Survival Kit – Page 25 – Survive Your Job In Television News

It’s GM’s agenda and you are stuck covering it “as news.”

We promise this situation will happen to you. It happened to us at several stations, in small to large markets. General Manager walks into an editorial meeting and says “So what are we doing to cover such and such, ( fill-in the blank, new road widening project, special session by legislature, tax incentive package for a new industry in town etc.) since our viewers the tax payers are getting screwed.” The news director gives a blank look followed by the lifted eyebrow smirk, then stares at you, “So how will you cover that story today?”

If this happens, say you are going to make some calls and get out of the room pronto. Better yet, grab your photog and get out of the building while you make those calls! Why? You do not want the GM to start going off on specific players and agendas for the story. You do not want specifics on how this story should be told, and exactly what the tease will say. That way, if it is the GM skimming headlines and misinterpreting reality, you won’t end up having to tell him/her. Without specifics chances are you can find some small nugget to package.

Next, call the newsroom mega brain. You know, the walking, talking, human factoid! This person can save you hours of stress and research. Do the necessary ego stroke and get the person to give you background information on this subject. You need time to work sources for a backup in case the story falls apart. The “human factoid” usually can at least provide the name and number for a player in town who will give you insight on whether the GM’s “news” really is “news.”

Do your thing, work it and try to find an interesting character or bit of video to showcase so you can get by. If there’s just nothing to the story give the basics, then try and include a little subtle perspective in your anchor intro or tag. Managers tend to play in that copy more anyway. This way, if the story is taken out of context and the GM gets a call, it will more likely become management’s problem instead of the reporter’s failing.

If you cannot find a nugget to package, and there’s simply nothing to the story, offer to write a vo or vo/sot and let your manager know early. That gives management time to derail the GM situation well before the newscast airs. It helps if you can offer an interesting alternative story the manager can have you churn out instead. Sometimes management will then take the GM “news” burden off of you and have an anchor front it somewhere cool on set. You are off the hook, and the GM still feels heard without the station blowing a weak story out of proportion.

If you are told to package a story and say certain things in a tease you don’t like, try and do a subtle rewrite. Also, know this happens to everyone from time to time. Chances are your credibility is not ruined. Those in the know in town realize you got stuck “being the good soldier.”

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.

Shooting Sizzling Standups

I recently got a chuckle out of the “Gary Vosot Vain TV News Reporter Reel” on You Tube. The cadence, type of voicing, and formatting are dead on. You watch and laugh because he does a great job of poking fun. But you should also realize that many actual TV news standups really do sound like Gary Vosot’s parodies to viewers. Standups are a big seller for reporters and stations. So I want to let you in on a few easy techniques so you don’t get a chuckle, unless you really want one.

You probably already know the basic rules of “why” you use a standup in a story. But, it’s always worth hearing again. We all need reminders from time to time to keep our awareness and skills sharp. So, here are a few of the basic rules to keep in mind for when you include a standup in a story:

As a bridge from one distinct thought to another
As a bridge from one location to another
To impart information for which you do not have video or sound
To flow into or out of a particular sound bite
To show that you were actually there during an important news event (i.e. – you travel to a distant location to cover a big event or breaking news)

Are there other reasons for which you sometimes include a standup? Yes. Should you always include a standup? No. Sometimes a standup can actually distract from good storytelling. Remember, the story is not about YOU, it’s about the subjects you are covering. However, the reality on this last one is that many stations essentially require you to include a standup. Many of us hate this kind of rule. But there really is some sound logic to it. First, your station is paying you to be on TV, so they want to see you. Also, there is a LOT of research that shows TV news viewers tend to gravitate to the stations with talent they like and identify with. Therefore, a big part of your job is actually being seen on TV and doing your part to build these kind of “relationships” with your station’s viewers. Don’t forget, the more visible you are the, more well-known (and hopefully liked) you will become with your station’s viewers and in your community. This helps build job security. So, if your station requires standups, just do them. But, make them sizzle. Make them memorable. Make them work for your stories, your viewers and your career!

The tendency of most reporters is to just pop in front of the camera, stand there, and talk for 5-10 seconds to satisfy the need for a standup. We all do it from time-to-time. But that does not mean that it’s the best thing. I think we would all agree that the better the visuals and sound in a story, the better and more memorable the story, right? So, why should the same thinking not apply to standups? Try to make them as visual and memorable as possible.

How do you do this? My first rule when I want to jazz up a standup is to shoot it in multiple parts. But make sure there is a reason. For instance, if you’re going to do cut with a camera turn, try to make it reveal something. Here’s an example:

“The robbers then took off running down this sidewalk… they made it to about this spot

(TURN/CUT) before they ducked through the door of this old boarded up storefront. (TIGHT

SHOT OF PULLING DOOR KNOB) (COMING THROUGH DOOR TO INSIDE) But when they got

inside… the place was not empty like it probably looked.”

Just like you and the photog should be thinking visually about the b-roll in your piece, you should also be thinking about the visuals of your standups. Look for different angles. Look for nat sound to put in the middle of your standups. (Nat sound grabs/keeps viewers attention.) Heck, you can even look for VERY quick sound bites to put in the middle of your multi-part standups.

Don’t forget when you are trying to come up with an interesting standup that you have a visual expert as a partner in the process. Brainstorm with the photographer you are working with to come up with visual and creative approaches. When I ask a photog for ideas, I often get a common question in response: “What are going to say in your standup?” I like to think of things in a different way. The visuals and sound are what drive great stories. So, again, why shouldn’t they drive great standups? I usually come up with a general idea of what I want to do with my standup as we’re working a story. But I wait to “write” it until we have come up with a good idea for the visuals. Let your visual standup drive the verbage you use. Learn to do standups this way and your stories will be better.

Another of my personal rules: Don’t shoot a standup until you know where and how it’s gonna be used in your story. This is very important. Write a shell of your story, either in your head, on paper or your laptop/smartphone. At the very least write up until the point where you want/need your standup. Ever seen (or shot and used) a standup that in hindsight just did not seem to make sense in the piece or seemed like it was put in just to be put in? The technique I’m laying out here is how you get around that. Do it and your standups will always have a reason to be where they are in your stories and they will never seem meaningless.

Finally, have fun! Now, I don’t mean put a goofy, smiling standup in the middle of a serious story. (Remember Gary Vosot!) What I mean is that you should have fun with the creative side of standups. Make it a challenge to outdo yourself. If you are in a newsroom that values good photography, editing and storytelling, then have some friendly competition with your fellow reporters. And again, when your story airs and it has a finished standup that you are proud of, find your photog and tell them how much you appreciate their efforts to make it that way. It’s your face on TV but it’s the team that creates standups that truly sizzle!

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.