Roll with it Baby

Watching (a lot) of local television coverage last week for Hurricane Isaac reminds me of some sound advice, whether you are in the midst of hurricanes or some other live coverage, and that is this: If there is something compelling going on in your liveshot, don't break away to go to a taped piece. This is especially true in breaking news situations. Going to something taped in the middle of an active liveshot brings the liveshot- and your show- to a screeching halt. Also, it leaves the viewer to wonder, what's going on out there while I am watching this? Live is almost always going to be more interesting than what you have taped. In breaking news situations--- BE FLEXIBLE. Don't be married to your rundown (actually that is good advice in any situation). Judge each liveshot on the basis of each liveshot. Going well? Can't turn away? Give it more time. Dull? Same thing you've seen four times in your show? Wrap it up. Get a feel for your show and let it flow accordingly. Another tip.... in breaking news, you don't have to produce the whole hour (or hours) you just have to figure out what to do next. I call it-- at bat and on deck. Which reporter is at bat? And who is on deck? That's all you need... Let the rest of the newsroom... Assignment desk and managers help you and line things up. You just take it one segment at a time. Finally, I saw one of the stations last week do something interesting and worth copying. They basically had their reporters tape look lives at (it seemed like) every location they visited. Nothing fancy... Just a minute of walk and talk, showing and telling what was going on at that location. Works out well for coverage that lasts hours on end. Gives anchors a little break and revisits locations where you may not be able to be live. Note I say anchors toss to these -- not reporters -- and certainly not reporters on active liveshots. And honestly, these types of look lives might be fun to work into regular shows as well... If there was a reporter on something good at six, have them do a quick looklive for you instead of a vosot for ten.

Filling (A Bunch of) Time

I got a letter from a poor producer who now has a HUGE amount of extra time in his show to fill. He asked for ideas so I include them below.

1. Choose where you'll focus your effort.
You can't do it all, so decide, ok, I can do tasks #1, #2, and #3 well
but the rest are going to slide. I know that's an awful thing to tell
you, but you know that all parts of your show are not created equally and you only have so much energy, staff etc. Make headlines, teases super simple and when possible... if the reporter is doing something--- have them tease their part of the story... weather guy does his tease etc.

2. Talk to your boss.
Schedule a time, tell him you need 5-10 minutes b/c you'd like to get "feedback" now
that the new mega-show's up and running. Don't go in with -- this
sucks and it's not working, even though that's the case.
Instead say... how do you like how things are going? How do you
envision this? Do you think resources are managed appropriately?
Maybe by his answers, you can get him/her to the conclusions you have
already made. Probably not. But just by asking, you may open lines of communication that may benefit you. Maybe take a note of one issue he says during the meeting-- like-- he really wants to do XYZ. File that away... and then maybe you notice, there's an overlap of reporters on say Wednesdays... and in a future
conversation, you can say, hey you know I remember you really wanted
to focus on XYZ. I notice Suzie Smith is not overutilized on
Wednesdays. Since we have two reporters that day, would it be possible
to have her do XYZ for my mega-show? Also... maybe you can sneak in reporters from other shows into your show. Meaning if a reporter works 2-11, say, and they're out on something... have them do JUST a straight liveshot or a quick Q&A (no pkg or vosot or big scripted thing) for your show. You can sell this to your ND as a tease for the other shows... say hey, if I get Suzie Q to do a 1:00 story/extended
tease for one of my shows, this drives people to the other show for more info.

3. Nothing eats time more than guests. I'd develop a deep rolodex and
use it. Have some go-to PR people. For example, if you have a strong
relationship with a University or hospital nearby, maybe they have experts they
can send your way quickly. Talk to them in advance and tell them if they can get you folks quickly, you'll put them on air. So if the big GOP debate was last night,
you do a vo or vo/sot to cover that and then launch into Dr. Politics
discussing the big night. Big storm last night? Have a NWS service guy
come in. New cold research? In comes the good doctor. There are tons of things like these that you can tie in to daily news to add depth and fill time. Maybe you have standing guests-- feature or otherwise, depending on style of your show. Maybe
it's Back to Work Mondays... Politics Tuesdays. Whatever. You can do hard news
but I'd also check out more evergreen talk about items. Anything that
people are interested in and would want to hear more about qualifies
in my book. There are all kinds of things you can come up with when you have no time constraints. Get creative. Talk to people who are not in news for their ideas.

