Survive Your Job In Television News – Page 57 – An Honest Guide To Journalism Jobs

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.

Road trip! You can cover us, right?

No way around it. This is an uncomfortable trend in many newsrooms right now. In fact, some companies are making it written policy. The good part: You get a sweet out of town assignment! The bad part: You have to pay the travel costs upfront, fill out an expense report when you get back, then wait for reimbursement that can take up to 6 weeks. And, by the way, your credit card bill will come due before that 6 weeks is up and you get your money back. It’s a problem a lot of news employees are wrestling with these days. I recently read a forum entry on b-roll.net from a photojournalist asking how to approach this subject during salary negotiations. Here are some ideas to deal with this road trip trend.

So what if you are asked to go out of town and just cannot front the money? You need to tell management flat out. Yes, it could mean losing out on a primo assignment. Better that than not paying your bills though. In many cases, if management really wants you on the story, there is a work around. Sometimes the boss pays the hotel, or perhaps the business manager ponies up some petty cash. It really depends on the station and the individual managers. Does saying you cannot pay upfront make you look bad to the bosses? That depends on the manager. But even if they seem upset, they usually understand. Most often it’s more a case of managers being frustrated because they know asking you to pay upfront is unreasonable and the boss is stuck with a policy that stinks.

If you decide to front the money, get a description of any limits for certain expenses ahead of time in writing. (i.e. – How much per meal? How much for parking etc.?) Be firm on this. Trouble is, some of these policies are so rigid, the limits can be highly unreasonable. For example, some companies have a maximum amount to be reimbursed for hotel stays. Depending on where you are going and what you are covering, hotel costs can vary greatly. This can put a crew in a really rough spot especially if the limits were not checked ahead of time. The last thing you want is to pay $150 for a room only to find out the company policy is a maximum of $100. That’s your credit card and, therefore, your financial worth on the line. If no one can provide you with written limits, think hard before agreeing to the assignment.

If you are headed out of town on a last minute assignment you need to ask about clothing and equipment reimbursement limits. You never know what’s going to happen, and you want to be prepared. Also, in an open ended return kind of scenario, set a limit as to how much you are willing to pay out of pocket before you go. Make sure management and the business office are clear you will not front a single dollar more and there needs to be a backup plan everyone is aware of in case you have to stay longer than your money will pay for.

Also ask how far out of your market qualifies a trip as “out of town.” You don’t want a scenario where you decide to push it driving home, then stop for dinner somewhere too close to your ADI to count for reimbursement. Yes, you were miles and miles away on assignment, but the button pushers will only look at the location of the purchase if there are ADI restrictions. You will either get stuck covering the meal or have to go several rounds with the boss to make your receipt an exception. If that happens it could be held against you later. Remember, a case like this makes the boss look disorganized. Even if the boss is sloppy, you don’t want to be the one who makes it obvious to the world. Asking for those policies ahead of time will avoid the mess.

What if your contract requires you to front the money ahead of time? The only practical advice we can offer is to keep a credit card that can “cover you” until you are reimbursed. A contract is a contract and if you signed it, you’re going to have to live up to its terms.

This is a complicated and emerging issue in TV newsrooms. There may be more ways to deal with it than we’ve listed here. So, please, if you have other ideas let us know. You can leave comments below. Many of us are facing this type of situation for the first time in our careers and need to bounce ideas around about covering that sweet road trip upfront.

Anchor’s Away! How to handle a difficult anchor.

Anchors, the title of this one is strong and may tick you off. But before you get too upset, read our previous article: “Throw me a life line, I’m being hung out to dry, AGAIN!” We are journalists after all and therefore must look at all sides!

As a producer, the largest challenge I faced without a doubt was anchors that “attacked” rather than talked through issues. It took years of frustration to figure out how to handle this. Now I want to share what I learned so other producers can relax more.

How to deal with a difficult anchor

Know your anchors strengths and weaknesses
Remember this person is the face of all that you do as well
Establish your role as manager of the newscast
If there’s a problem, take the lead and talk it through
As a last option, fight fire with fire

I fully admit that a lot of complaints anchors brought to me were valid. But, because I was being screamed at or worse yet had to listen to the boss tell me that I screwed up, it was sometimes hard to hear the message. Most of us producers are thrown into the fire without a fireproof suit and are just trying to get out alive every day. You have to separate yourself from that chaos and listen to the message. For example, one anchor thought I gave her too many instructions before going to a breaking news story. Maddening, since producers are often told we give anchors too little information. I put my frustration aside and asked why. She explained that she was unable to formulate thoughts to ad lib and felt foolish delivering the facts. She didn’t like reading scripts cold and preferred I not write breaking news, instead give her a few facts to run with. Next time we had a breaker, I gave her what she wanted and she did a great job.

