Harbinger?

There's a new twitter site that's tracking who's being laid off in the media.
www.twitter.com/themediaisdying
How sad is it that there are enough layoffs to sustain a whole twitter feed?

Also, I meant to mention this the other day when I first heard it, but kudos to NPR for actually doing a story on its own layoffs...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98095326

In contrast, I thought it a little odd that NBC, on a day when they practically led Nightly with news of mass layoffs, there was nary a mention of their own layoffs going on that day. 500 jobs/3% of workforce not worth reporting when you're detailing other companies financial woes? Weak.

In the interest of self-disclosure, I've read on some of the media websites about possible layoffs coming at Fox O&O's.

Frightening times.

Superstitions

I don't know when this started, but as a show producer, whenever I'd go into the booth, I'd cross my fingers on the my right hand. I know it's stupid. And certainly, I had bad shows when I crossed my fingers. But somehow I always felt like it would be even worse if I hadn't.

I thought I had cured myself of this habit. After all, I haven't been in the booth for a couple of years. But today, as we are editing a package and getting anxiously closer to our deadline, I noticed my old habit return without me even thinking about it.

Will we make it? Keep your fingers crossed.

Read Your Scripts Aloud Before Printing

Do as I say and not as I do. I've been going over previous posts and finding mistakes. If I would have read them out loud before posting... my ears would have caught mistakes my eyes didn't see. Same goes for scripts (resumes, "Dear John" letters). Read them out loud right before sending them to the printer.

Apparently I was a lot more religious about this with shows as opposed to the blog. Lazy!

2nd Best Producer in the U.S.

If I tell you I'm the second best producer in the United States, the first question that pops to your mind is, oh yeah? Who's first? You can't give a ranking without answering other obvious questions. And yet, we do it all the time.

=Dallas is the number two retirement city in the universe (Who's best?)
=Dallas has the 5th worst snowplow association in the state (Who's the worst?)

A recent example I have been hearing a lot lately is that Congressman William Jefferson is the second least effective lawmaker on the hill. Begs the question- who's worse than the guy who had F.B.I. agents find thousands of marked bills in his freezer? It was driving me crazy so I looked it up. Says congress.org, it's someone from my former home state of Arizona, Congressman Rick Renzi.

P.S. I have no idea who the best producer in the U.S is and I'm obviously no where near second, or third, or 456th...

Breaking Down Big Numbers

I hear big numbers float around in newscasts all the time. When a number it too big, it becomes meaningless for people. Break down big numbers. For example, Saudia Arabia produces about 10 million barrels of oil a day. That sounds like a lot, but how much is it? A quick search (hint, when you search google, add site:gov to pop up only government sites) shows each barrel puts out about 19 gallons of gas (along with a bunch of other oil products). The average car tank holds 15-18 gallons. Grab some scratch paper and do the math. You could add a line to say "Saudia Arabia produces 10 million barrels of oil a day. That's enough to fill 10 to 12 million cars." By the way, on the same website where I found the gas info, it said the U.S. used 142 billion (with a b) gallons of gas in 2007. Mind boggling.

The point is, make your scripts more clear and your newscasts more understandable by breaking down big numbers and giving a real life example with which everyone can relate. It takes a few extra minutes but it makes all the difference.

Apologies

I was having problems posting the other day and somehow managed to post the same entry fourteen times. Hopefully it's fixed...

Worst Tease of the Week

My vote for worst tease this week: Video of a middle school assembly... and script to the effect of..." We'll tell you about a program to keep middle school kids in school." It may be an important story. But it was a deadly boring tease. Unless you're a parent of one of the kids, or a fellow producer wondering why the heck someone would tease that story, you won't stick around. The story itself was pretty lame. The entire thing was shot in the aforementioned assembly room.

My Tease Picks for Today

So I thought it might be helpful to pull up a list of stories and tell you which ones I'd tease and why. I'm looking through the AP natl/intl wires today (Thursday, Dec. 4th). Here's a short list of stories I came across:

Canada political crisis
Iraq Obama
ATT Job Cuts
Mattel Bratz Battle
Firefighter Fight
Congress Auto Execs
Bernanke Latest
Meltdown Kashkari

Of these... my eyes immediately zoom to the Mattel Bratz battle. Mattel says Bratz are copies of their product... The company behind Bratz says Mattel's the one doing the copying. A federal judge ruled Mattel is in the right and Bratz dolls has to stop making them! I'd show video of both.. and say "It may be a blue Christmas for lots of little girls. That's after a battle between two toy companies means some hugely popular dolls will be pulled off store shelves in the New Year." Show both video suggesting both companies so you don't give away the story.

My second pick-
The "Bernanke latest" story doesn't sound great... but tucked away in there is something mentioning the Treasury department considering backing a 4.5% home loan program (for new 30-year fixed mortgages). That's huge for anyone thinking about buying a home-- and sour grapes for anyone stuck with a higher interest mortgage (everyone who already owns a home). A quick google search pulls up lots of information on the proposal. Be sure to give an example on the cost savings. Realtor.com is one site where you can find calculators. So you could say... "On a two hundred thousand dollar mortgage, that new rate would save you more than a hundred bucks each month when compared to today's rate... which is about a percentage point higher." You could show file of home sales for video and maybe even break out a graphic.

The Key to Good Tease Writing

The easiest way to make your teases better is to have good stories to tease. You can be the best writer in the world, but if you're teasing the latest council meeting, no one's sticking around to watch. Teases are a CRUCIAL part of your show. You can't control the number you're delivered-- but you are responsible for the viewers you can hold through the show. When you're going through stories and deciding what to put where, make a special effort to think about what you'll tease.

Tease talkers.
Think-- if I'm going out after the show and meeting friends.. what are the stories I'm going to talk about? This is the... "Hey, did you hear about..." factor. If one of your stories falls under this category, hold it for a tease. These do not have to be local or even on the wires. For example, if you read something interesting in "Wired," you can run it in your show. Make a couple calls and verify the stuff in the article and make sure you attribute... "Wired magazine says the I-Phone is the hottest thing since hula-hoops."

Tease Consumer/health stories.
As long as they're not too obscure (read: arthroscopic knee surgery developements) health and/or consumer stories are always good to tease.

Anything with good video.
Be careful not to blow the tease though. There's a fine line between pictures viewers will stick around to see again ("Take a look at this accident caught on dashboard video... woah! We'll hear from the police officer who survived it") versus video that's probably a one shot deal (in which case you might want to freeze it before the good part).

Stories that impact a lot of people.
Going back to that council meeting-- if they're, say, deciding to cut city services to make budget, this might impact a lot of people and could make a good tease:

"The city's deciding where to drop the ax in the budget battle, could your trash services be dumped? We'll tell you what options council members are discussing."

And again, here, I'd have a photog go get video of garbage trucks... don't use council meeting video.

By the way, the lower you go in the show DOES NOT mean you have to go light. Don't assume you have to stick the feel-good holiday story at the end of the show. It's probably not a good tease. Put it at the end of the first block for a nice wrap up there and put something interesting as the kicker. Also, if a reporter has a good interesting story that's not a lead, but still valuable, try putting it in the second block and tease it. Better yet, you tease it in Headlines and have them tease the story live at the end of the first block.

This goes to the larger point of changing up the format of teases from one segment to the next. If you have something low in the show, you're probably teasing it a couple times.. so change it up a bit... use just video in one tease... maybe some sound in another (only a couple seconds though: "I couldn't believe it!" or, "It's the best thing I ever saw!" or.. nats full). Or try a tracked tease. Make a little :30 mini package to tease the story and wipe right into it.

Finally.. it helps to watch t.v. Watch programs you enjoy and admire (they don't have to be news) and see how they tease their next block. Steal ideas liberally!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

This was originally published at onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com

I know I'm a loser for putting it up late... but I wanted to remind those of you who have to work holidays that I for one appreciate the work you do....

=============
Working on Thanksgiving

I am thinking of all of you who are working this Thanksgiving. I am giving thanks that you are there to do the jobs that you do. I am thankful to all the soldiers, police and firemen, restaurant and hotel employees, gas station attendants and airline workers- and the thousands of journalists like me- who this year drew the short end of the stick. While co-workers can often be like a family, nothing is like spending the holiday with your own family and friends, eating, relaxing and giving thanks.

I started working in television news when I was 17 years old. In the 20ish years since, I have spent many Thanksgivings (and Christmases for that matter) in the newsroom, trying to put a show together with little news and fewer resources. More than once the smattering of us left in the newsroom wondered whether anyone was watching anyway- so why not just run yesterday’s newscast? One of my more enjoyable Thanksgivings at work was spent in Phoenix, when station management sent in a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Some of the guys in the newsroom pulled two love seats in (from the bosses office?) so people could watch football. Someone actually found a football and started tossing it around. A couple people’s families came in to the station to join us for a hour or two. A team of two or three people started stringing up Christmas lights inside.

For those of you who have never had to work a holiday, be thankful. If you happen to run across someone who’s stuck on the job today, saying “I’m sorry you have to work today” goes a long way.

As for me, this year I am fortunate enough to have the day off. I am traveling home to Cincinnati to be with family. I stopped into an empty airport coffee shop and felt like a total heel when I saw the sole worker in the shop jump up from a turkey dinner to get me a cup of coffee. To that guy, and the multitudes of others of you working today, when I sit down with my family tonight, be assured, I raise my glass to you.

Leading Your Team

I've been reading a book on the early parts of the Revolutionary War and was struck by the different styles of the two generals--- and how that might apply to how we make decisions in the newsroom. The book is "Washington's Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer.