4. Be a spot news whore. If you have one reporter... make them live
guy. Let's say there's a fire at 8am. Send them. They go live. Make
sure you let them know they don't file a whole bunch of elements
(don't feed vo or edited pkg) just take them talking about whatever it
is that's going on behind them. Then big accident at 9a? Send live guy. Spot news is easy, especially if you are just letting them ad lib about what's going, not making them file a super comlpicated story. Obviously this type of thing is better
suited toward some reporters than others so wade in carefully. Before
they leave a scene, you can ask them to file a look live--
basically they just repeat the liveshot they just did and you record it back at the station for use in a future hour.

5. Be your weather man's best friend. These guys can ad lib about
anything. Give them extra time. Mabye there's bad weather somewhere nationally
overnight... get some vo cut and let them knock themselves out. Maybe
there's a segment they've always wanted to do? Wx people are great
educators-- maybe it's today's weather term of the day-- what's
tornadic activity vs a tornado? Straight line winds? Make it connect to the current weather outlook.

6. Sports guys & Extra Content. Do we have sports departments in local news anymore? I keep hearing that they've been cut way back.. but if you do have
resources... tell them that you're open to content. Were they out on
an interview with the coach of the big game Fri? Is that something
where you could just take a 2:00 chunk and roll with it? Same with
reporters-- did they go out on an ongoing story where you could
repurpose a one of two minute chunk of that interview? Better-- let people know you're looking for this stuff ahead of time-- so if they go out on the big accident or fire-- can the last question they ask be about general driving or fire safety you could use? Interviewing the mayor or councilperson? Ask the reporter to let them ramble on another issue that you could use. If you let it be known (to sports, weather, reporters, photogs) that you've got time and you're willing to check out their pet projects... maybe you'll get some interesting stuff. Journalists often feel padlocked by the 1:20 format we've gotten into. Also, if it's as simple as just asking another question at then end of an interview (as in, they don't have to write it or front it) you may be able to add content that way. Look at your assigments in the am and then figure out what questions could be used later that day or the next from the people who are already going out on today's stories.

7. Viewer submissions. There, I said it. Most of them I've seen can be ghastly, but that said, on breaking news, it's the guy with a cell phone who has the best (because he was there first) video. I'd start with weather video. Ask viewers to send their best weather video or pics each day and pick one or two (or 8 depending on time) to use and identify the person who sent it in (see "Wasting Time with Wx Guy, above). You can create a segment each day-- "Your View of the City." If you get folks in the habit of sending you videos/pics when nothing is going on and they know you'll use them, then when real news happens, you may get better submissions. I picked weather because just about everyone can do a good weather pic. Maybe out of that you notice a few people aren't bad at it and they send you things regularly. Maybe you ask them to do a quick video about a story in their community (nothing controversial-- just stuff that's interesting and easy to confirm). You could call it-- "What's up in the city?" And Joe Viewer delivers his small piece of it. Maybe it's Joe viewer's favorite pizza shop-- and open it to discussion -- is he out of his mind? Rinaldi's is the best? What about Grimaldi's? Just a thought.

Throwing spaghetti at the wall in hopes that some of it will stick and that some of you can find something that's useful.

Production Crews and Breaking News

I (not so recently-- sorry for being a slacker) received an email from a producer having trouble getting her production crews on board for breaking news cut-ins. Here's the advice I offered her...

Production crews generally didn't sign up for the news aspect as much as the television aspect of things. Does that make sense? What I'm getting at is-- you and I are probably stoked because of breaking news... the thrill is why we got in/stay in. For production crews, there's a different pay-off for their work. Try to figure out what that is and emphasize it. Why do they do what they do? What thrills them?

Also, a lot of crews generally feel under-appreciated. So every time there's breaking news and they've done a good job, I'd make a point to say that. Go around and say thank-you to everyone. Emphasize how much you apreciate their effort and how each of their individual contributions helped make your on air product really work. It doesn't hurt to bring in treats every once in a while either! So maybe if there's been a bunch of breaking news or a particularly hectic week, bring in some treats and say--"I know this week has been killer... just want to say thanks!!"

