INTRODUCTION

At a lecture to journalism students at Missouri State University, veteran journalist Linda Ellerbee decried the limitations of television news, noting that when you aim a camera at one person, you aim it away from all of the others. She expanded this argument to producing stories; when a newscast dedicates 30 seconds to a crime story, that’s 30 seconds that can never be allocated to exposing city council corruption. In short, the coverage of daily stories impacts not just what the viewer sees, but also what stories the viewer may have seen.

FAST FACT: Linda Ellerbee’s work has appeared on all four of the original broadcast news networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.

DEFINING TERM: Gatekeeper—a person who decides what information will be allowed or denied to the news audience.

In a very real sense, every person in the newsroom thus serves as a gatekeeper. Whether it is the producer deciding which stories to pursue or the videographer choosing what to exclude from the frame, each member of the technical and editorial crews impacts what the viewer sees, and does not see, on a daily basis.

This theme, the why of covering stories, is the essence of news judgment. News stations set the agenda of the community, promote certain events over others, spotlight one crisis instead of another, and play one news sound bite more frequently than the rest. These judgment calls are understandable, as news producers must cover a full day’s news in a finite amount of time. Still, as stories are acquired throughout the day, decisions are made in the field, on the phone, at the production meeting, in the editing bay, and during the newscast itself.

An investigation of why journalists pursue certain stories must first begin with knowing how news stories are created. Fortunately, the mechanics of locating news is fairly straightforward: Websites may be bookmarked, sources and their phone numbers may be placed on speed-dial, and a tally of upcoming events may be logged on the calendar.

In this chapter, we will break down the logistics of funneling countless news items into a manageable daily newscast, thus deciphering the how of creating the news. Our journey begins at the assignment desk.

ASSIGNMENT DESK

Assignment editors run the assignment desk, which is the central hub of the newsroom. While reporters track individual stories and producers focus on newscasts, the assignment editors are responsible for collecting and organizing most of the source material that comes into a newsroom.

Sometimes the assignment desk is small. There may be one person in charge of assignments, and then only during the daytime. At some small TV stations, the news director or perhaps an assistant news director functions as an assignment editor but does not have that title. Large-market TV stations normally have at least two assignment editors—one for the morning and one for the evening. In the largest newsrooms, the assignment desk operates around the clock.

Newscasts start at the assignment desk because that is where all the information is managed throughout the newsroom. Here, assignment editors serve as the first gatekeepers of the newscast. They monitor the wires, scanners, and websites constantly, looking for stories that will be of interest to the producers who put the newscasts on the air. Some stories are assigned to reporters, others are given to writers to put into the newscast, and still others need follow-up by the assignment editor. In a breaking story, that follow-up is immediate.

In addition to the written assignment outlooks, the assignment desk maintains an assignment board that lists all of the stories that have been assigned for that day. The board shows the names of the reporter and crew, the location of the story, the time it is scheduled, and the time the crew is expected back. There is also room for additional notes on the progress of the story.

Even with the technological upgrades, the white dry erase board remains a staple in most newsrooms. Because the board is located behind or next to the assignment desk, the assignment editor or desk assistants are charged with keeping the board up to date. Logistically, the board should be big enough so that producers, reporters, and others can read the data without crowding the assignment desk.

FIGURE 2.1 Kuzma/iStockphoto.com

SPONTANEOUS, PLANNED, AND ENTERPRISED STORIES

The assignment desk is filled with three types of story. The first category is spontaneous news. These “spot” news stories cover events that happen without prior knowledge during the news cycle. Traffic accidents, fatalities, burning buildings, and criminal acts fall into this category. As these are breaking stories, the newsroom must respond quickly; a building won’t burn forever nor will a hostage standoff necessarily last all day. If the news team doesn’t cover it, it’s a loss for them and a victory for the competing station. Ironically, days without fatalities and crime are disdained as “slow news” days.

