Across the country, newsrooms have been shaken to their core. Alison Parker and Adam Ward were doing a live interview for the WDBJ Mornin' show when a former employee fatally shot them. Every journalist's worst fear came true this morning and it happened on live television by someone who was one of us.
Every day I send reporters out to cover stories. I go out and cover stories a few times a week myself. While I've never found myself in a situation I didn't feel safe in, we have had some scary situations pop up. Our policy has always been safety first. No story is worth one of our people's lives.
I didn't know Alison or Adam but their deaths have still had a great impact on me. In this business, maybe more so than other industries, everyone is connected somehow. We all work together regardless of if we've ever met face-to-face or even talked over the phone. I can't even imagine what the WDBJ family is going through right now.
A lot of people are sharing the video of the shooting. It's readily available on every social media site. But as a journalist I encourage you not to watch it. Instead watch and/or read the tributes to Alison and Adam. Over the course of this day we'll learn a lot about their killer, but for once - and maybe for the first time - let's focus on the victims. It's time to stop giving people like Vester Flannigan/Bryce Williams what they want.
It's something every producer struggles with - adding depth to your show without overdoing it.
As a producer, it's easy to fall into the trap of using something special to set every story apart. But if you overuse your special elements, they lose their uniqueness and soon the thing you were relying on to catch your audience's attention goes unnoticed. One double box is cool and unique; a double box for every live element you have is overkill.
So how do you add depth to your show without desensitizing your audience? Don't worry - there are a few simple things you can do to keep your show interesting and visually appealing.
Tip #1 - Have a visual for every story.
This is one rule I live by. Whether it's a full screen graphic, over-the-shoulder graphic or monitor image, every story in my show has some sort of visual. Not only do these visuals add depth to your shows, but they also provide visual support for your viewers. For example, if you're rattling off a bunch of statistics, chances are your viewers can't follow along very well, but if you put up a reveal full screen graphic that pulls up the stats as your talent is reading them, you've given your viewers a better shot at understanding what they're hearing.
Tip #2 - Use Nat Sound
There's nothing worse in my opinion than an anchor reading over a piece of video that has no sound. If you're doing a story about traffic, the actual sounds of cars in traffic add to the story. If your video is of fireworks, being able to hear the booms helps turn the story into an experience for your viewers. As a producer it is within your rights to ask reporters to leave the nats turned up in their videos. And if your director has a habit of turning the nats down, tell them not to. There's also no rule that says you can't use nat pops in your teases!
Tip #3 - Leave Room for Talent Interaction
In the producer workshop I went to for my station, the instructor talked a lot about what he called 'memorable moments', or more specifically interaction between the talent. Whether it's between your anchors or an anchor and meteorologist or even an anchor and reporter, viewers like to see those interactions. Those moments help viewers connect with a story and remember it once the show is done.
Tip #4 - Change Up Your Reporter Intros & Tags
This one can be a little tricky, especially if your reporters are one-man bands that run their own live shots, but it's not impossible. At the producer workshop I attended, the instructor talked a lot about having the talent start the live shot in one place and end it in another. At my station our reporters use TVUs to go live most of the time, making the whole switch-up thing difficult. Making the tosses to and from look different falls to the producer. The easiest way to make your tosses look different is to include an element in one that isn't in the other. For instance, if you have stingers/animations you could use one of those in the intro and double box back. Or if you use boxes in the first toss, don't use anything for the toss back.
Hopefully these tips will help you take your shows to a new level!
As a producer, it's easy to fall into the trap of using something special to set every story apart. But if you overuse your special elements, they lose their uniqueness and soon the thing you were relying on to catch your audience's attention goes unnoticed. One double box is cool and unique; a double box for every live element you have is overkill.
So how do you add depth to your show without desensitizing your audience? Don't worry - there are a few simple things you can do to keep your show interesting and visually appealing.
Tip #1 - Have a visual for every story.