Finally, I found production crews to be a great resource in a number of different ways. Since many don't follow news minute by minute like those on the editorial side, they can give you a fresh perspective/good feedback on your newscasts. Listen to the comments made in the booth during a show. If they didn't get something or thought something didn't work.. chances are their views are more in line with your viewers. A second great way they can help is.. since many come from a production side of things, they've worked on non-news stuff. That experience can add something to your newscasts. Ask for their opinions about set positions... trying new things.. graphics... etc.

East Coast Hurricane Coverage

Day late and a dollar short but... Someone asked whether I thought the coverage of the Hurricane Irene was overblown. I am ashamed to admit that at the start of the coverage, I remember myself saying something snarky like-- a Cat 1 is like a Cat 5 in terms of news coverage if it hits anywhere near NYC. This is because I work in the middle of the country and so I feel the news that happens here often gets ignored. I whine about it all the time. But in the case of Irene, I was wrong. Really wrong. Dozens of deaths, billions in damage and the worst flooding in Vermont's history can't be over covered.

It's all a Matter of Timing

As a show producer, you have to be a stickler on time. You're out at 10:59:30, not 10:59:29 or 10:59:31. Timing things to the second can be a real challenge, especially if you are on a new show or are with new talent. My advice is give yourself some breathing room. Until you get a really good feel for your show and your anchors, build flexibility into your show, especially toward the back end of it. I liked to "hide" time in my show. So the end of the show might be :45 in the rundown, instead of the :15 or :30 I really need. I'd also have "killables." That's a story here or there that's not teased that you know you can kill. So maybe before or after weather you have a killable story. Maybe there's one right after sports. Or maybe you have a few kickers and a weather update at the end of the show.

Timing sports can be a sore spot. It's not fair to kill sports stories (in a normal situation) because your part of the show is running heavy. It is fair to ask the sports producer (or anchor if he or she produces his own segment) -- "What can you kill if your segement starts to run heavy?" Having this conversation, every day, prior to the sports segment gets everyone on the same page. Make sure the sports anchor is included in it. Maybe the sports producer tells you-- I can kill this sot or this story at the end. It's best that they make that call-- not you. Of course, with BIG breaking news (I'm talking where you're killing significant portions of your show) - all bets are off and you need to do what you need to do to get off on time.

Speaking of breaking news-- for me, there was no greater joy I had as a show producer than the thrill of tossing out stuff, juggling, and producing a show on the fly. Every day, take a minute to look at your rundown and think-- if I had some big breaking news... what could I toss? This goes beyond normal "killables" that you jettison when you're running a little over. Think drastic cuts. Maybe write yourself a little post-it with the stories that you've teased. To that end, try not to tease everything in your show. Pick a handful of interesting/compelling stories that you tease several times in different ways. By thinking about this stuff ahead of time, every day, when you do get breaking news, you won't have to think too hard-- it comes almost automatically.

Finally, when you kill stories, any stories, remember to do it at a time when everyone is available to you. Killing the next story the anchor is about read as they are finishing one prevvious is a big no-no. Time your show well enough so that you can kill in breaks-- and tell everyone-- director/anchor/crew-- at the same time if you can. If killing in a break is impossible, tell people about kills during pkgs. If that's not possible-- kill during sots. And again-- if you have a sense ahead of time about what you're planning to do, let people know even if they might not need to act on that information. For example, you're running heavy. In the break you tell everyone "If I'm still heavy after weather, I'll kill C8." That way if you do kill the page, it's not a big surprise to everyone. Ditto at the top of the show-- and you think you're lead might not make it. Tell everyone "I think the lead's going to make it, but it will be tight. If not, we'll go to page A4. I'll make the call at the end of headlines." That way, everyone knows what your backup plan is-- and when they'll hear what you'll do.

Hostage Situation and Twitter

Hey in case you didn't see it, there's a nice article in the Washington Post on how Twitter broke most of the news in the hostage situation in Maryland yesterday. There was a lot of stuff there, pics and links that was out way ahead of the rest of the media. Monitor Twitter, but proceed with caution. Don't use anything until you get it confirmed yourself. You can use the information to shoot you in the right direction but be careful about letting it replace your own reporting.

Tossing to Pressers

If you have a breaking news situation and a presser is starting, the toss into it is better the shorter it is. As in "The presser's starting. Let's listen in to what the Chief/Mayor/Prosecutor has to say." I realize that this is mostly out of your control-- anchors are generally ad libbing these tosses, but nothing is more frustrating than seeing the press conference, watching the man or woman's lips move knowing that they're giving the latest information, but instead you hear the anchor telling you you're about to hear the latest information, even as you are missing it.