The second type of news consists of planned stories. While the overriding concept of news is “new,” the bulk of stories on a daily newscast are known well in advance of the actual program. City council meetings, political rallies, school board functions, and any happenings scheduled in advance are essentially planned news events. If a reporter knows the time, location, and the principal players and agenda items, the story can be scheduled into a news day. The biggest variable is the actual outcome of the event.

The third category of stories is the enterprised report. These are the stories that a reporter generates independently of preplanned meetings or sudden house fires. Instead, the news reporter begins an investigation of documents, asks questions in a neighborhood, and constructs a story from the ground up. Reporters who deliver enterprised stories are highly valued by both the news team and the viewer, simply because they find news that other stations miss. The best mark of an enterprised story is when a competing station follows it with a similar story a day later:

Juggling the planned, spontaneous, and enterprised stories is a team of reporters, anchors, producers, and assignment editors. The planned events are needed for several reasons: To ensure that the competition does not nab an easy scoop, to keep viewers attuned with the day’s events, and to maintain a profile in the community. If a news team misses a simple city council meeting, there are immediate ramifications. The competition beats the station to the story, the viewer is not informed of an important event, and the newscast’s advertisers see their newscast as either uncaring or incompetent. Further, the absence of a reporting crew is noticeable to those in attendance, including the mayor, the city councilmen, the city’s public information officer, and everyone else at the meeting. And if one were to survey those in the audience what station they would watch that evening, the likely consensus would be for the news outfit that bothered to show up.

Clearly, covering planned events is crucial. But if news were comprised solely of such planned events, then developing newscasts would be a simple affair. However, spontaneous news events burst forth at irregular intervals with alarming speed. In these situations, the newsroom must be able to dispatch a camera crew immediately. This invariably means pulling a news crew from another story at the last minute.

Still, if all stations in a city covered the same planned and spontaneous events, there would be little difference among the newscasts. Enterprised stories, such as investigative reports, personality profiles, and spotlight series on certain topics (such as health or education), set newscasts apart from one another.

Blending all stories into a cohesive newscast is a challenge to confront later in this text. For now, let’s concentrate on the mechanics of finding the stories that build the newscast. The entryway for most stories into a newscast is through the assignment desk.

FOLLOW-UPS ON PREVIOUS NEWSCASTS

The first source for stories is the most recent newscasts on the station. During a typical news day, most of the news crew arrives for work between 8am and 10am. Some arrive earlier to prepare for the noon newscast, some arrive later to cover evening news. News anchors who cover the 6pm and 11pm newscasts do not arrive until the afternoon.

As the morning evolves, the assignment editor is often the first one in, followed closely by the producers and reporters. An immediate task is to scan the news rundowns from the 11pm and early morning newscasts.

DEFINING TERM: Rundown—a spreadsheet that outlines the elements of the newscast, including stories, anchors, and running time.

The following sample rundown is from an 11pm newscast. Think of it as a map of the newscast, showing what stories are presented, which anchor reads them, and how much time is given to each story. The column headings across the top are as follows:

■ Number, or #—where a story appears in the newscast.

■ Stat—short for “status,” it shows if the story is approved for air.

■ Slug—a two- or three-word description or title of the story.

■ Format—whether a story is simply read by the anchor, has video, or is a field package from a reporter.

■ Talent—which anchor(s) is (are) on camera.

■ Cam—which camera or video source should be on air.

■ Gphx—tells the director what graphics are needed, if any.

■ ERT—estimated run time, used by producers to predict how much time a story will take in the newscast.

■ SOT—sound on tape, it shows how long preproduced segments, such as commercial breaks and packages, will take in the newscast.

■ Cume—the cumulative time of all stories thus far in the rundown.