Here's the scene. George Washington and Charles Cornwallis have both called "councils of war" during a the second battle of Trenton in 1777. "Councils of war" were pow-wows between the generals and the leadership just below them. Fischer says of Cornwallis, "His meeting was less of a council than a court." Cornwallis was there to dispense orders, not get advice from underlings. Without getting into too much of the nitty-gritty, one man at the council made a suggestion which Cornwallis quickly shot down. That one suggestion could have totally changed the outcome of the next few days.

Over on the American side, Washington was holding his meeting much differently. It sounds like it was a lot more freewheeling. And Washington didn't come in with plans that were a foregone conclusion, but began with what the situation was, what needed to be achieved and what the costs were if it wasn't. Then he'd open it up and let his officers talk their way through the issues to consensus. The meeting was also more open. Says Fischer, "Local citizens were invited to attend and speak freely."

You can imagine the breadth of advice that Washington could access. Doesn't that necessarily mean the decision will be stronger, when you've had more options from which to choose?

There are some lessons for us. Do you get people's opinions when you put your show together or is that your sole domain? Do you try to include everybody? Think on a more personal level how you felt when someone higher up asked for your advice and used it?

The best producers.. or any leaders... are not the ones who have all the ideas themselves, but can recognize the talented people around them and utilize all the genius in the room.

Another page from Washington-- he had fixed goals but flexible operations. Meaning, in terms of shows, here's what we want to do... but I'm not going to nick-pick on how you get it done. That gives people the creativity to come up with the best solution.

More on the Hologram

Thought I might post a link to CNN's article on their election night hologram.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/06/hologram.yellin/

A co-worker and I thought it was cool but debated its use. Say they become as popular as live trucks-- where would you use them? Honestly, if a reporter is in the middle of a loud crowd, I want to see that. That helps me understand what's going on in the story. Maybe for the lame liveshots out at the scene that's been dead for four hours? When it's too far to drive it back, just pop into the hologram?

What would really be moving is to take the setup to Iraq and have soliders use it. Wouldn't that be cool for some family to have their Dad or Mom beamed back around Christmas time?

Be Cool

A work about behavior in the booth. At least a modicum of restraint is required. You may know that your show is on the verge of exploding, but best not to let everyone else know by losing your mind. Other folks in the booth can take their cues from you. If the producer is screaming, how is everyone else supposed to stay calm? Pretend you are a 911 emergency dispatcher. No matter what the situation, try to stay on an even keel. Calmly make a call and stick with it. Remember, it's better to have a clean show, than take a huge risk that doesn't add much to your show but has the potential to crash it. If possible, talk to people in breaks, PKGS and sots, in that order. Less is going on then and you are more likely to be heard. This is especially true with anchors. Don't talk when they're talking and stay calm in their ear.

DO NOT try to problem solve in the booth. There is no reason. It just gets people upset and won't erase whatever mistake has already been made. Move on. Unless it's an ongoing issue, figure out what went wrong AFTER the whole show is over. This can keep small mistakes from becoming a complete cluster.

You're Hot

"You're hot." Two little words that can save your show from looking sloppy. It's one of the biggest complaints from photogs in the field... they put a picture up... and you take it without telling them. And because they don't know it's live... they readjust right in the middle. Make it standard operating procedure to give cues to anyone who is live in your show. Give them one a couple minutes out... a minute out... a standby... and you're hot. Follow up with "you're clear." Then the photographers can give you their best... and maybe do a cool move while you're live.

Bigger markets often assign someone to coordinate live shots in the booth. If this is the situation at your shop, make sure this person is on top of it.. and if not, have a follow-up conversation.

Size Does Matter

Your first block ought to be at least ten minutes long. I saw a newscast the other day that was 6 minutes! Obviously, something had gone very wrong because why would you ever make the first block so short? I could feel viewers switching to another channel to watch the rest of someone else's first block. Some T.V. stations monitor when their competition is in commercial so that they can be the last ones to go. It's a thought.

Getting the Other Side

Make sure if you're doing a negative story about a company, even if it's a vo, to get their side of things. I was watching a story a while back about a salmonella outbreak at a local chain of restaurants. Lots of people got sick. There was no company response or statement included in the piece. Not even a quick full screen: "We've cleaned up our restaurants." Nothing.

If you're running a negative story on a company, you have to at least try to get their side of it on the air. They may not want to talk with you. If the company doesn't respond, include THAT in your piece to show viewers that you've done the work:

"We called XYZ Restaurants but they didn't want to comment for this story."

Or use comments they've previously given you:

"We couldn't talk with XYZ today, but in past stories, they told us they're working hard to get everything cleaned up."

If all else fails, quote another reliable news source:

"We couldn't contact XYZ, but the AP is reporting that because of the outbreak, the restaurant will be offering everyone free tacos tomorrow."

Finally, don't forget the web. Many companies utilize their sites to communicate with the media. They may not return your calls, but a brief statement might be posted on their press page or even their home page.

Sign of the times?

New story out on how NBC in Philadelphia is in a video sharing agreement with Fox Philly. I used to work for WCAU and I now work for NewsCorp... but I don't have any inside info. Just ran across this on "Media Week."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3i801c554d7b26ab100a6d1ad3d94ca9fd

HD Pitfalls

Something to keep in mind as we head into the brave new world of HD.

Most stations are implementing in various stages. The ones I've seen so far have the anchors back at the station in HD... but the field crews are regular. This is weird but I guess unavoidable. When you're watching on a HD set... you see crystal clear anchors, wrinkles and all... and then they toss to reporters in the field... who now look sort of fuzzy. The point is-- might not make a whole lot of sense to put them in double boxes together where the two different qualities of pictures stand out more. Graphics are often in high def too. Just something to think about.

CNN Election Night Hologram

Did you guys see this? CNN "beamed" a reporter into the studio via a hologram... like the ones they had at Disney's Epcot Center back in the day. I thought it was interesting. But I wish they would have had some video of the setup as she was explaining how it works. It might have even been worth a quick piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_aDBiPREUE&feature=related

Help a Tease: Save a Story

It's hard to write a good tease when you're teasing a crummy story. Please don't assume viewers (other than your family) will stick around just because you think you've put together a well-crafted show. Save something interesting for them- and by interesting, I mean, something YOU would actually stick around to watch, not the two stories you still have leftover after stacking the rest of the show.

This can be tough, I know. By the time viewers see your show, they've probably already caught some of the really interesting stories of the day. This is why you must be your own news gatherer (or more correctly, your own :20 vo collector). Surf the web. Read magazines. Go straight to the source online or on the phone.

The story does not have to be hard news. It just has to be interesting.

Here are some ideas for finding stories when you're desperate:

=What are the top ten searches? What are the most watched videos on YouTube?

I checked digg.com just now and found..

"Woman buys back foreclosed home for a stranger"
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa081026_mo_auctionangels.151177f7c.html
(You could use foreclosure file, a graphic and on cam tag)

"Google earth comes to IPhone"
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/introducing-google-earth-for-iphone.html
(Here you could look up file of the IPhone and Google Earth)

="Top 10" lists themselves can be good stories.
I searched "Top 10" and "Dallas" and found.. "Top ten things to do this Fall." You could name the top 5. The top options included the local Farmers Market, catching a Cowboys game and hitting the Arboretum. If you had a photographer sitting around, you could send him or her by to spray one of them.

Remember, you can't go wrong with "news you can use." Think health, money, kids, pets. Have a "reader" (www.google.com/intl/en/googlereader/tour.html) page that tracks websites and columns so you can have them all at your fingertips.

And then, there's always Fark.com If nothing else, it's an easy way to waste half the day.

Like Things Go Together

When you're putting a rundown together, don't overthink things.

Remember this: Like things go together. It's like organizing your closet... like colors, like items, have some kind of order in there. I say this after watching a newscast where you might get a heachache from the show ping-ponging around so much. With a shooting here, a car accident there, a national story that relates to nothing, then another violent incident locally. Like things together. Put your violent local stories together. Put politics, local or otherwise, together. Weather together. Whatever. Just try to put some kind of order into your show. Otherwise it's really hard to watch.

The future of TV

I found a few intersting articles I thought I'd pass along.

One is about the near future-- local t.v. stations getting hammered once the election ad money runs dry...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/business/media/27carr.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The other is about the possiblities of t.v. integrating with social networking. The article points to gaming with users being able to interact. I wish I had more tech knowledge-- I think this would work well with users watching sports or politics. Imagine baseball fans watching the World Series and interacting after a big play. Or avid fans of politics watching election results together. Or, local t.v. stations, for that matter, on big weather days. Viewers could interact about what's happening in their area. Something to think about. Here's the article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122461909287855339.html

Interesting Article on Blogs

Found this on Twitter from the Knight Digital Media Center:
http://snurl.com/4eu49

Economy Worries

Working as a consumer producer for years, I had the opportunity to read and answer literally hundreds of complaints about car dealerships. So even I am surprised by my new-found compassion for them and concern about their financial well-being. Consider it enlightened self-interest. I am thinking of all my friends currently working in local television stations, which depend upon dealer advertising for big chunks of revenue. What happens if dealers start going belly up? Will that lead to more rounds of layoffs? Scary.

Tales of the Dark Side: PR Horror Stories

Sounds like a lot of you out there have PR horror stories. Here's (one of) mine.