Two Way Communication with Viewers

We've talked before about utilizing viewer photos and videos in your coverage of breaking and weather news. I ran across an interesting example of how one station encouraged people to do this. I took a class on Poynter's "News U" (www.newsu.org) --they talked about this example during the class. WTTG not only encouraged people to send pics and video during Snowpocalypse '10, they posted a quick video to show them how. As the instructor in the News U class pointed out, what better time to ask viewers to shoot video than when folks are stuck inside?

If you get people comfortable with this when there's isn't breaking news, how much easier will it be for them to send you video when there is? You could even ask viewers to send weather video every day-- then maybe use a viewer video as a weather background on Fridays. Or everyday if you have enough good submissions.

Haiti Coverage

What does everyone think of the Haiti coverage? I have seen a lot of editorials saying line between "covering the story" and "I am the story" has been crossed a bunch.

Have you guys been using much of Haiti in your shows? Maybe in the first week and now it's tapering off?

I meant to mention this early on, but maybe you do this already. On any big national or international story, it's always handy to do websearches to check for local ties. It might be as broad as "your state/city + Haiti..." just to see what pops up. Also, remember your local Universities. You'd be amazed. There always seems to be a language program or perhaps local students studying in the region that's impacted. In the case of Haiti, there were lots of U.S. aid (including local church) groups. Check with your local Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities. Don't forget local businesses that might import/export/have-some-kind-of-tie there. Or maybe someone from your area who's set up a business in the city that's been hit (like a hotel or restaurant). If your region contains a military facility, definitely check in with them.

All of this can make your coverage more local and relevant. Maybe you can arrange a trip with a group that's going? Or at least--maybe you give them a cheap disposable camera or a Flip camera and have them take pics. They can send them back during the trip if there's internet or you could just do a story once they get back. Even if it's only for the web, it adds a layer to your coverage and could be a really compelling first person account.

Finally, don't forget about using Skype. It's become more popular and you can search users by place. You might be able to set up interesting interviews with local people who are in the impacted area.

Golden Rule

There's a lot of gruesome video coming out of Haiti. Understand, just because you have the video, doesn't mean you have to use it. You will never lose a night of sleep because you did not air something. When faced with the "should I run it or not" question, ask yourself this-- "If this involved someone I knew, how would I react?" Balance this with, "What do we lose and what do our viewers lose by not seeing this? Will they still understand the story and get the same impact?" The right decision is the one you go home feeling good about. The wrong one is the one you still question yourself about years later.

If you decide to use something graphic, please warn viewers. Consider putting it on show when kids might not be up. And NEVER and I mean NEVER use graphic video as wallpaper or in teases.

When in Doubt, Roll them Out

I was chatting with a sat truck op the other day and he told me a phrase his old news director used: "When it doubt, roll them out." Meaning, in a spot news situation, if you're not sure you should send someone, send them. You can always pull them back. Now-- don't take this to extremes and send crews to a trash fire on the other side of town because it sorta kinda sounded exciting... but when you get that spidey sense and you think, "Eh, I'm not sure..." send them.

Likewise, if you have big breaking news, send them. Send everyone. There is no such thing as too many of your crews at a major news scene. On major breaking news, you'll always something for people to do. And on the off chance you don't and people are standing around, what's the big deal? Bring them back. What's tragic is being demoralized by the other station that's large and in change and covering every angle while your crews are fighting to get everything done with too few resources.

As a producer on big breaking news, or even when you just have more than one crew on the story, make sure you are in communication with the desk and crews on how to divvy up that story. Most of the time, this is probably as simple as "nuts and bolts" and "sidebar," but the more crews you have, the more chance you run that someone will step on someone's information or crews will use a lot of the same video. You may even repeat some of this stuff in breakout stories or intros in your show. A reporter in the field can't be expected to know what's in the rest of the show. You have to make sure you're communicating with everyone clearly (and early, so people don't waste time tracking down stuff for their package that someone is already covering in theirs).

Get to the Chase

Chases. I love them. I know they generally have little to no news value but they're interesting to watch. It is what it is. When you're flipping through the channels and come across a chase, it's a hard thing to turn away from, even if it goes on for a half-hour with little happening. Something COULD happen and that's what keeps you watching. I'm not sure how chases do in ratings (I'll do a little research to try to find out).