FIGURE 2.2 Leonard Zhukovsky/Shutterstock.com

A number of stories stand out as solid potentials for follow-ups. In A block, is the budget battle in A-5 resolved? What about the aftermath of the Fremont fire in A-9? Later on, B block has a Memorial Day package, meaning a busy travel holiday weekend is coming up. Even the sports block has a football preview in C-2, so the sports anchor might have a follow-up story.

FIGURE 2.3 Courtesy of EZ News

As a rule, local stories that ran in the A and B blocks of the news cast should be reviewed for possible follow-up. This is especially true if they were packages or voice overs; if the newsroom dedicated a field crew to covering a story yesterday, it may still be of continued importance. Also, such follow-ups would have file footage available if needed.

It should be stressed that one consistent complaint from viewers is that newsrooms often abandon stories without follow-ups. When a story occupies the newscast for even one day, viewers are entitled to an explana tion if it suddenly dis appears. Ongoing stories are even worse, since viewers may see a story unfold for several sequential news casts, only to find it mysteriously gone the next day. Diligent reporters should always follow up their stories. If needed, they should kindly remind their assignment editor to at least make a simple phone call.

Mallory Huff, Executive Producer at WGXA in Macon, says a single event can lead to multiple follow-up stories that snowball off of one another. She provides this example:

I live in an area where crime can be very prevalent, but to many people, it does not matter because it doesn’t happen in their own backyards. With that being said, we do our due diligence to report on a murder/harder story and then snowball ideas off of it to create more stories. I try to ask myself: “Do I care? Would my friends care? How can I make them care? Does this impact people?” By asking these questions, you come up with new story ideas that branch off of the original story.

For example, a man falls off of an apartment balcony and tragically dies. To snowball ideas off of this story to keep it from just being this tragic death, we cover what kind of railing was on the balcony, what is the code for rental properties, when was the last time an accident like this happened, etc. This goes much further than just doing one story about an accident.

Another example like this can apply to fatal heat. Living in Georgia, the summer temperatures can get up into the triple digits, which can be fatal to some people. We have had far too many people die due to the heat, but when it happens, there are multiple angles we can take to snowball off of the story like: Heat safety, checking on your neighbors, warning signs to heat stroke, how many people have died this year due to the heat, how to stay cool the safe way, etc.

THE WIRES

Most national and international news comes into a newsroom from the Associated Press (AP). The term wires is still used to describe the services offered by news gathering organizations such as the Associated Press or the British firm Reuters. Today, the wires feed news to some 5,000 radio and TV customers, as well as newspapers. Writers, producers, and anchors can copy and paste selected stories into the rundown with a click of the mouse.

Most small-market radio stations use the AP broadcast wire that transmits hourly summaries of the news. This service is perfect for stations without a large news staff, as the stories can be read on air without rewriting. For this reason, these wires are popularly referred to as rip-and-read.

FAST FACT: The word wires refers to the telegraph cables that were originally used to transmit the news to newspaper clients.

In addition to the various wires, the AP provides a variety of audio feeds, including news on the hour and the half-hour, special reports on the hour’s major stories, and an hourly feed of actualities and natural sound. The AP also provides scripted national and international news, agricultural reports, business news, sports, entertainment news, special features, and a headline service designed for what the AP describes as stations with “a limited news appetite.”

The AP also provides several photo and graphics services, including an interactive database that supplies thousands of head shots, maps, and images of breaking news and a high-speed, digital photo network that delivers color photos to TV stations.

One major competitor with the AP service is CNN Newsource. With this service, subscribers can download video feeds, live footage, and other resources needed for their news programs. Because these feeds are available to individual computers, the sports reporter can watch hockey highlights at his computer while a news editor reviews political footage from Capitol Hill at another.

LOCAL EXPERTS

While discussing the use of national video, reporters should know how to localize a story. Localizing a story means taking information from a national event, pulling video footage off of the wire feed, and then interviewing a local expert to provide a fresh perspective to the story. This technique allows the news team to make a national (or even international) story more relevant to the viewer. There is a more in-depth discussion on localizing national stories in the next chapter, Developing Stories.

