The Importance of Food in the Newsroom

I was checking with a photog friend of mine for tips and here's what he said: "Make sure you allow time for lunch." And also, "Make sure you get food to crews that are stuck on the scene of something."

Which brings up a good point. A little food goes a long way in terms of good will. There will be many times when your crews will not be able to eat because of breaking news, so try not to blow out their lunch to shoot some vo you're not really going to put in your show anyway.

Also, if there's a big event, standoff, ongoing breaking news, make sure your crews are fed. In can be as simple as an intern driving food out or at least have a crew that's taking off for the day swing by and grab them food.

At one of my old shops, Friday night was "treat night." Every Friday, I'd bring in candy or some kind of treat. I think one Easter, I hid a bunch of those plastic Easter eggs around the newsroom. Some people bring treats to the morning meeting. In Phoenix, they actually assigned breakfast to someone each day of the book. In December, someone had to bring in Christmas cookies each day.

In any case, whatever you can do to show people that you appreciate all their hard work, the better. You can't get them the raise they deserve. The boss won't approve more vacation. But food can improve the mood of the newsroom and at least say "Thanks."