I was doing consumer in an undisclosed market turning out stories faster than GE cranks out light bulbs. I got a press release that sounded interesting. An insurance company had a study showing which intersections had the most accidents. I call the woman to set it up. She asks what kind of angle am I going to take on the story and is this going to have a negative spin? Huh? YOU called me! If I were doing a negative story, it certainly wouldn't be off a press release you sent AND I'd say to you up front... "Hey, we've gotten some complaints about your company we'd like to ask you about."

I believe she also asked me to submit my questions. (This happens a lot. I do not submit questions in advance and certainly not for some goofy consumer story on danger intersections!) This all should have been a clue that this whole exercise would be a complete waste of time. Did I wisely tell this woman we were no longer interested and I would move on to the one of 800 other stories sitting on my desk? Sadly, I did not.

The PR woman calls back. She says she'd like to arrange a conference call with her, the interview and me. I say, fine. The conference call happens and I'm asking some general questions, like... WHY are these particular intersections problematic? He says, I can't answer that. Ok-- the data only shows where the accidents happen, not why. Fine. I ask, what are some tips for people to avoid accidents? He can't answer that either. It goes on like this. Me asking pretty simple questions speaking to how our viewers would benefit from us doing the story, him being unable to answer. Finally, out of frustration I ask, "Well, what can you talk about?" He says, "XYZ insurance company has new one stop shopping insurance centers to file your claims." Bingo. Not interested.

If you're going to pitch me a story, I'm happy to interview your expert but please make sure he can answer more than one question and don't insult my intelligence by pitching one story when you're really pushing another one.

For HS/College Students Interested in Photography

A dear friend and fabulous photographer, Jim Cox, died in a helicopter crash last year in Phoenix. His family and friends have started a foundation to encourage young photographers. The deadline is fast approaching (Oct. 15) for anyone who'd like to apply. Scholarships and cameras are available.

http://www.jamesalancoxfoundation.org/application.php

Tease Versus Headline

I actually heard this on a TV station the other day. It was supposed to be a tease:

"It's a guilty verdict for OJ Simpson. He could face life in prison."

That's more like a headline. How about trying:

"The verdict's in on the latest OJ Simpson trial. We'll tell you if the jury bought his story..."

Or, assuming everyone has already heard the news...

"OJ's guilty. We'll tell you what kind of time Simpson could face behind bars and have reaction to the verdict."

What to Tease

So let's say you are a producer have the choice of two stories to tease all night long. Do you:

A) Tease the story about how police are pulling over "good" drivers?

B) Tease the story, with video, of a woman being tossed out of a car on the highway?

Correct answer: B!

You don't have to put "B" in your first block but you should put it in and tease the good video. "Good drivers" is dull and it's been done.

For the Record

I don't produce shows anymore... I field produce for Correspondent Kris Gutierrez. When we are offered up live, we're on for hits between 9a and 7p EST on Fox News Channel (sometimes earlier and/or later if it's a big breaking story). Our one crew bureau covers AR, OK, TX and LA, unless another bureau needs help or relief on a story in their region.

For Our Friends in PR

I just got an email from someone wanting advice on how to pitch stories. In case other PR folks are out there reading this, how is how NOT to pitch stories (this goes for local & network):

DON'T CALL ME. I don't have time. I barely have time to leave my desk to pee or heat up my Healthy Choice Frozen meal-- so you can bet I don't have time to sit on the phone with you to listen to the intricacies of your pitch. Send me an email. I'll read the first three lines and if we're interested, i'll call you.

DON'T WASTE MY TIME. Have the courtesy to watch the show or correspondent I produce. Look at what we're doing. Is your pitch something that would really fit in my show? Honestly, if it's not, you're wasting your time and mine. For example, I got at least 10-20 email pitches today. I would wager a week's salary not one of the PR folks who emailed me today have any clue who I am or what we do. They just bought my name from somebody's list and sent me a blast email. My response? Delete. I get so many of them, if it's a name I don't recognize, I don't even read them.

TARGET A SHOW. Each show has a different staff and different needs, even if they are on the same network. You should pitch a story differently for a morning show than say an evening program. Fox and Friends is different than Special Report which is different than Fox Report, n'est pas? Tailor your story and pitch to someone on a particular show. Be flexible if someone calls you back. Get me someone quickly, because management may not be interested in the story tomorrow. Get me someone who can give me a viewer benefit. I know you want to pitch XYZ green window cleaner company but if you can give my viewers general tips on how to find green cleaning products (even those your company doesn't pitch) you'll have a much better chance of making air.

WE DO NEWS 24/7. So be so kind as to include an after hours cell number so if I have any questions on say, a Friday night or Saturday morning, I'll be able to contact you. If I had a dime for every press release for an event on a weekend without a weekend contact number, I'd be a millionaire... blah, blah, blah.

ONE FINAL NOTE. If you come through for me, I'll turn to you again and again. There is a particular college I have called in the past asking for an expert. They got me one within hours. Other schools I call don't answer calls or can't seem to get it together. Guess who I call back regularly?

Pester People for Fun & Profit

It is amazing how much miscommunication there is in the communication business.

Sometimes you didn't adequately clarify what you wanted. Other times, people just didn't hear you. In any case, if you're a good producer, you check and recheck things. It's annoying for people, but it's the only way to catch mistakes and eliminate problems.

So call your reporters....
"Just so I'm clear, you're going to include the sheriff sound, right?"

Call your edit bays...
"You're o.k. to edit that pkg by the top of the show, right?"

Call graphics...
"Hey did you understand that graphics request I submitted?"

And so on. It may pester people, but your show (or any project you do) will profit.

Story Drops the Baton

Some local stations are covering a story about some baton twirlers who got in trouble for doing a routine to the Katy Perry "I Kissed a Girl" song. Perhaps you've heard it. I hope so, because if you were watching one particular station, you would not have heard the song in the piece. How is this possible? How can you do a story on a song getting students in trouble without actually playing the song? The story would not make a lot of sense to someone who hasn't heard the song (and I'm guessing that's a large part of your viewing population over a certain age). How can a viewer decide for themselves whether the song is offensive for a high school pep rally unless they hear it?

If you're having a trouble locating the song, it's all over You Tube. You could have one of the students you interview at their computer playing the video. I can hear the line already... "It's got a catchy tune but this song caused one student to catch a lot of flak from school administrators..."

If you're worried about using a song in a package, contact your management or your station's attorney. If for some reason you feel compelled NOT to use the song, at the very least, put up a full screen of lyrics with a line like... "What's all the fuss about? Here's a sampling of the lyrics:
I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chapstick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it."
This gives someone who's never heard the song a much better sense of it.

Another thing. The story DID have home video of the routine. They didn't let it go Nats full, so I'm guessing there wasn't any Nats on the tape? It's a good idea to clue viewers in on this, because the first thing you think when seeing the tape is... I want to hear it. It could be as easy as saying... "There's no sound on the tape... but you can see the girls performing the routine the night they got in trouble."(( An aside: Or again, you could have your interview looking at the tape "Yeah, that was our routine. We practiced it for weeks. We never thought we'd get in trouble..." Or whatever.)) The point is, if there's an obvious defect in a material (like no audio) you might want to mention it in the script. And if there was audio... why not pull it full?

If a tree falls in the forest and there's no TV crew to document it, it is news?

The recurring complaint about media crews and Katrina is that all of us were so focused on New Orleans that we missed the devastation happening to other parts of the Gulf Coast. Consider the re-dux, obviously on a much smaller scale, with Gustav.

Just a few days after the third anniversary of Katrina, New Orleans found itself facing Gustav, which swirled out in the Gulf menacingly. A massive evacuation ensued. So did a massive influx of journalists into the city. When it was all over, Gustav seemed more bark than bite, the levees held, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. We all began to make our way home.

It was on my way home that I noticed something. Correspondent Kris Gutierrez and I had to drive to Baton Rouge to fly out since the New Orleans airport was still closed. We thought we’d make the couple hour drive, grab some lunch and be at the airport with plenty of time. Keep in mind that we never lost power at our hotel in New Orleans. And the night before we left, there were restaurants open in the Quarter. In fact, it was almost lively, what with all the news crews, police and rescue workers in town.

So you’ll imagine our surprise when we cruise in to Baton Rouge and not a thing is open. It seems the whole city is without power. The occasional grocery or drug store that is open has a line a mile long outside it. We drive around. We get lost. Huge old trees are downed everywhere in Baton Rouge’s old neighborhoods. We give up and make our way back to the airport. It’s on backup power and the temperature inside is something like 85 degrees. We feel lucky to get on our plane and fly home. Once home, I see that in the state of Louisiana, some two million are without power. Isn’t that a story?

My defense, albeit a poor one, is that with TV news, time marches on- and quickly. The minute we’re given to reflection on a story, we’re sent to the next one. Two million without power is a lot, but what about the upcoming Presidential election? What if Ike is lining up in the Gulf with Houston in its crosshairs? What about the financial crisis? It’s always something. Sometimes it’s the magician’s sleight of hand—we’re looking at something shiny while the real trick is being played out of sight. But more often, we’re more like a hyperactive teen. Too much news. Too little time. It’s easy to get distracted.

Sorry no new posts lately

Sucked into our hurricane coverage. Any questions about it or tips you have from your storm coverage? Email me at pitlist@gmail.com

Preaching Twitter. Again

Here's an interesting article on how the Austin-Statesman used Twitter to cover Ike. Something any station could do.
Statesman team uses Twitter to cover Hurricane Ike

Posted using ShareThis

I also used Twitter during Gustav and Ike. I went to summize.com and found users in the New Orleans and Houston area. I followed them so I could get a sense of what they were experiencing and what was important to them. I also followed the local newspapers and tv stations in the area to make sure we weren't missing anything.