But as a brief example, let’s assume the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates by a full percentage point. A story can be made by using the wire feeds to track down video footage of either the Federal Reserve or perhaps brokers on the Wall Street Stock Exchange. To effectively localize the story, the reporter then calls up a local expert for a quick interview.

FIGURE 2.4 DW labs Incorporated/Shutterstock.com

Local experts are easily found. A nearby university, for example, will house a faculty that teaches economics. These professors will have an opinion about the interest rate change, thus becoming local experts to a national story. A national study about a flu outbreak will prompt a call to a local health clinic, while a farm subsidies story could use the input of a local farmer.

Over time, reporters will build a stable of local experts who can deliver a quality interview on a number of subjects. These interviews are a powerful addition to a local newscast, but use the individuals sparingly; viewers will not appreciate seeing the same people on a frequently recurring basis.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET

The Internet provides a wealth of news ideas to reporters, so constant monitoring of Facebook, Twit ter, websites, blogs, and videos is a given. CNBC Executive Producer Michael Senzon says: “Social media platforms have become one of the best places to find leads that ultimately turn into great stories.” Executive Producer Mallory Huff of WGXA agrees, saying:

We all monitor social media from the newsroom as well. This day in age, most law enforcement offices, city offices and groups will post their press releases on social media; especially law enforcement offices. Sheriff’s offices and police departments will post surveillance footage and mug shots on social media as well. So by staying on top of updates on social media and push notifications via smart phone app, you will stay up to date on the most recent breaking news. If you don’t stay with it, you will definitely miss a story.

Name—Amber Worthy

Job Title—Reporter

Employer and Website—WAGT, Augusta, GA; 26nbc.com

Social Media Outlets I Use—Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat, Twitter

Typical Daily Duties—As a reporter, I believe the hardest part of the day is finding a story that is pitch worthy. Can I sell this in a way that it matters enough to management while also being important to the viewer? After I find the story, I lock down the interview tentatively. Then I pitch the story with it set up and if management likes it, I head out to the interview. If the interview is later in the day, I shoot my b–roll first. If it’s early, we shoot the b–roll after. I shoot my own stories 94% of the time.

After shooting it all, I go back to the station, grabbing lunch to go or eating one that I prepared, while I write my story and clip the bites I wanted to use. Then I get the script approved, track the script, and edit every thing together. I then do my makeup in .578 seconds . . . sometimes I have more time. Sometimes I have to do my hair all over again. I rehearse my points. It’s better to memorize points and then let it flow as natural as possible. After that, I post my story to the web after converting my on air script to a web script. Then I post it to all the social media outlets. I look for ways to use Periscope or other social media outlets throughout the process.

The nitty gritty is that I love my job as a reporter. Sometimes I would get to the scene of car crashes, shootings, vigils, funerals, or just to interview the loved one of someone who was killed and it was TOUGH. You have to have a WHY. . . meaning WHY am I doing this. I love telling the stories of people who meant something to someone. It sucks to have to talk to grieving families but SOMETIMES they want to talk and that’s the part I love, sharing the story of someone special. I enjoy “holding the powerful accountable” but the stories that are “tear jerkers” are the ones that I think mean the most.

Beyond that, a reporter should create bookmarks and preferences of websites. Beat reporters, who cover specialized topics such as business or health, will create lists that are more suited to their areas. Conversely, general assignment reporters will maintain a broad array of contacts. In the next chapter, Developing Stories, we will create a list of Internet bookmarks that reporters may use as a starting point for finding stories. But in the broad sense, it’s important to know that the Internet is a constant stream of updated news. Not only is it a cornerstone of developing stories, it’s fundamental in working in newsrooms.

