in some way. You must pay extremely careful attention to grammar. You simply cannot consider this a nuisance job and slam it out. The ticker often gets the viewers attention more than half the a-block you agonized over. The simple reason: viewers get more than one chance to look at it, and therefore more than one chance to notice any errors. There is no room for error. Have someone look at it forward and backward, to check for spelling errors. Once it’s written, read it out loud to yourself. Have someone else proof read it, by reading it out loud also. Your ear will often catch mistakes your eyes don’t.

A final thought: When doing fancy, pre-produced, elements have someone look them over before they air. I used to put together sophisticated cold opens and tease 1’s. I made an editor (different than the one who cut them) watch them, then asked the entire production crew to review them as well. This was done daily. There can be no mistakes in banner coverage. It’s simply too important.

The Devil in the Details: Why getting it right matters.

I hear the excuses from journos all the time:

“No one needs a lecture. We get how to put good TV on the air.”

“It is the system’s fault.”

“Social media is corrupting how news is done.”

“The J-School did not emphasize enough.”

There are all kinds of reasons given for why the facts are wrong.

It would be easy to list all kinds of ways to double check graphics. How to fact check scripts. How to conduct interviews to lessen the chances of missing key facts. A great list for articles to come. But right now, it is time to take a breath from the frenetic pace of TV news and stop and think. What really is the point of putting news on the air every day/night? Is it to feed a corporate machine? Is it to make yourself money? Is it to help the community?

To see the devil in the details, we have to begin with the question of why we even do TV news. The reason: If you do not feel that you are called to help others by sharing key information that can alter lives, you simply won’t understand why getting it right matters. TV news is so full of competition, so full of the need to be first, so cutthroat, that we can forget the point. We serve the community. If we don’t explain what is happening, where are people getting their information? Snarky comments, like “well the newspaper and the internet” show you are not a serious journalist. This is a calling.

Getting the facts right matters because that is the reason you have a job. You are paid to get the facts right. Whether you are a high priced anchor, an assignment editor, a writer or even a video editor. You are paid to get it right. You are responsible for a certain set of facts. You are the keeper of details.

The devil of it all is, the more we get the details wrong, the more we destroy our calling. Credibility is not a given. It is earned each day. It is tested with each story that airs. And when you lose credibility you never get it completely back. It is the most precious thing a journalist has. It defines your worth, even more than your paycheck.

The TV news industry has cheapened itself. Not necessarily by hiring younger journalists. There are plenty of newbies who are saving veteran journalists skins each day. The TV news industry cheapened itself by throwing it’s money into glitz instead of it’s core. You can dress a lady up, make her look good with the right makeup and clothes, but if she’s a nasty person, the ugly will show through. Our ugly, nasty secret is coming out more and more. We are so concerned about volume, that we put quantity over quality. Then a “Snow Storm” becomes a “Snot Storm” on a fullscreen graphic. A “Singer” is declared dead instead of an “Astronaut.” We condemn a man for a shooting rampage, when he was actually far away from the scene. We misspell the president’s name on chyron.

So it’s time to pay attention to the devil in the details. Double check. You owe it to the viewer who counts on you. And fellow journalists, you need to have each other’s backs. (see “Meet my conscience”). Every mistake prevented, extends everyone’s contracts. TV news needs you to get it right, so everyone can continue to have a vocation.

The emotional toll: How to cope with horrifying stories.

Since this website started, we have had several awful events that really challenge your faith in humanity and your journalistic integrity. When the shootings happened in Aurora, several journalists DM’d about the emotional toll covering that story took on them. Many local, Colorado, journalists stated that station management did not seem to understand just how hard it was to cover the story day in and out.

Now journalists are trying to help viewers make sense of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary. The ages of the children involved, is staggering. As some of you pointed out in our discussions, these kids were young enough to still believe in Santa Claus. They symbolized innocence and all that is good about humanity.

Unfortunately, it is part of the job to cover horrible things like this story. It is part of the job to watch horrific crime scene video to see if it should be released to the public. It is part of the job to comb through records in a case that describe, in horrible detail, how long a child was buried alive before finally suffocating and dying. But we are also human. These facts and images do take an emotional toll.

So this article is an attempt to let you know it is okay to hurt. It is okay to be angry and to question. This article is a reminder to managers across the country that your journalists know it is part of the job to report on these types of stories, but that it can take an emotional toll. Offer some sort of support, even if it’s a reminder that the company offers free counseling services through an toll free number.

If you are finding that these events leave you raw or numb, talk about it. Call that 800 line. Call your spiritual guide if you attend some sort of church. If you don’t have a spiritual guide, go to the inspirational section of a book store and look up a title. We all need to be reminded that some things are bigger than us. Go to a yoga class. Beef up your workout to relieve stress. Eat a little comfort food! Bottom line: Do not ignore the emotions. It is simply not healthy. It is not good for you or the audience you try and serve. Our Facebook page has a place to comment and discuss your thoughts if you’d like. We know from covering news that some people find it therapeutic to say or write their thoughts down and share them. If you need, do it also. No judging. We need to support each other, when these kinds of stories happen. We need a place to separate from the job and be human as well. Otherwise, these kinds of stories will take a long term emotional toll on all of us.