Handy Tip for Photogs in Hurricanes & other Heavy WX

This tip courtesy of Guy Hernandez, three time NPPA winner, and Guy Morton, former NBC photog who now freelances for everybody.

Ever seen those big Ziploc storage bags, the ones for sweaters, extra blankets etc.?

They're huge. They're also rain gear.

The "Guys" use them in hurricanes and say they work better than anything. Guy H. puts his regular rain gear over the camera, then one of these Ziploc bags over that. He pokes a hole in the the bag and then stretches it to fit the lens perfectly. Then he makes another hole for the viewfinder. 

Attached is a picture of Guy Morton, who's using the Ziploc sans other rain gear while covering flooding in Marble Falls, TX (Texas Hill country outside Austin). 

Big Weather Diversification

All this weather talk brings me to a common problem with big weather days. You assign several reporters to cover weather and they bring you essentially the same story from different locations.

As in...

Hi, I'm Reporter A and it is raining on the North side.

Hi, I'm Reporter B and it is raining on the Sorth side.

Hi, I'm Reporter C and it is raining on the West side.


You get the idea. Figure out a way to diversify your coverage so viewers aren't seeing the same thing over and over. So one might do... People impacted... Another reporter takes emergency response. Or someone takes nuts and bolts... Another takes color. Whatever. Just check in early and often to make sure you and your crews are on the same page.

Three Drunk Guys and a Hurricam

Ok, I ran across something fascinating while wasting time between overnight liveshots. Gustav was hours off, but there was a live web cam going in Houma Louisiana. Just like it sounds, three drunk guys and a "Hurricam." Three yahoos drinking out on their porch and acting stupid. Live. And I couldn't stop watching. I wasn't alone. About four thousand other people were watching. I bring this up not because I assume that you too will be fascinated by drunk guys and an approaching hurricane, but because I am trying to figure out an application for this in tv news. The web site that hosted the drunk guys is ustream.tv
Under the drunk guys cam was a box with instant messaging from people watching. They'd react to what the guys were doing. I think the guys even took a phone call from someone who was messaging them.

How could we use this in a show? Would be great for a controversial radio show that also has a web presence. Hosts could argue about something and get instant feedback. Maybe it is already being done. What else could you do?

Of Rain Gear and On Set Pieces

Sorry no posts for a while. Fresh back from Gustav. Which brings me to a point you might pass along to your reporters when they come back in from covering storms. For the love of God, please take off your rain jacket before you go on set. I watched affilate coverage of the storm and this one reporter wore her rain jacket not just for one set piece, but she was on again and again... Still wearing the jacket. If you really want to prove you were covering the storm, perhaps you should be live out in it. But if you are on set, lose the rain jacket!

Blowing the Tease

Here's what I heard last Saturday at 6pm in a local newscast:

"We'll tell you who Barack Obama picked as his running mate."

Given that they released the pick overnight, at 6p, th above is not an effective tease. Even worse, this tease was coming out of a national newscast. You can safely assume the audience watching the national newscast has already heard the big news. In fact, unless it's an ongoing story, why would you ever tease any national story coming out of a national newscast? The viewers have already heard about it in the last half hour. Pick an interesting local angle on the national story or something entirely different.

Ad or TV News?

A new Apple store opens. Is this worth :15 in the first block of your show? I don't think so-- but saw it in a top 10 market.

Pop Quiz

I recently heard a newscast that contained the phrase:

"... drenching downpour..."

Which one of these words can we jettison?

Have you ever been in a downpour that didn't leave you drenched? 

Ditto the phrase:

"... fatal drowning..."

Drowning by definition is fatal. I hear this one all the time. 

Script Approval

I don't know if you've read any of Jill Geisler's columns- but she's brilliant. I met her at an RTNDF Women & Minorities in Management workshop. Here's a good article on working with reporters to revise scripts.

http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=4577

I'd add that there's nothing like front end work in terms of packages. An hour before newscast the newscast is not the time to find out the story has completely changed. Check in early and often with reporters about how things are going... if the story's remaining what you thought it was... and what types of elements they'll have. That will assist immensely when it comes to looking at the pkg as well as your own tease-writing.

More on Twitter

Sorry to bombard you with blogs about Twitter, but it's my current obsession. Here's how the Chicago Tribune used it to cover breaking news, according to Poynter:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=148745

http://twitter.com/coloneltribune

Patron Saint of Television

No joke. There is one. It's St. Clare of Assisi, follower and helper of St. Francis. In one newsroom where I worked, there was a glow-in-the-dark St. Clare statue that watched over our assignment desk. According to Catholic Online:

"Clare of Assisi was named patron of television because one Christmas when she was too ill to leave her bed she saw and heard Christmas Mass -- even though it was taking place miles away."

She also lived in poverty, like so many local television news producers.

Finding a Company Number

I wanted to pass along a small tip that I picked up working consumer and that I just used a couple days ago. Trying to contact a company can sometimes be difficult. You'd think company media types would have say, a phone number or email on their websites, but increasingly, that doesn't seem to be the case. I guess they are getting a lot of disgruntled yahoos calling. In any case, here's where Hoovers comes in. Hoovers.com is a website that has company info on it. All the major companies are on there and they generally have an address and non-toll free number that at least gets you to an administrative operator who can transfer you to the pr department.

TechTip from Correspondent David MacDougall

David MacDougall, one of our correspondents in our Baghdad Bureau was kind enough to send along a great tech tip for audio interviews:

I wanted to share a resource with you that might be useful to some producers/reporters/newsrooms out there if you think it's worth passing on. When I worked in local news (not that long ago) we'd often try do get phoners on a particular story. Problem was... it was very inconvenient to set up. You had to phone the person from your desk... rush into the sound-proof booth... get someone to transfer your call in there... and then get someone to roll on the interview from one of the editing booths next door. Sure, in big markets I bet they have cool toys to make this easy. But this was market 123, with linear editing equipment, and not a lot of resources. I'm guessing not much has changed for hundreds of producers all over the country in small markets.

I came across an online tutorial which explains with exceptional clarity how to use Skype, from your desk, to record interviews. The tutorial also tells you how to optimize your computer to get the absolute best quality (broadcast quality) sound out of Skype. It's very simple and very effective. The tutorial is at: http://www.blogarithms.com/index.php/archives/2007/12/23/skype-for-interviews/


((A group of Swarthmore student journalists used this to great advantage:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/26/051226ta_talk_mcgrath


((For info on taping guidelines, check out:
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ ))

To see some of David's blogs from Baghdad, check out:
http://onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com/author/baghdadbureau/ ))

Twitter

So I'm on Twitter. I blog for my network, but often short updates like-- "17 people now dead in bus crash" aren't worth a whole blog but is worth something. Enter Twitter. It's like a headline service for your life. You can blackberry or text. Here's an interesting article on it...
http://www.kcnn.org/modules/twitter_tips

TV News, This is Your Future

CNN is expanding its bureau system... with "all-platform" journalists planted at affiliates. Here's the NY Time's take on it. Interesting... all the more reason to learn new skills.

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/cnns-strategy-bureaus-out-flexible-journalists-in/

Words of Wisdom from NBC's Bob Dotson

"Covering news these days is a lot like working in a circus. The process is so complicated, we spend most of our time just trying to get the tent up. We slap ourselves on the back when we get signals out of a difficult places, but we forget: No one comes to a circus to marvel at the tent. They come to watch the trapeze act. Our "act," the careful crafting of writing to picture, gets scant attention, as we scamper from live shot to live shot. Maybe this will help save some seconds during the day, so that your time doesn't have to be sliced too thin for thought."
Bob Dotson

From a column at RTNDF
http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/better-writing-at-the-speed-of-spot-news658.php

Writing Tips

One of you emailed asking for writing tips. No prob! When I wrote this, I was thinking about the 800 VOs and VOSOTs you put in your show. Pkgs are a whole nother ballgame. That said...

First off.. stay informed. Read everything you can get your hands on. Listen to the radio. Watch tv newscasts. Why do I say this? It's a lot easier to write if you're not coming to a story cold. For example, cranking out a :30 second VO on the situation in Georgia is a lot easier if you're not also learning about the conflict in the short time you have to write. AND, consuming as much news as you can will help you catch mistakes. So if the desk says 4 people died in the accident, but you just heard 5 on the radio, you know this is something worth an extra phone call. Are we wrong? Or maybe we just don't have the updated numbers.

Second. Don't get stuck in how you "should" be writing. Write what comes naturally. For example, if you were to pick up the phone and call a friend to tell them about an accident on the freeway, you might say something like "Hey Bob, did you hear about that bad accident on I-75? It had the freeway shut down for hours. A tanker blew a tire and just flipped over and exploded. Then four other cars smashed into it. Can you believe nobody was hurt?"

Obviously, you'd make changes to the above to make it into a script. The point is- don't muck up simple good story telling.

Some other general tips:

-Most interesting thing goes first. Always.
-Keep sentences short.
-Always look at your video and let it inspire you.
-Look for places to insert NATS and good sound.
-Time yourself when you write so that when it comes to crunch time, you'll already be prepared.
-Pick low hanging fruit first. Knock out the easy stuff so you can come back to focus on more difficult stories and/or stories you expect to change toward your newscast.
-Never use a word you wouldn't use in conversation. My favorite example: White Stuff.

If you're having trouble on a story, ask yourself, why is this in my newscast? Because it's important? Why is it important? That should help you write. Or google search the story and read more about it. That might help you be able to break the logjam.