Knowing your anchors strengths and weaknesses also means you have to be able to adapt to the anchors needs. I learned which anchors could ad lib and which needed those breaking news scripts to pull off spot news. If I had an anchor that could not ad lib, I gave the ad libs to the anchor that could ad lib, then changed anchor reads so the non-ad libber did not feel left out. I learned who needed compliments in their IFB at commercial breaks. It is a delicate balance. It seems like all you do is humor people’s egos. Frankly, that is a large part of producing a winning newscast. It’s also something you need to get used to in order to have success at the highest levels.

Which leads to the next point, remember these anchors are the face of all the hard work you do each day. Your copy will not “sing” unless the anchor can “deliver” it. Your newscast will be uncomfortable to watch if your anchors are not at ease. Whether some demands are ridiculous in your opinion, is another matter. Humor enough of them to calm the anchor down so he/she can perform well. A key to doing this is to give some compliments even if you never get any in return. You want to show your anchors that you respect the jobs they do, so they gain confidence that you have their backs. This is crucial to establishing a strong team on your show. As the newscast manager this is your primary responsibility, whether you make the most money on the shift or not.

As manager of your show, you do have the right to make the decisions. If an anchor has a really unreasonable request, you can deny it. Here’s a common scenario: An hour before your newscast an anchor comes to you saying their co-anchor has more reads. You have breaking news, your reporters haven’t fed and you are behind writing. It is okay to say: “Today the show airs as formatted.” Then, after the newscast, take a look at how you divided up the anchor reads that day, as well as a few days earlier. Anchors usually do not come to you unless they have noticed an issue for a while. Most people do not like confrontation. If your reads have been a bit skewed to the other anchor, fix the issue the next day. Thank the anchor who mentioned it for coming to you. Also if you don’t know this next trick, use it. Switch off who leads the blocks every day. By the law of averages, that means by the end of the week the anchors will have a nearly even number of reads and leads. If the reads were not skewed, print out a week’s worth of rundowns, highlight the reads in different colors and talk to the anchor that’s complaining. Do not accuse the anchor of being ridiculous. Explain what you do to prevent uneven face time, then hand the anchor the highlighted rundowns and ask him/her to look them over and see if there are any issues he/she wants to discuss. This establishes that you are not a push over, you are conscientious, and you take responsibility for your newscasts. This simple chat can keep an anchor from lodging attacks. Thank the anchor for coming to you and let him/her know you are always willing to hear ways “We can make the newscast better.” Again, this will show the anchor that you are the leader of the newscast.

So what if the anchor constantly runs to management to whine about you and never comes to you directly? Remember, people do not like confrontation. If a manager comes to you with an anchor complaint, listen, then ask the manager how you should handle the problem. This shows you are willing to be proactive. Then, after the newscast ask to speak with the anchor one on one. Explain that you understand that anchor is upset about XYZ and you will do XYZ to fix the problem. Then say, “in the future if there’s a problem, please know that I am willing to listen. The best time for me to talk is right after the newscast.” Then, walk away. You want to have this conversation in case the anchor goes to management behind your back again. At that point ask your direct manager, ideally an EP, to sit with you while you talk to the anchor about the current problem and solution, and respectfully ask the anchor to come to you directly in the future. You want to let the anchor know you also have a little clout with management to even the playing field. In many shops producers are becoming more of a commodity than anchors. There are less people willing to do our job. You don’t want to abuse that knowledge, but it is helpful to subtly let the anchor know you are a valuable asset as well. It is also good to include your EP, because this person probably has years of history dealing with difficult anchors and can help diffuse the situation further or divert it to the EP instead of you.

Finally, if you have a really difficult anchor, and no other choice, fight fire with fire. Tell your EP ahead of time and stand up for yourself. If you are being hazed, read our previous article: “Thank you sir, may I have another: How to handle newsroom hazing.” One anchor of mine, refused to get to the set on time. So, I took her out of the entire a-block and ended up with her screaming at me in the News Director’s office. The ND told me to include her from then on, and I told them both that I would when she was professional enough to get to the set 5 minutes before the newscast began, not 5 minutes after. The ND turned to the anchor and said, “ That is a basic request.” I won a big battle. The daily attacks stopped. I also made a weather anchor that constantly ran exceedingly long on weather apologize to the audience for running so long that we could not air a story that was teased the entire show. He was 30 years my senior. But, I told him over the studio PA that he needed to take responsibility like the rest of us do each day and he went with it. We came back from commercial and he offered an eloquent apology.

