In the Business of Communication

I watched a morning newscast the other day where a reporter doing a liveshot (a feature) had obviously not talked it through with his photographer prior to the liveshot. Do you know how I know this? Because the reporter was talking about one thing while the photographer was showing another-- and then had to make a hasty pan to the reporter's subject matter. Don't let this happen in your newscast. It makes both reporter and photographer (and your newscast) look like amateur hour. If you see this happen, have a follow-up conversation with the reporter.

It can sound something like this:

"Hey Bob, would you do me a favor? On your next liveshot, would you run through what you're going to do with Cindy beforehand so she can follow you better? It doesn't have to take a lot of time-- just tell her 'I'm going to talk about this first and then move over here and then do this.'"

If the reporter gives you pushback, pull the showtape and watch it together. Sometimes people don't realize how bad it looks until they see it for themselves.

If the reporter did discuss in advance and the photographer was just off his or her game, then that's another conversation-- you can follow up with the photographer or check in with the chief photographer.

Another way that you can head things off at the pass is talk with liveshots ahead of time. When you're checking reporters in, just ask, "Hey can you run through what you're going to do in your liveshot?" You don't have to do this with everyone-- just reporters you've noticed who seem to have an issue.

This sort of discussion makes all the difference in liveshots, especially feature stories. In breaking news of course, all bets are off, but even then, good reporters let their photogs know where they're going prior to going there.