Final tip:
Always, always, always read scripts aloud. Your ears will catch errors your eyes won't. My particular downfall? Omitted words. Also, when reading aloud, it will become very obvious if your sentences are too long or too wordy. If you are stumbling when reading your script aloud, how do you expect your anchor to read it?

Here are some links I think are interesting:

http://www.newsu.org/

http://www.mervinblock.com/

One More Reason to Like Google

http://www.google.com/trends

You've probably already seen this, but I am, as usual behind the curve and just found this today. Google list top search items. It's interesting... something to keep in mind. For example "chupucabra" was second in searches. Maybe worth putting in the chupucabra siting story somewhere in your newscast? I might.

Because I'm Lazy

I did a blog for work that I think is applicable here so I thought I'd post it and get a two-fer. One aside, at the bottom, there's a line that says "Who knows what Friday will bring." As I write you, I am sitting in a sat truck in Sherman, Texas covering a deadly bus crash.
======================

A lot of people ask what a typical day is like working for FOX News. For the folks in the field, there really is no typical day, or week for that matter. For my part, that’s what I really like about the job.

We have one crew in the Dallas bureau, just a photographer, correspondent (Kris Gutierrez) and me. Usually we wait for breaking news. And while we wait for breaking news in our region (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana) we work on approved stories, generally something timely and interesting.

Here’s what this week has looked like. We came into our office in downtown Dallas early Monday morning to do a satellite interview. Kris Gutierrez was scheduled to leave in the afternoon with a freelance photographer and producer to do interviews in El Paso for live shots all day Tuesday. I was going to leave Tuesday morning to meet our staff photographer in Austin to do an interview for a second story. Since we’re a one crew bureau, we often split up to get more done.

Of course all those plans went out the window before the day was over. Tropical Storm Edouard decided to take aim at Galveston so off we went on a flight to Houston. We arrived in Galveston after nightfall, camped out in a hotel and were ready for business Tuesday morning. FOX and Friends wanted live shots at 6am EST, so that means we needed to be up and out at 4pm central time. The only problem was when we woke up the next morning, Edouard had decided to move up the coast. We were out of position. Way out of position. It wasn’t even raining! So after one live shot for Fox and Friends, we drove about an hour and half , through the storm, to High Island, where Kris Gutierrez proceeded to take a beating from wind gusts and rain during live shots the rest of the day.

On Wednesday, the storm cleared and we were on a plane from Houston to Oklahoma City. From there, we drove to General Tommy Franks’ ranch, which is about two hours outside Oklahoma City. The General was hosting forty-eight students from across the country for a leadership conference and debate camp. After four days of hard work, the students got to kick back, relax and interact with the General. General Franks has this huge magnetic personality. He’s genuine and generous with his time and wisdom. His new project, the General Tommy Franks Leadership Institute and Museum hopes to help educate the next generation. This week’s camp this is part of that. After getting video of the BBQ at the ranch, we drove back to Oklahoma City and were in bed by 10pm.

Thursday morning meant an early live shot with Judge Napolitano in Oklahoma City. The Judge is hosting the final round of a debate featuring the kids from the leadership camp. It was my first time working with the Judge- and what a pleasure. We continued doing live shots with Kris Gutierrez through the afternoon. I had a small cameo in one of them. Someone in management said—”Now I know what producers do.” I was sitting on my duff with a phone in my ear at the time. To my credit, I was actually working. During live shots, producers are required to link into a conference call so that the people in NY have direct contact with someone in the field should something go wrong.

What will Friday bring? Who knows? We’re scheduled to depart on a morning flight back to Dallas, but with TV news, it’s anyone’s best guess.

Earthquake Coverage

A co-worker and I were watching the earthquake coverage last week and wondered whether it was perhaps a bit overboard. Apparently we're not alone. Here's a funny column on it:

http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/editorial/outlook/5920678.html

RTNDA Salary Survey

If you're about to switch markets and have no clue what to ask for... here's help.

http://www.rtnda.org/pages/research.php

Using the Web

I was out covering Hurricane Dolly and found the Red Cross using Flickr and a blog to get out the latest information. I thought it was interesting, especially since you can do updates via blackberry (I do a lot of Pitlist entries on my blackberry). Theoretically, a PIO could update the page from the field. Here are the links:

http://hurricanedolly.wordpress.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanredcross/2704694941/

If your station doesn't have a huge web staff (or even if it does), this may be something to think about in breaking news situations. If you have something like this set up so that reporters and photogs can send in stuff--- it may be a real advantage. If they are too busy, consider sending out a young hungry tech-savvy intern who can help with this end of things.

Some stations are also using Twitter to put out updates.
http://twitter.com/kpbsnews

This particular station also used a web mapping application for the San Diego wildfires last year-- to show viewers exactly where wildfires and shelters were. If you're in a hurricane prone area, you could do the same thing-- to show evacuation routes, shelter, position of hurricane etc.

If you're in the 20-30 age bracket, you're in a unique position to help your station use the web and interconnect with viewers. Many of your station managers don't use technology in the same ways that you and your friends do. Things that might seem like obvious applications to you may not even occur to newsroom leaders. Speak up and give suggestions. They're important to your station's survival!

Stalk Your Next Market

Some of you would like to work in a particular market. Fortunately, you decided to become a producer, so your odds are good. Here's how to make it to that market...

Call each assignment desk and find out who the news directors are. If you feel comfortable, I'd ask if they have producer openings. You might get a chatty desk person who can give you good info and scoop on the station. You'll feel stupid doing this, but who cares? They don't know you.

Send each of the news directiors a tape and a note saying-- "Currently, I'm a bad ass producer in XYZ but I'm looking to relocate to the your market. Enclosed is a tape. I'll be in town on blah blah blah and if you have a few minutes, I'd love to meet with you."

Even if there is no opening, I guarantee you, there will be. You will get calls for meetings. This is because, not only are GOOD producers hard to find, even mediocre ones are rare. No one wants to produce! And the ones who do move to bigger markets or get promoted to EP. I think I have mentioned this before, but most news directors get dozens of tapes for reporter openings, but only a handful for producer openings, and many of them aren't qualified. So if you have experience and a decent tape or cd, send it! What do you have to lose?

Prior to the meetings, google each of the news directors to get a sense of who they are. Maybe you went to the same school or worked in the same market at different times. Also, check out the station's websites to get a sense of their product. Definitely watch the product before you go in and take notes to critique.

I'd also call everyone you know to see if they know anyone in the market.

Story Placement Problems

I just saw a newscast about extreme hot weather. If you have a death involved in any weather related coverage, get to that first-- not your weather guy. It just seems tacky to talk about anything else but how the person died. Once you've covered that, then you can move on.

In fact, in general, unless there is some weather happening RIGHT NOW, like a tornado warning, it makes more sense to get to a reporter and video and end with the meteorologist and maps.

Showcasing

When you are creating your show, you want to do something a little special for your lead, especially if you have good elements (dramatic sound, good weather pics etc). One good way to set up your lead or maybe a special sweeps piece or teasble package is to do a little setup piece into it. Ask the reporter if they have any dramatic 3 to 5 second sound bites that they didn't use. Create a little mini-pkg (maybe 30 to 45 seconds) to build interest in the story. ((Note: don't actually tell the story, just create interest by putting out a couple good details. Nothing ticks off reporters faster by you telling the entire story right before you toss to them.))

You can keep it simple, or jazz it up by giving it to the best editor in house. Try to give them as much time as possible to work on it.

You can also do something similar as an extended, tracked a-block tease.

So it could be--
(Nats- piece of metal crashes to the ground.)
Track- A dangerous storm rolls into the valley
(Sot- I just about died when I heard the crash.)
Track- Trees are down, power is out, but is the worst over?
(Nats- lightning crack)

Then go to Anchor/live intro. He or she reads a graph to get to reporter.

Not something you have to do every day, but something to consider.

Trust Your Gut

There is a little protective decision making mechanism in all of us that will save you from making big mistakes. It is that little feeling you have in the pit of your stomach that says..."Uh, I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't run this." Or, "Maybe we should send a crew to that story..."

There's no real logical reason for what your feeling, but you feel it anyway. Trust your gut and follow your instinct, even if it doesn't make total sense, especially if the weight of the responsibilty of the decision rests on your shoulders.

Double-Checking Stories

A lot of us get story ideas off the web. That's fine. But be careful. Make a couple calls to verify a story before you run with it.

Case in point: some guy made up a story about an Oklahoma football player and then put it online.
http://newsok.com/article/3270140?topten_check=yes

I don't know if any news agencies picked this story up, but you can see how easy it would be to do. Be careful.

This Just In- What Do You Think?

Saw this and thought it was hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-rkzJ6yZw

If the link goes belly up, you can go to "You Tube" and search "Mitchell and Webb" and "Aliens" and it should pop up. It's a British comedy duo doing a sendup of tv news.

Start with People

I just watched a pkg on new cpr recs- that you should give 100 compressions in a minute and skip the mouth to mouth. We were in least 45 seconds or so when the reporter finally got to the good stuff- an interview with a guy who saved his best friend using the new method. The first part of the pkg had been DULL mos and an expert bite. Boring! Lead with your best material first. Always. Many times that's a human being who can connect your viewer to the story. And in this case, when you have both the person saved AND the man who saved him-- that belongs at the top.

Double Take

I am getting to the point where I almost expect to see pkgs from nightside rerun on early newscasts. I understand, you morning producers have like six hours to fill and little to no help. But when I watch a major market newscast from 5 to 615p (with the network newscast at 530) and see the EXACT same reporter do the EXACT same pkg at 5p and at 6p (in the first block in both shows, framed in exactly the same way), I have one word and one word only- LAZY!!!