If you take one thing away from this article, make it this: When you feel it’s “anchor’s away”, and you are about to be the brunt of a brutal tongue lashing, keep your cool. Write down the anchor’s complaint and reasoning. Give yourself a few minutes to breathe and relax and actually look at the situation from the anchor’s perspective. You may learn some valuable lessons about putting on a better newscast.

So Cliché! How to avoid overused phrases

We all have news wording that makes our skin crawl: “area residents,” “alleged” and “budget woes” to name a few. Recently on Twitter a group of us started listing phrases that make us cringe. Then one producer tweeted, “What do you use instead?” Great question and we’re going to give you some answers.

First we need to discuss why these phrases come up so you can better understand how to avoid them. In seminars you are taught that these phrases are formal language and not written for the ear. That’s often true. It can be hard to write on a computer screen and imagine the words actually coming out of someone’s mouth. There’s more behind writers using these so called “crutch phrases” though. Because they are used so often, they have become a sort of news slang. They seem dependable when you write. In fact it almost becomes expected that you will write this way. Take music for example. Thanks, in part, to tons of country and rock songs the term “ain’t” is now in the dictionary. Think about it. If you start singing songs in your head, it won’t take long to come across one with “ain’t” in the lyrics. Many of the songs have amazing phrases, cadence and messages. Yet the lyricist throws in “ain’t?” It seems likes “ain’t” is expected in a song. Now consider news copy. The clichés we’re talking about are news writers versions of “ain’t.” They are slang terms that some writers use as crutches because they hear them all the time. Where? In newsrooms, all day long. Ask a reporter for a headline as he/she runs to a fire. Chances are you will be told fire is at such and such address and “completely destroyed” the building. We simply use these terms all the time. But that does not mean they should end up in our news copy.

Writers (and by that we mean everyone who writes: anchors, producers, associate producers, reporters even assignment editors) also use these phrases because they are writing in a hurry. When you are slamming information into the assignment file or into a script just to get the show done, you are going to use terms you are most familiar with. That’s how the mind works. You might call it: “News slang under duress.” Then a writer comes along for the next retread and ends up not comfortable with the story. He/she clings to the news slang already in the script to avoid possibly changing the meaning of the copy. Now you see how the cycle repeats over and over.

So how do you break the cycle of “news slang under duress?” Discipline. It begins with you printing out the news copy you write once every week and reading it over at home when you are more relaxed. Have your highlighter ready and mark your “crutch phrases.” Then work to eliminate them one at a time from all of your writing. Write the “crutch phrase” on a notecard, then write three alternate types of wording. Post the notecard somewhere on your desk at work. That way, when you are slamming, you have quick options to avoid the clichés.

Many of the worst news clichés are easily avoided when deleting one word: “completely destroyed” becomes “destroyed.” “Clouds of uncertainty” becomes uncertain. “Brutal murder” is “murder.” Most of this “news speak” is used while trying to provide an image. “Clouds of uncertainty,” “brandishing a firearm,” “budget ax,” “hanging in the balance,” even “hit the nail on the head,” all put pictures in your mind. These terms are not how you provide images in TV news. You have video to provide the images. Moving pictures are what separate us from newspapers and radio. Remember when “writing for the ear” as consultants say, you are also writing to, or complimenting, the video. (We explain how to write to video more in depth in Can you picture it article.) Your words do not need to put images in a person’s mind. Again, this is not radio or the newspaper. Your words need to get someone to look at the TV screen to see the images you are showing. Your words also provide perspective.

Providing perspective means you need to understand what you are writing about. I saw this repeatedly as a producer and an EP. If the writer, be it a reporter, assignment editor, anchor, producer or associate producer did not understand the content, the copy became cliché. When we are uncomfortable, we cling to crutches. If you are unclear in understanding the story, you must ask for information before writing it.

Now let’s address the comment from the producer on Twitter asking what alternates to use for the crutch phrases. Since writing for television news is always under duress, we at survivetvnewsjobs.com has posted alternatives in an extensive list. (Cliché list) Here’s to making sure all of our copy isn’t “so cliché!”