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[Tuesday at NAB]
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Planning Ahead for Breaking News
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by Melissa Sullivan,
~ April 15, 2008
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TV TECHNOLOGY
News managers were in the spotlight at RTNDA’s opening session Sunday to discuss an oxymoron of sorts: how to plan for breaking news.
The group gave tips on how to prepare for breaking news before it happens, which includes training, good instincts, a solid team and a little bit of luck.
Kyra Phillips, anchor for CNN Newsroom in Atlanta, moderated the panel, “Leadership Lessons for Breaking News Coverage,” which included Julie Chin, news director for KNX-AM in Los Angeles; Shane Moreland, news director at WTKR-TV in Norfolk, Va.; and Lindsay Radford, news director at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis.
BEST AND WORST
During April 2007’s mass shooting at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., Moreland sent two one-man-bands to cover the story.
Moreland had to take “phoners” from young reporters to get the news. It’s during these times that you learn the strongest and weakest points. Moreland said it’s all about who you hire and train.
“You may see the best of people and the worst of people in these situations,” he said. “Everything is going to be magnified. If you have a weakness it’s going to be magnified. If you have a strength, it’s going to be magnified.”
Moreland said the strongest point came from something you couldn’t train. The reporter in the field paid a student on a bike $5 to take a DVCPRO tape to the satellite truck. It could have gone bad and that footage could have been lost, but it didn’t. She got the first video on the air because of that instinct.
His worst point was a reporter who went missing for two days because she didn’t want to be a part of the coverage.
Another tip offered is in addition to building a good staff, also know who your backup is. Moreland said it’s good to do that reflection ahead of time. If a disaster happens in your market, who can you call that you trust? What about a backup satellite truck? Who are your photographers and a relief news director for you? When you’re working straight through, you are going to need relief.
BRIDGE COLLAPSE
Sometimes it’s not about having a master plan, it’s about instinct. Radford, who was eight months pregnant at the time and about to get into her car and head home, got the call on her cell from an intern. The I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapsed during the evening rush hour on Aug. 1, 2007.
Radford said, “Instincts just kick in” You’ve got to get the story on the air. She said they just threw everybody at the story. One of their reporters had just crossed the bridge, and the sports guys were at the Metrodome nearby and were some of the first people on the scene.
Radford said the greatest advice she can give is that, with a breaking news event like this, know how to get to public data ahead of time; know where to file FOIA requests; and know what you’re looking for. Radford said she had her producers who weren’t going on the air start pulling the public records. She said by day two, they were able to add those investigative elements in.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
When Malibu, Calif. was cut off during the wildfires last fall, radio was it. Chin said fires were continuously breaking out, making the scope of the event huge. She said more than 20 fires broke out over the span of about two weeks; more than half a million acres burned, and more than 1 million people evacuated.
Chin said they went commercial-free for four days.
“If I can stress anything at all to any of the stations when you do breaking news coverage, it’s don’t hesitate. If you’re going to go, go big. Don’t worry about the revenue. I know that’s blasphemy, but make peace with that, because your viewers remember that,” Chin said.
“You have to build that routine long, long before breaking news happens because when stuff happens you don’t have time to come up with the routine,” Chin said.
The session, which included an introduction by RTNDA Chairman Bill Roswell of the RTNDF scholarship and fellowship winners, was sponsored by McCormick Tribune Foundation.
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