Did the producer at 6p not have anything else to put in the show? Couldn't they ask the reporter to do a vosot for the 6p? Or, how about having the vosot at 5p to tease the pkg at 6? Or-- at the very least, could the photog and reporter not change up the shot so that it looks different?

I guess people assume viewers won't be watching after a whole hour. Perhaps we might want to give them a reason to watch longer instead of repeating our newscast a la Headline News. What's the point of have a separate producer if you're just going to restack essentially the same show?

Blowing the Tease

I will stop writing about this when I stop seeing it happen. Watching a tease tonight, I heard something like...

"We will tell you about a popular snack that is being pulled off the shelves."

Could it be... "Lean Pockets?" I am not psychic. All I had to do was look at the video they were using. It was a taped graphic showing a closeup of the product.

Better to use file from the frozen food aisle and say something like...

"It's a snack many people munch on to stay true to their diet- you might even have one in your freezer now- but coming up next, we'll tell you why it's being recalled. You won't believe what they found inside."

(For the record, this particular brand of Lean Pockets were not so lean, some included pieces of plastic.)

Teases are a hugely important part of your show. Take care and try to do them early, especially with a story that's in house, like the example above.

Don't have video? If it's a good enough story, don't be afraid to do a quick on cam before wiping into another tease.

Mindless Crime Stories

I was watching a local newscast in a top 10 market. Story #2 in the newscast was a vo of some criminals who had driven a car into a store to rob it. It happened overnight. No one was in the store at the time of the crash and no one was hurt.

I know it's cool to see a car in a building but is it really worth the second story in the newscast?

Mantra for Many Newsrooms: Do More with Less

How frightening is it that more and more newsrooms are being asked to do more-- a lot more-- with a lot less? I feel for you producers and crews who are stuck holding the bag after someone higher up the food chain decided to magically add an extra half hour without adding any extra resources. That said, unless you have just received a good job offer elsewhere, you'll need to suck it up and move on.

Try to have the attitude- this really sucks, but how can I make it work? Time to open up your creative thinking. Talk to as many people who make the product as you can. Talk to people outside your market. I've found if you pose a general question or goal to people, and leave it wide open, they can often offer up solutions you'd never come up with on your own.

That is your goal. Find solutions to make your show look better and your team feel better. The muckety-mucks upstairs aren't going to be hit on the head and suddenly change their minds, so you have to figure out how to live with it. The solutions you come up with will probably not be ideal-- but it's just like losing your lead off the top of the show-- you have to do something. What's the least bad option?

People in the newsroom are probably ticked off. There is a temptation in situations like these to echo those concerns to management. Resist the urge to do this. It's a losing position for you to be in and quite frankly, your immediate managers may not be in the position to help anyway-- they may be just delivering the bad news.

If you have concerns of your own that you need addressed, always be sure to bring them up along with a solution you have in mind. Never go in just to complain.

Bad:
"Director Bob! How am I supposed to fill another half hour? Are you out of your mind? I can barely fill the time I have already! And you're not even giving me another writer?"

Better:
"Director Bob! I am excited about the expansion of the new show. It brings up a new set of challenges that I think will really help me grow as a producer. I have some ideas for new segments that I'd like to bounce off you. For example, I've talked to the local newspaper movie review guy and he'd be willing to come in as a guest every Thursday. Also, I've talked with Suzy on the desk. She's always wanted to be a writer and is willing to write for me on Wednesdays-- that's the day we have two people on the desk at night. Would that work?"

If you get shot down, don't despair. I find it helpful to follow up with "Oh, ok, do you have some ideas that might work?"

Timing is everything when it comes to talking to the boss. If you're having a major discussion, schedule a meeting. Try to figure out his or her best time. Does he seem slammed in the mornings? Does she seem most at ease after lunch? Notice their best time of day and schedule accordingly.

Understand that news directors get problems dumped on their desk everyday, so if you can come in with a problem you've already figured out how to solve, you're more likely to get buy in and a better solution than if you just came in with a problem.

Murphy's Law for Field Producers & Reporters

A photog friend of mine used to always carry a stupid reporter bag because inevitably a reporter would come out on a story unprepared for the elements. The bag contained an extra jacket, gloves and even wool socks. He saved many a reporter from freezing. And possibly even a field producer.

Putting on those wool socks that day taught me a lesson. Get like the Boy Scouts and "Be Prepared." Plan for all possibilities. You may be going out on a consumer interview that's indoors, but if a standoff happens nearby in sub-zero temps, guess who will be dropping in?

I find that Murphy's Law is generally in effect. For example, last week, heading out to do a dought story, why on earth would I take my rain gear? Sure enough, we landed and the skies clouded. It didn't rain that time, but there have been enough times where I've packed for snow and got sent to eighty degree temps.

Suspect Descriptions

I hate suspect descriptions. I think 99.9% of the time, they are an absolute waste of time.

Here's a description I just saw on a local newscast about two robbery suspects:
Two Hispanic men, in their 20s. One wore jeans and a gray t-shirt.

That description might be helpful if you live in Japan, where there are not a whole lot of Hispanics, but in your average South Texas city, where I watched this broadcast, the description could apply to a large part of the population.
Better? "Police are looking for two suspects..." and move on.

Some caveats.
Use a description if there's something actually meaningful in it, as in:
The suspect had big "I love Mom" tattoo on his right shoulder...
Or,
Police says the suspects left in red minivan with a tag that read "xyz-123."

Also, I can live with vague descriptions if the crime just happened. If you toss to a reporter who just rolled up on a scene where the crime occured, then the info might be helpful. Be as specific as possible, as in "The crime happened at 4th and Main, and police say witnesses saw two white men in their 20s take off in a green v.w. bug. That was about ten minutes ago." If the crime just happened, there's a chance someone might spot them if they stop into a 7/11 for a Slurpee. Hours after the fact though, as happens with most of these descriptions-- it's not likely.

Which brings me to phone numbers in newscasts. I hate them. Unless the phone number is something like 1-800-crimestoppers or your own station's hotline (or website) which you repeat again and again in the show, don't use it. No one watches t.v. with a pen taking notes and anxiously anticipating you showing a phone number they might need. Phone numbers are generally frustrating for viewers and a watch of precious newscast time.

Quick Easy Way to Improve Your Show

Be your own consultant. Have someone record your show and watch it. But don't watch right after it's over. Come in a little early the next day and watch it then. Your show won't be so close to you and you can look at it with fresh eyes. You'll be amazed the stuff you notice. Do your vosots need shortening? Is there some editing sloppiness that slipped in? How was the overall pacing- did you get bored watching? What about graphics? Did they help understanding or just muddle things up? Were they consistent throughout the show?

Even if you can't do this every night-- try watching, at least the first block, at least once a week. You might also want to watch with an immediate supervisor, if you can get five minutes with them.

The Dog Ate My Homework

I just logged in and it's been almost a month since I'm put something new up! Pathetic. But I have a good excuse. I'm getting married this weekend! The past month has been used to set up the nuptials. Trust me, you think putting a rundown together is a challenge, wait till you wrangle with the Bridal Industrial Complex. But enough excuses!

Access Guide

After writing the last post, I was looking around the RCFP website. The Reading Room is really good, with everything from a "Reporter's Field Guide" to a "Photographers' Guide to Privacy. It also has a section on HIPAA laws:

http://www.rcfp.org/readingroom/

FOIA Requests

Have you ever filed a request for info under the Freedom of Information Act? It's generally pretty simple and can yield big results. While FOIA applies only to federal agencies, most states have similar laws. The Dallas Morning News has a good story online now through a freedom of information request it made on state goverment emails:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060408dntexcps.3ba4457.html

If you've never filed a FOIA request, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is a great place to get started:
http://www.rcfp.org/foia/

They even have a fill-in-the-blanks "FOIA letter generator":
http://www.rcfp.org/foi_letter/generate.php

The Importance of Food in the Newsroom

I used to work in a newsroom where the mere act of walking in would add at least five pounds. During a book, someone was responsible for bringing breakfast to the am meeting. During the entire month of December, someone was assigned to bring cookies each day. Not to mention Friday night treat night (my contribution when I was producing the 10pm).

I would encourage you to bring some snacks in on a regular basis, if only to tell the fine folks with whom you work that-- hey, I appreciate you. A well deserved compliment, and food, can go a long way to making people feel, at least temporarily, a little happier in the workplace.

When in Doubt, Lead with Weather

I know I've done a post in the past about how important weather coverage is-- but it's worth repeating. If you are ever sitting at your desk, pondering whether to lead with weather, you should lead with it, even if it's just a brief toss to video and a quick pop with the weather guy. People love weather and are much more interested in it than say, the shooting that happened in a neighborhood no where near them.

When in doubt, lead with weather!

We're in the Communication Business

We're in the communication business and yet- shockingly- it looks like some reporters and photographers have scarcely said a word to each other prior to their liveshot. You can tell because the reporter is talking about one thing and the photographer is showing another.

It is great if you are a reporter and want to walk and talk or show stuff. But you must talk it over with your photographer first. Do a couple practice runs ahead of time. If you are working with a photographer who is challenged, keep it super simple. We're going here, here, then the package. Or whatever. Just make sure you are both on the same page before you do anything. You may also want to ask their ideas. Many photographers are much better at figuring out cool standups and live shots than the talent with whom they work.