MONITORING THE COMPETITION

An ongoing check of the competitions’ websites is also necessary. The competition to a station’s news program comes from multiple formats, especially in large media markets. Direct competition is the most obvious, as it refers to other television stations that offer a competing television news program. Markets with network affiliates from ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC can readily identify their competition, although there may also be an independent station, a campus news station, or a foreign-language channel eager to break stories.

Indirect competition consists of news providers in different media, such as radio and newspaper. Because of media consolidation and increased costs of maintaining radio newsrooms, few cities have more than one dedicated radio news station. A more likely scenario for local news radio is an affiliation with National Public Radio or a syndicated news-talk format (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the like) while offering local news updates or a morning news/talk show.

Television newsrooms also rely on traditional newspapers as a source of local news. Because newspapers have knowledgeable reporters and ample space for printing stories, they often feature stories that broadcast newsrooms miss. Of course, some stations rely on newspapers more than others. TV newsrooms with enough reporters to cover the local scene are less dependent on newspapers than stations with small news staffs. Other stations are constantly playing “catch-up” because they cannot compete with the newspaper’s beat system.

FAST FACT: New York City has more than a dozen TV stations with newsrooms providing content to viewers.

DEFINING TERM: Advancing a story—finding a new development or angle for an ongoing story to make it relevant for the viewers.

Broadcast newsrooms often find themselves trying to figure out ways to take a good newspaper story and advance it. Advancing the story is often considered a justification for “borrowing” the information developed by the newspaper. It’s important to remember that if a newspaper is the only source for a story, it is ethically proper—and a necessary protection in case the information is not accurate—to attribute the story to the newspaper. Remember also that newspapers copyright their material. Few papers object when their stories are broadcast, as long as credit is given. Some news directors take the position that once the accuracy of information first disclosed in a newspaper has been independently verified by the station, it is no longer necessary to credit the paper.

Regardless of the level of competition, it must be monitored. Newsrooms have banks of televisions tuned to competing stations to watch their newscasts. When covering a story in the field, reporters note what other camera crews are there. To keep an eye on the indirect competition, newsroom assignment desks are littered with newspapers and community magazines, local radio newscasts are heard, and members of the news team scour the Internet for the latest leads.

BEAT CHECKS, COP SHOPS, AND POLICE SCANNERS

Morning in the newsroom begins at the assignment desk. The overnight news is checked, the newspaper is combed, and the competing radio and television newscasts are monitored.

As that is done, the assignment desk slides into the predictable pattern of making beat checks. These are phone calls made to law enforcement officials in the area, starting with the city’s police department and the county sheriff’s office. Since the newsperson and the police officer talk daily and develop a rudimentary working relationship, these calls are brief and informal. A basic conversation takes only 20 to 30 seconds and falls along these lines:

Dispatch Officer: Dispatch.

Newsroom: Good morning, this is Channel 11 checking in on you.

Dispatch Officer: Morning, Jeff. Pretty quiet last night.

Newsroom: Nothing on the activity report?

Dispatch Officer: Two drug arrests and one minor fender bender, that’s about it.

Newsroom: Thanks, we’ll get someone by to check the press pad.

Dispatch Officer: No problem.

The dispatch officer is relaying information gleaned from a patrol activity report. At the end of a work shift, all field reports are funneled to the desk sergeant to compile this report. The form provides an overview of the shift’s events but lacks the detail necessary for a newscast.

If the only items noted are minor accidents or barking dogs, the news reporter might feel free to move on. But what if it were the mayor in the accident or if the dog was in a homeowners’ association that has a strict no-pet policy? While beat checks are an easy way to keep in touch with the police stations, the dispatcher may only provide you with information on “big stories,” such as murders or arsons. Remember, even the most mundane stories may be worth a closer look.

Patrol Activity Report

1 Date: ______________

Should something be of interest (in this case, the drug arrests are worth a follow-up) the dispatch officer on the phone is usually not authorized to provide more than broad information. To pursue the story, contact must be made with the public information officer (PIO) or someone must visit the police station or sheriff’s department.

