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/

Special Event Coverage

With elections upon us, here's a tip to make your life much easier. Include the people who will actually be doing the coverage in on your planning sessions. For example, doing something big out live election night? Include a good photographer, live or sat truck guy, and a reporter who's done it before. Maybe director or font operator. The tech people, especially the photogs, I guarantee you will come up with issues that you've never dreamed up. They'll alert you to possible problems that you can manage on the front end instead of the night of. The reporter can also give you perspective on what to expect.

Time and again when I've worked special events coverage, whether it's been a New Year's Eve show or breaking news special, it seems no one who plans the events checks with the foot soldiers. That's a shame. They can make your coverage one hundred percent better.

Rough Turns

There aren't many opportunities for anchors to develop or share chemistry. Tosses to weather and sports are sometimes the only times your anchors can lossen up and let viewers connect with them a little. Try to assist in this process by making the story before weather or sports one that might be condusive to chit-chat. I was watching a newscast the other day where a crime story was actually what lead into weather. It brought the show to a grinding halt and made for a really rough turn for the anchors. Instead, pick a feature or a talker. Maybe something one or both of the anchors is interested in- whatever- just no buzzkills right before sports or weather tosses.

Throw Out Your Thesaurus

Or at least take it home. There's no reason to have one in the newsroom. You shouldn't be afraid to use the same word twice in a story. It's how people talk and it's what your scripts should sound like when they're read aloud.

Some examples...

When talking about the writer's strike, using "writer" in the lead but then in the next graph, deciding to go with "scribe."

And, my personal favorite and oft mentioned... writing "white stuff" when we all know it's snow.

Ditto "blaze" for fire.

With rare exceptions, if words aren't used in normal conversation, they shouldn't be in your scripts.

When Not to Have Reporter Involvement

If you are putting a piece together and you want to use the reporter asking a question along with the answer, you may want to skip it altogether if the photog adjusts the shot RIGHT AFTER the question is asked. And not a smooth push, but a quick zoom, whoops- too close, and widens out a touch. Seem obvious to edit this out? I thought so, till I saw this done in a top 20 market. Is it laziness or did someone think it was cool and raw? I have no idea. It looked terrible and sloppy.

Tips for Successful Election Night

Plenty of pizzas and caffeine are key to knocking it out of the park. And don't forget your field crews when you are doling out the free food.

If you have a ton of results that you need to show but are not major races, trying scrolling through graphic panels going in or out of a break. People can read- and it's a lot more jazzy than hearing your anchor read every single stat. For some key races where you do want your anchor to read the results, how about having moving video in the graphic somewhere? It could be video of the candidates or the issue or just people voting.