When you have a chase, here are some ideas:

*Don't go back full to your anchors. If you want to show them, pop them in a double box and keep the big box as the chase. No one wants to see anchors talking about a chase unless they're also actually seeing the chase.

*Try to get an intelligent guest. Obviously, the police involved in the chase might not be able to do a phoner with you. Are there other departments in your area that are media friendly? They might be able to walk you through the decisions that officers make when they start chases, also what methods they use during a chase, and how they end. An officer from a local police academy might be a good phoner-- they teach the officers how to chase and use stop sticks. They might also know the rules and regs for giving chase. It might make some sense to call these people ahead of time to give them a heads up that you might want to use them when a chase occurs.

*Have a prop. An anchor I used to work with used to have a stop-stick on his desk. I'm not sure how he got it, but it was a great prop whenever we had a chase. It was something he could have in his hands to show what was actually happening on the ground.

*Get a map. Depending on your resources, it might be good to have a big city map with all the main highways on it. That way when someone says he's southbound on US 544, you can get a general sense of where that is. You can have the same map, just update it the location (ok, now he's east of US 544 in Old Lake Hollow). Again, I'd probably throw that map in some kind of double box so that the chase can be up at all times.

*If you have to cut out of the chase before it ends, make sure you let viewers know you'll be able to see how it ended in a later newscast. Or drive to the web if you have that capablity-- lots of stations are streaming their chopper feed on their websites.

Critique of Wildfire Coverage

Ran across this article and found it interesting. One of the big criticisms is that stations weren't on early enough with fire coverage.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci_13277067

I don't know how accurate the article's criticisms are but I do know in big breaking news, it's crucial to get on the air quickly. It's all hands on deck. If you have a helicopter that can be over the scene, get it there. No copter? Try to get a live truck with a mastcam that can provide a continuous shot. Ask viewers for their pics. Use google earth to get a sense of the area.

Get everyone working the phones to find information and guests your anchors can interview live (police, Red Cross, fire, people living in the area, businesses).
Do whatever you can to get viewers the information they need. Especially in fire situations, this information is BEYOND crucial. People will use it to make decisions that impact their lives.

((One final aside-- if this is an area with place names your anchors don't use often, get pronoucers when you're calling police/fire for info.))

Loser Producer

That'd be me for not posting for a while. I'm back with advice about breaking news.

If your show is going on while there's breaking news, consider it a gift and start making space. Before you ever go into the booth, have stories you know that are "killable." If there's a really big breaking story, feel free to toss everything (and I mean everything) out. Here's why. Viewers sample on big spot news stories. If you own the coverage they may come back to you as a regular viewer. If one station gets off of a story... viewers will go with whoever is on it as long as the spot news is high interest. Seems like a no brainer, but you'd be amazed how many stations go on to "other news." In my opinion, if there is something big breaking, there is no other news.

The trick is how to stay on a story without sitting on your anchors forever. I have a system I think I've mentioned before- "At bat, on deck." As long as you have something you're on and you have something to go to next, you can string the show along this way. Don't make the mistake of thinking you have to plan four moves in advance.

Sometimes you can get a veteran reporter either in the newsroom or at a set position so that the anchors can get a break. So, for example, if the story is a politician who's been indicted, maybe this reporter has covered city council for years and can give you color on that person's personality, his supporters and detractors.

Think guests. Who can you get on the phone or Skype that can add something to the coverage? Is there a media friendly Fire PIO on the other side of town who is not involved but can get you a technical sense of what's going on? Is there someone who's been involved with a similar situation in the past that can give a sense of what the people there are going through now?

There are only a certain number of spot news situations. Run through the ones that have happened during your show in the past year or two. Think about who could have contributed to the coverage. Cultivate a list of folks for this purpose and call them now. "Hey Bob Ethyl-Methyl-Bad-Chemical Expert, would you mind if we call you to do on air interview the next time we have a chemical spill?" Thinking about spot news when there is no spot news is a sure way to be more confident the next time spot news breaks.

You may also want to talk in advance with your superiors. How aggressive are we about spot news? Do we break into programming? If so, under what circumstances? If I'm in a show, at what point can I toss out sports? Breaks? Find out your parameters. Again, it's helpful to check into these things out when you're not up to your neck in the middle of it.