Love a Lav

If you can, encourage your reporters to use lav mics out on live shots. Your live shots will look better. Your reporters can move around and talk naturally. Nothing is so funny as seeing a reporter who talks with their hands using a stick mic. You can see them wanting to use that mic hand and practically have to restrain themselves to keep from moving it with the other hand. Why bother? Use a lav and move all you want.

Find Your Own Replacement

If you want to get promoted into another job or another shift, make it easy for your boss to promote you. Remember from school- how an object at rest stays at rest? That is your boss. He or she is perfectly happy to let you stay in your current position forever. Why? Because to move you means he or she will have to replace you and since you are brilliant, that will be a real pain. So make it easy for your boss and help them find your replacement.

If you have writers, groom them to transition into your job. Give them more responsibilty. Have them produce a whole segment (with your supervision). Let them booth a block of your show. This system is a two-fer. It grooms your replacement but also shows your boss you can be a manager.

If you don't have anyone in house, let your fingers do the walking. Start flipping through your rolodex for buds from college or friends you have from other stations or markets. Ask them if they are interested in a producing gig or if they know anyone who is.
Have the interest parties call you and you can walk in their resume to your boss. This is also a two-fer. Once you start making calls like these, you will have people start returning the favor, alerting you to jobs well before they are ever posted.

Quote of the Day

As you stare at your rundown featuring a weak lead and worse kicker, remember:

"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or doing it better."

-John Updike

Of Cams and Courtrooms

I just read an interesting article about a photographer in court who took a picture of a note that wasn't in evidence. The photographer's paper then used information from that note in a story.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9086100

Blow up Your Show for Fun and Promotions

If you want to be a better producer and move up in your newsroom or to another market, nothing will assist you in this more than being able to roll with the punches. You may have created the most beautiful rundown in the world, but if some breaking news comes in at the last minute and you can't figure out how to put it in your newscast, you should seriously consider another career. What divides good producers from great ones is the ability to wing it and fly by the seat of their pants, especially in the control booth. It is the ability to manage chaos, to have everything thrown at you and still manage to have everyone on the same page and the show looking good.

Have a plan for spot news. For example, there's a big fire. Will the reporter be there live by the top of the show? If not, can we get a mast cam and have reporter on the phone? Or a spokesperson from the Fire Department? Or a neighbor from next door? Or will the anchor "tease" the fire at the top of the show, promising a live report later? Can you get a map?

Keep hitting the breaking news throughout the show if it's continuing. Whatever you decide to do, make sure anchors and the crew understand what you want to do. Tell them as early as possible. "I'm going to take Suzie off the top on the fire. If Suzie's not there, Bob will ad lib some info on the fire from the mast cam." Or whatever. Just make sure everyone knows what you're doing and how this impacts their part of the show.

Don't get too fancy. Put spot news in at the top and float everything else down. Change is confusing enough for the director so don't shoot yourself in the foot by getting too complicated.

Talk to anchors (and directors for that matter) in sots, pkgs or breaks. Resist the urge to tell them about stuff while they are reading. Feed anchors the info they need for the next thing they will be doing. Who's at bat, who's on deck? Don't feed too much information from the rest of the show, just feed what they need to know next.

Change is good for you.
Change is good for your show.
Put the best, newest stuff in your show, without exception.
Do this on a regular basis, even with small stories that trickle into the newsroom. Throw in a vo you were not expecting and you'll get in the habit of changing things up. It will make you better prepared to do major surgery to your show, should such an occasion arise. And it will.

Your show should look radically different and have substantially different stories than the show that preceded you. Anything else is the hallmark of a lazy producer.

Making a Graphic Request & Checking it Twice

Just saw a show with not one, but two spelling errors on the same full screen graphic. Please, for the love of humanity--- READ YOUR GRAPHIC REQUESTS OUT LOUD before handing them in. Your ears will catch mistakes your eyes don't see.

Also, consider designating someone, anyone, in the newsroom to look over your graphics requests for obvious errors.
It can be an anchor.
It can be someone on the desk.
It can an intern as long as you get a second set of eyes on them.

For producers who do some of their own graphics through system templates, this is even more important.

Your Face on TV, Every Time

Just had an email discussion with a reporter who's a friend of mine regarding the relative value of standups in a pkg.

I think reporters ought to have their face in every pkg they do. To me, there's no excuse not to have a standup or some kind of reporter presence in each and every story. Otherwise, why not just hire field producers? Or print reporters, for that matter? What you bring as talent to the piece is your ability to connect with the viewer and be their stand-in at the story.

The more faces you get in the show the better. It makes your show look large. I like to have people tape standups for stories... even if it's a reporter who did a pkg in the early and will be off by showtime. Have them shoot a one minute "looklive" from the field and insert a bite and video. Or have front a vosot from the newsroom.

The point is-- this is television. We get to see our reporters. That's why we hire so many good looking folks who can talk.

All I Ever Really Needed to Know about Show Producing... I Learned From Sesame Street

I remember having a discussion with a former boss of mine. I said something like, "Viewers began to have a shorter attention span with the advent of MTV. " The boss disagreed said it started much earlier, with Sesame Street. Watch the program and you'll see what he means. Each segment is fairly brief and when they switch segments, you see something totally different.

When I got my first show, another producer gave me some advice, "You just want each story to look a little different from the last one, so change it up a little bit each time. But of course, you already know all this." I had no idea.

Following his advice, here's what the top of each story in a first block might look like:

Lead.
2-shot (one anchor reads one graph)
Take Single Cam (other anchor reads one graph)
Toss double box to live reporter (one graph).

2nd story.
Ots

3rd story
Cam

4th Story
2-shot

5th Story
Chroma
((I throw the chroma in because no matter how small your market is, everybody has a chroma key. You may not have a flat screen monitor or video wall, but you have graphics make a chroma and voila- you have a new place to put your anchors or reporter. Make the chroma generic like "Tonight at Ten" or whatever and you can use it over and over.))

You get the idea. Play with it. There are no hard fast rules except keep it interesting.

Also, change it up in terms of visual elements. This helps with pacing. If you've had a couple vo's, throw in some sound or NATS full just to break it up. Toss an interesting vo or vosot between two pkgs. Again, no hard rules, but try to think about the overall packaging of your show in addition to the content. I like to pick a show I enjoyed watching and then steal ideas. Fox Report on the Fox News Channel has some of the best pacing on t.v. right now. But I may not be completely be unbiased.

Wipe Out!

When do you wipe between stories? When SHOULD you wipe between stories?

Wiping can help pick up the pace of a show, but it can also lend a sense that stories are connected in some way, when they might not be. Something to think about.

*So maybe you have a couple of consumer stories? Wipe yourself out.
*A block of a few national stories? Wipe away.
*Wipe into the next local story that has nothing to do with the last couple stories you've done? Not so much.

Also, keep in mind that you want your anchors to be seen as much as possible. That may keep you from wiping. In the national or consumer stories example... maybe have your anchor extablish at the top... wipe/wipe/wipe and then on cam tag to finish out that chunk of stories.

Stupid Reporter Bag

A friend of mine and fine photographer used to keep what he called a "Stupid Reporter Bag." It had socks, an extra jacket and gloves, etc. The reason was that inevitably, some reporter would come out with him on a story and get stuck, wholly unprepared for the elements.

I like to keep my own version of the stupid reporter bag which changes according to season. If there's even a possiblity of snow or ice anywhere in my region, I pack thermals, good gloves, heavy socks and a couple packs of hand warmers. In the Spring, it's rain gear, a plastic sandwich bag for my phone, mosquito spray, sunscreen, etc. The point is-- imagine the worst case scenerio of what you might be sent out on and then plan accordingly.

Who's Who

Sometimes you get sent on stuff and have no idea what the main players look like. I find this happens a lot with elections. Stations will all but ignore political coverage during the campaign but then expect you to score big on election night. I find google image searches handy for this. Go to:

http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Type in the name in quotes to search.

For elections, the candidates' websites are also a place to find pics. If you've got a few minutes, make some flashcards for yourself. Print out images of all the candidates and spokespeople you'll need to know and then put a brief summary of info on each one, including the name and cell phone of that candidate's handler. That will help you familiarize yourself with them and be able to recognize them quickly on election night.

Court Cases

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been working on the YFZ Ranch/FLDS story. Which brings me to a new post-- court cases. They can be difficult especially since in local tv, you don't generally get to cover the whole trial, just the opening, closing and verdict. It's really hard to be parachuted in to cover the end of the trial and be expected to get everything when it's the first time you've stepped foot in the courtroom.

Here are some suggestions:

If at all possible, have the same reporter do beginning and end of trial. Let them be in the court as much as they can so they can know the players and chat them up. Sometimes the media is sent into an overflow room-- which is fine, you can still hear testimony, except that I you won't be able to recognize all the main people and develop a rapport with them.

If you can't keep your reporter in the court through the whole trial (and most can't) at least try to have a body in the court. Have an intern who's gathering dust at the desk? Send them and have them make contact with people (daily) and monitor developements. Later, they can hang with the photographer to show them who's who on entries and exits. After the verdict, they can also grab interviews for you.

Having the same photog covering the trial throughout can also be helpful-- for the same reason that they'll know who the players are.

Make friends with the folks in the judge's office. Put requests in early to talk with jurors. Make sure you have a couple names on any contact lists they may have.

Morning Show Tips

Brilliant t.v. guy I know did a column on morning shows for tvspy.com.