The PIO is the police’s source of information to the media. Police departments usually train a sergeant or lieutenant in media relations, thus instructing other officers to defer to the PIO at all times. During their training, PIOs learn what information can be released to the press without endangering an investigation, putting additional stress on a victim, or revealing confidential information. Except for the police chief or the sheriff, the PIO is the only contact a newsroom will have at the station. A good working relationship with a PIO is invaluable, as they sort through confusing details at a crime scene and provide reliable interviews. Further, most PIOs will alert the news teams to a crime scene during overnight or weekend hours.

If the PIO isn’t available to field the assignment desk’s call, a trip should be made to the police station or sheriff’s office, often referred to as cop shops. Once there, the reporter reviews the incident log from the previous night. The incident log may be called a press pad or crime log, but the idea is consistent— it contains a stack of the police incident reports that have been filed during the past several work shifts.

The press pad should be open for review on request, provided one presents valid news station identification. If not, an immediate appeal should be filed with the commanding officer. Most police logs are available to the press, although records concerning minors or sexual assault victims are off-limits.

A standard practice is for law enforcement to have two types of report available on the press pad. The first is an incident report, which is sometimes referred to as a crime report or a release report once it gets released to the press. Theft, murder, and other criminal acts are filed on these, along with pertinent information including:

■ the criminal act that occurred

■ time and location of the incident

■ suspect’s description (if any) and information about the person if apprehended.

The following is a sample report from the Valdosta, Georgia, Police Department.

There is enough information here to write up a basic news story, as we have the information to answer the fundamental questions:

■ Who—white male, late thirties to early forties.

■ What—armed robbery.

■ Where—Nick’s Taco Especial, 199 N. St. Augustine Road.

■ When—approximately 4:00pm, March 25, 2017.

■ Why—unknown, subject is at large.

■ How—robbery was at gunpoint at drive-through window. The escape was made by driving southbound in a late model white SUV.

In a large city, this story would not make the newscast. In a small town, it may become a reader or possibly a voiceover, but even that depends on what other news items are available that day. Unless there have been numerous drive thru rob beries recently, a producer would be hard pressed to find time for this story in a busy newscast.

The second report is a motor vehicle accident report. Everything from minor fender benders to multiple car collisions will be filed, but few are of interest unless the accident was fatal, involved a local celebrity, or tied up traffic for several hours. The reason that even minor accidents are recorded is that insurance companies and lawyers use these official documents to investigate automobile claims. Thus, there will be quite a bit of information that, while important to the victims of the accident, isn’t newsworthy to the general public.

FIGURE 2.5
A screen image from Broadcastify (www.broadcastify.com/)

Finally, scanners are desktop or handheld units that monitor radio communications among those using two-way radios. Once used heavily by police and fire departments, scanners are being gradually replaced by cell phones and computers. But because some agencies have not yet upgraded beyond two-way radios to communicate, scanners are still used in newsrooms. Web sites like broadcastify.com provide links to more than 5,000 police, fire, EMS, aviation, and railroad audio feeds. In 2015, Broadcastify released mobile apps for both Android and iPhone/iPad, thus enabling field crews to follow the story more easily when they are away from the station.

Scanners cycle through open frequencies, but they may be programmed to listen to specific channels. These scanner frequencies are readily available on Internet sites such as radioreference.com. In addition to police and state trooper channels, other radio frequencies can be found, programmed, and monitored with ease. Some groups that still use two-way radios include emergency medical services, a city’s water division, city towing, street maintenance, city jail, city courthouse, the National Weather Service, the Civil Air Patrol, fire departments, oil-spill cleanup crews, railroads, aircraft, highway maintenance, and other radio frequencies depending on their availability. Listening to these conversations can prove vital in times of emergencies, thus their frequencies are kept available.