Maps. Is there a generic city map you can have made in advance that the graphics people can then throw a dot on to indictate where the spot news is happening? It's not great, but it's something until you can get a pretty map made. Stations are also using google maps in spot news coverage. There's a street view that can show you what the neighborhood looked like prior to the spot news (is there a school across the street? Is it a neighborhood or industrial area?) Every little bit of info and elements help contribute to the overall product.

If you don't have a chopper, consider hiring a small plane. Again, I'd scope this out in advance. How much would it cost to take a photog up? Maybe there are a few small airports around town. Find someone you could work with in each one. Get prices and talk it over with your boss. You may NEVER use this information, but if something REALLY big happens in your back yard, don't you want to be the one who's ready?

Look at breaking stories that happen around the country. Imagine one of them happening in your town. What would you do? If you think about the possibility now, you'll be in a better position to cover whatever comes your way.

Twitter and Skype

I know you are tired of hearing me preach Twitter.com and Skype.com but the Buffalo plane crash provides a good example of how you can use both to enhance your coverage.

Twitter is micro-blogging-- basically like the status bar on Facebook. You enter a sentence and it's posted. You also "follow" other Twitter users to see what they are saying. The more people you follow, the better depth and breadth you get. Sometimes you get a sense of what people are talking about before it hits anybody's radar screen.

For spot news coverage, use Twitter's search function... http://tinyurl.com/acpp6u

On big stories, like the Buffalo plane crash, people may use hashtags (#) to make it easier to search for a certain story. The hashtags I've seen used for the crash are #buffalo, #3407, and #clarenceplanecrash. You can find out what hashtags people are using at www.hashtags.org

You won't use things directly for air from Twitter.com, but it can give you a sense whether you're missing something. For example, people started posting home video of the crash, the tower recordings, and a Google pic of the house prior to the crash. Did you know about these? How quickly? What if that plane crash were in your backyard and you were going wall to wall?

You can also use Twitter to search for users in a given area and follow their "tweets" or updates. I use this a lot during storm coverage. People are really good about reporting what's happening in their area. Again, it's not something you'd put directly on air necessarily but it can give you a better sense of what's happening.

Skype is the videophone over the internet service that's free between users. You can also search Skype for users in a given area. For the Buffalo crash, you could call users in Buffalo. Maybe they're no where near the crash, but who knows? You might get lucky. Same goes for storm coverage. If you're wondering if it's hailing in Arlington, Texas, you can call a Skype user in Arlington and check. Instead of a phoner, you'd have a live picture of a person. Maybe they could even take their laptop out to the back deck and show you the golf-ball sized hail.

More on Skype

I tried out Skype for work. We were doing liveshots at a gas station so I used my laptop (with a wireless card) to show traffic. They popped it up in a double box for a bit during our liveshot. Again- it was super easy. In my humble opinion- easier to use than Livecast, another thing we've played with. Today we are headed to Lone Grove for tornado coverage. I will try to use it again there.

Something to think about in terms of your coverage- Skype, I believe has a search function for place. So if you are doing wall to wall coverage on a tornado in Lone Grove, you could search for users nearby and try to give them a call.

Thinking Outside the Box

What's a liveshot to you? Is it always toss to a reporter and then a pkg? It's easy to get into a rut in terms of what you expect from each reporter's live shot. If one reporter's got a dull backdrop, fine, take a package. If another reporter is out at a scene that's got stuff going on-- anything going on-- let them show it to you. Maybe they can do a quick (!) interview for you (set parameters in advance-- only ask two or three questions and wrap up quickly if it's dull.)

You may not even want to use video in a liveshot (Wha?!?@?!%?!). For example, if you've got great flaming flames in back of your reporter, show them live. Seems like an obvious point, but more than once I've seen shows go to a tape that is less exciting than what's going on live. It's because somebody's inflexible-- they had it in their head this was going to be a live vosot and it would be that whether it fit the story or not.

Try something new in each show. Don't be afraid to make changes. Be open to ideas from the field. Don't be locked down or you may be missing an opportunity to make great TV.

Weather Coverage & the Web

Al Tompkins with Poynter did a nice piece today on how an Oklahoma newspaper used the web during its coverage of the storm. None of these items are very big ticket-- you could try some of them in your day to day ops so that for your next storm or spot news... you'll be ready. Coverage on the web can drive traffic to your show and vice-versa. Plus, it's cool.

Here's the article:

http://tinyurl.com/c6xoag

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.

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.