This is one rule I live by. Whether it's a full screen graphic, over-the-shoulder graphic or monitor image, every story in my show has some sort of visual. Not only do these visuals add depth to your shows, but they also provide visual support for your viewers. For example, if you're rattling off a bunch of statistics, chances are your viewers can't follow along very well, but if you put up a reveal full screen graphic that pulls up the stats as your talent is reading them, you've given your viewers a better shot at understanding what they're hearing.
Tip #2 - Use Nat Sound
There's nothing worse in my opinion than an anchor reading over a piece of video that has no sound. If you're doing a story about traffic, the actual sounds of cars in traffic add to the story. If your video is of fireworks, being able to hear the booms helps turn the story into an experience for your viewers. As a producer it is within your rights to ask reporters to leave the nats turned up in their videos. And if your director has a habit of turning the nats down, tell them not to. There's also no rule that says you can't use nat pops in your teases!
Tip #3 - Leave Room for Talent Interaction
In the producer workshop I went to for my station, the instructor talked a lot about what he called 'memorable moments', or more specifically interaction between the talent. Whether it's between your anchors or an anchor and meteorologist or even an anchor and reporter, viewers like to see those interactions. Those moments help viewers connect with a story and remember it once the show is done.
Tip #4 - Change Up Your Reporter Intros & Tags
This one can be a little tricky, especially if your reporters are one-man bands that run their own live shots, but it's not impossible. At the producer workshop I attended, the instructor talked a lot about having the talent start the live shot in one place and end it in another. At my station our reporters use TVUs to go live most of the time, making the whole switch-up thing difficult. Making the tosses to and from look different falls to the producer. The easiest way to make your tosses look different is to include an element in one that isn't in the other. For instance, if you have stingers/animations you could use one of those in the intro and double box back. Or if you use boxes in the first toss, don't use anything for the toss back.
Hopefully these tips will help you take your shows to a new level!
If you truly want something, you have to work for it. Not everything comes easily. Sometimes the things that are the most worthwhile are the ones you had to fight for, sweat for and maybe even bleed for. In other words, don't give up when the going gets tough. Happy Monday!
I think one pretty well speaks for itself. Hope everyone has a great week!
News judgment is something, I believe, you only develop on the job. As you move from place to place and work at different outlets, you'll realize that your news judgment is always evolving.
When you went through journalism school, you probably learned the characteristics of a news story. You might have even learned a nifty little acronym to remember them by. For me, it was TIPCUP - Timeliness, Impact, Proximity, Conflict, Unusual/Uniqueness and Prominence. The trick, though, is knowing what TIPCUP means in your newsroom.
It's all about knowing your audience. The American Press Institute puts it well - "A good story is about something the audience decides is interesting or important ... The public is exceptionally diverse. Though people may share certain characteristics or beliefs, they have an untold variety of concerns and interests."
What makes news in one market won't necessarily make news in another; in some cases, what makes news at one station/newspaper will not make news at another outlet in the same city; and what makes news can even vary from newscast to newscast.
As a producer, it's extremely important for me to know my audience. If I know 75% of my 5:00 viewers are female, why would I produce a show that appeals more to men? It doesn't mean that I completely ignore the men who watch my show; it just means there will be more stories focused on the things our female viewers care about.
The American Press Institute describes journalism as "storytelling with a purpose." I agree. As a reporter, it's important to know why a story is newsworthy. If you can't answer that question, should you really be doing the story? Probably not.
And once you've determined that a story is newsworthy to your viewers, you have to prove it.
"Readers view the news through the lens of their lives and filter the content based on their interests and concerns. Though journalists may think, in fact may know, that something is “news,” declaring it so doesn’t make it true to the news consumer. Relevancy should not be assumed. We need to prove it."
No one viewer is more important than another. And no two viewers will look at a story in the same way. It's important to remember that just because what's newsworthy in one person's eyes isn't in another's doesn't mean it shouldn't be newsworthy to everyone in your audience. It's up to you, as a journalist, to connect the dots for your viewers and/or readers. Remember, it's our duty to inform them about things they need to know but don't necessarily know they need to.
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