Check it out...
http://www.tvspy.com/shoptalk.cfm?page=1#drew

Special Events Planning Part 2

There is no set plan for special events. What you do depends on the event. A lot of you will probably have elections stuff coming up. It's never too soon to start planning. Even if it's just talking to people to get a better sense of what kind of time line you'll actually need to get things done. I am a huge fan of "back-timing your life," so once you get a list of all the things you need to get done, arrange it in a manner where the deadline is the event. It's almost like you might plan a party as my cheesy time line below illustrates...

Wed: Pickup Balloons
Thur: Decorate
Fri: Pick up enchiladas from Rosa's Cantina.
Sat/9a: Clean
11a: Put enchiladas in oven
1130a: Set flowers and food out
Noon: Guests arrive

Point being, if you have a master list, you don't have to worry about forgetting things.

At the earliest stages of your planning, talk to EVERYONE you can think of. Find a producer or EP who has planned the event before or done something similar. Call a friend in a different market who may have had experience with it.

Site survey early! Bring a trusted photog who has done this type of event before and have them walk through the location with you. I think the best way to do things is not to go in with too many preconceived ideas about how the coverage will take place. Have a few ideas and throw it out to the people who will actually make it happen- "This is what I would like to accomplish, how can we make that happen?" That leaves it open-ended and asks people for their creative input. So, for example, I produced a live consumer show from a woman's house. I told the photographer, "I'd like a different look each time we come to our anchor." I didn't specify locations or rooms, I just let him take it from there. Same with graphics. "I'd like something that animates and has this kind of feel." Let the graphics person amaze you. But check in early and often to make sure you're on the same page.

Another key element of site survey is -- Where are we going to put the truck or trucks? Send your trucks out in advance to make sure you can get a signal or reach the satellite. Is it on a busy street? Is parking limited? Are there tall buildings around? Will the truck need to park the night before? VERY IMPORTANT: Will I need special permits to park here? Permits that need to be filed in triplicate three weeks in advance? If there is a police presence, make best friends with the officer coordinating.

With elections, call campaigns early and often about their plans and don't forget to contact the Board of Elections people as well.

Note to Photogs Re: Murphy's Law

When setting up live shots and deciding whether or not to cable across train tracks, consider that the fine police officers who told you, "Oh no, another train won't be coming through for days," might, in fact, be clueless (or malicious) and leave you scrambling to retrieve a dozen or so cables in two minutes or so you have as an impending train approaches.

Note to Self Re: Hotels

When coming to a city for an assignment and one is not sure how long said assignment is going to last, it might make some sense to book the crew's hotel for say, a whole week. The rooms can, after all, be cancelled. If perhaps, one only books for a two days and then forgets to extend-- and the rest of the goofball press arrives and grabs every available room within a 50 mile radius, the crew might find themselves at the Bates Motel with sagging beds and a "massager" that takes quarters. I am exaggerating only slightly.

Small Market Slammin'

I was in a small market newsroom the other day and it reminded me that not every producer has a huge cadre of writers. Or any writers, for that matter. With that in mind, here's some advice for cranking out a show solo.

When you are writing the whole show, you must write really fast. There is no time for dawdling over scripts. Just get a version out and then edit it. I only started paying attention to how fast I wrote after a bad experience when I was a young writer. A producer took a script I was working on and gave it to ANOTHER writer because he thought I'd been working on it too long. I assure you that never happened again-- because from that day forward, I started timing myself on how long it took me to write each script. I gave myself ten minutes for vos, 15 for vosots, etc.

Start writing from the bottom of your show.
Do the things you are least likely to change FIRST. For me, that meant writing the kicker first, then stories around weather and sports and b-block tease-ables. With the rest of the show out of the way, then you can focus your attention on the first block and the stories that are likely to change.

Try to do the easiest stories first.
Nothing gives you a feeling of satisfaction like cranking out a ton of stories. Read everything you can all day and listen to and watch every radio and tv newscast you can. This will make it easier when you sit down to write and also help catch little mistakes when you proofread. Were there three cars in that accident or four? If you've been listening to it all day, you're less likely to miss the mistake. Having all that info in your head also makes it infinitely easier to write a story than if you're just seeing and learning about it.

After finishing the easiest and least changable stories, then you can slow down a little and focus on some items that might take more of your time. Do this in managable chunks, So, for example, I might take my national or international wires back and look at the video for each of them and then come back and crank through those stories. Then I might take my local vos back to editing and look at and write those. Then vosots. And so on. You get the idea. With many newsrooms going tapeless and video delivered to your desktops, writing becomes even easier.

If your anchors write, that's awesome. It might make some sense to let them chose what they'd like to write. Another option is saving them for one big project, like the national story you want to package as a lead or local reporter piece you want to redo into a mini-pkg. Better yet, have reporters who turned the story leave a version for you, even if it's a vo.

NEVER hand off opens and teases. Those are yours and they are some of the most important parts of the show.

The best part of being able to write a show all by yourself is that when you get to a market where there ARE writers, you feel like you've been dropped onto another planet called "the lap of luxury." You may even catch yourself saying something stupid like, "It's just easier for me to write it than to have to read someone else's scripts and change them."

Careful with Video

Be careful using file video for current and possibily litigation inspiring stories. For example, when talking about several baggage handlers caught stealing from luggage, best not to show file video of random luggage handlers. Same goes for any file video where the people in the file might be mistaken for the criminals in your story.

Producer Opening

Heard about a producer opening in a top 20 SW market. Shoot me an email if you might be interested and I can pass along some details.

pitlist@gmail.com

Drag Racing Live Trucks

Two TV crews in El Paso doing a story on drag racing decided to race their live trucks.
Here's the video and story with thanks to the El Paso Times.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_8546849?source=most_viewed

Web Stuff

My employer has launched a new "On the Scene" blog. Thought I'd put in a shameless plug:
http://onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com/

Anybody doing anything interesting with the web at their station? If so, shoot me a note. I'd love to hear about it.
pitlist@gmail.com

New Term: News Nun

I just heard this from a producer friend of mine-- as in, instead of being married to God, you're married to your job. I'd be laughing hysterically if it didn't hit a little too close to home.

Three Words or Six?

One of the Poynter instructors had an interesting exercise. Basically, when you're writing a story, try to distill it down to three words. So for example, "Tornado hits Atlanta," or "Wildfires burn Texas." Some are easy, but most stories almost seem to defy boiling down to three words. The point of the exercise is to narrow your focus-- and then toss what doesn't fit under your three word description. For more on Poynter, go to www.poynter.org

Another six word exercise is something I heard on the radio and it's just for fun. This one is called the six word memoir. There's also a book out collecting a bunch of them, subtitled, "Not quite what I had planned." From the website (www.smithmag.net) :


Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends

I still make coffee for two

wedding cancelled: forks are too heavy

Day and night, like zebra stripes

Baby teeth, buck teeth, no teeth

Stop me if you've seen this one before

Some days it's tough to fill a newscast. That is especially true on weekends. This is no reason to essentially rerun your early newscast again at ten. Change up the stories, the format (pkg to vosot or vice-versa) and the bites you're using.

Do not rerun packages. A reporter can rework the pkg they turned at 6p into something new at ten. It's not that hard to write a second version once you've already written the first one.

The point is, if viewers see the exact same stuff within the first five minutes of your newscast, they can rightly assume there is nothing new and just go to bed.

Don't assume your viewer at 6p automatically won't watch at 10p. Give them a reason to watch by changing it up a bit. Resources are slim to be sure- no newsroom has enough reporters, editors, etc., but do what you can and don't be afraid to get creative.

Consider Your Lead-In

If there is a big national story, you may be tempted to lead with it. Be cautious if your newscast occurs right after your network's nightly half hour. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to lead with the exact same story your viewers just saw a half hour ago. The big exception to this is if it is an ongoing story and you have something to update or- if there is some local angle to the story.

Obviously, this also doesn't apply to huge national stories like 911, for example. But for your average killer tornado, etc., get creative and find a local lead. Otherwise your show will feel like a rehash.

Life of Kings

“As I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings.”—H. L. Mencken

Break-outs

Say you have a big story. You have a lead pkg but you want to break out a sot to use after the pkg to make the story feel larger. If you are going to use a sot from an interview who's in the pkg, have enough common sense to pick a bite that is different than what is in the piece.

Case in point. I was watching a top 20 market newscast. The lead pkg was about a murder-suicide. The second story was a vosot on the murder-suicide and not only was the sot exactly the same as one we just heard a minute ago in the pkg, but the copy sounded like it was lifted from the piece as well. Who was approving scripts? How was this not caught? Or did they catch it and then decided to go with it anyway?

Gum = Immediate Detention

I cannot believe what I just saw on a small market local television newscast. Gum! A reporter DOING an interview was actually smacking his lips chewing gum! It wasn't even live- it was taped! And they still used it! Gum!

Anchor vs. Reporter-- On Air

This is making the rounds. With thanks to St. Petersburg Times TV/media critic Eric Deggans:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/03/deggans-favorit.html

The Future is Now

I had the great fortune to work with some cool new technology. The above may look like a regular Expedition (sorry the pic's not better) but it's not. It's a sat truck. Sort of. My company is trying out two of these things. The vehicle has a big flat-ish disc on the top of the roof that basically tracks a satellite. You flip a couple buttons and you are live on the bird. It's crazy cool. When it works. The vehicle we had was slightly temperamental, but the fact that it can be done at all is just amazing to me.

The vehicle we worked in has two permanent cameras, one aimed at the passenger seat (for talent) and one on the roof. There's also wireless camera gear that you can take out and use. I've seen live trucks decked out like this but the fact that they've done it so that you can get on a satellite that quickly-- is just awesome.

In case you're interested, here's a link to the blog about our roadtrip.

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/category/elv/