In addition to traditional police scanners, new computer software, which can be relayed through a reporter’s smartphone, now makes it easier to listen in to police conversations. For example, tunein.com is geared to those who want to listen to online radio, music, and talk stations. However, that website’s searchable database provides hundreds of listening opportunities for local law enforcement.

No information obtained from these radio scanners is ever used alone in writing a story for broadcast; the incidents must be checked out by phone or with the PIO in person. The police and fire reports often turn out to be unfounded or less serious than one might expect from the code. It is also a violation of FCC regulations to rebroadcast any material overheard on police, fire, or ham radio broadcasts.

PRESS RELEASES AND FUTURE FILES

Public relations specialists, publicists, and spokespeople are well trained in the art of crafting press releases. These releases are distributed to draw attention to events, such as a musical group staging a concert, a company announcing the expansion of its business, or a college fraternity organizing a fundraiser to help disaster victims. They are written in third person and strongly promote the company, event, or person that is the subject.

Press release templates are easily located on the web. As a rule of thumb, they will contain the following elements for the journalist:

■ Contact information: Name, phone number, email address, website address.

■ A story headline.

■ A summary paragraph.

■ The body of the story that covers journalist’s basic needs: Who, what, where, when, why, and how.

■ Quotes from company officials.

■ Press conference details (if the event is already scheduled).

■ Three hash tags “# # #” at the bottom to signify the end of the release.

DEFINING TERM: Press release—official information that is prepared for distribution to the media.

DEFINING TERM: Future files—folders or computer files used by the assignment editor to keep track of stories that may be covered in the future.

Remember, a symbiotic relationship exists between reporters and public relations experts. Reporters are responsible for generating stories on a continual basis. Nonprofit organizations, spokespeople, and advocates need their information distributed to a broad audience. Reporters can also actively solicit press releases by enrolling at specialized public relations websites.

The sheer volume of non-stop press releases demands organization within the newsroom. To manage this task, the assignment editor uses future files to coordinate the many tweets, emails, phone calls, press releases, faxes, and letters.

If a press release arrives, the data is logged into a newsroom management system like Ross Inception News. This system has an assignment manager function that helps to coordinate news coverage. For example, every time a story is assigned or updated, an email is automatically sent to the news crew with details about the assignment.

During a typical day, there might be a booster club meeting for the local football team, a guest speaker for the Kiwanis, a tree planting at an elementary school, a blood drive, a car wash to raise funds for a worthy cause, a hospital outreach program, and a mayoral luncheon. Are these necessarily stories? The answer is yes (on a slow news day) and no (when spot news is breaking out).

The end result is that these story leads serve reporters as a cornerstone of news production. But journalists must remember the source of the press release. Some of the aforementioned stories are harmless enough (the tree planting, for example) yet the mayoral luncheon could have overtones in a campaign season or if a controversial issue is in the public forum.

This interaction shows the clash of objectivity and subjectivity. Simply put, the reporter’s goal is objectivity, which is absolute neutrality to an issue. But the public relations expert struggles for subjectivity, which advocates one point of view over another. This includes political assistants (who support their candidate over another), advocacy group spokesmen (who desire change to suit their mindset), and even salespeople (who crave exposure of their product over a competing brand).

FRANKING AND POLITICAL NEWS RELEASES

Like nonprofit groups, politicians routinely issue position papers and updates. The reporter should be wary of partisanship with these notices, especially when their release coincides with an upcoming election.

FAST FACT: Congressmen approved franking in 1775, so free congressional mail actually predates the founding of the country.

Let’s divide the political press releases into three groups: Franking, political websites, and third-party databases.

■ Franking—the most subjective of all releases, this includes direct mail sent from a politician that champions his or her work in Congress. Since the taxpayers pay the postage, these letters are supposed to be purely informational and not used for campaigning. However, franked mail is often little more than a soapbox for the politician’s work. They tend to arrive during election cycles.

■ Political websites—these websites are hosted by the politician’s office, so they still portray the person in a flattering light. Unlike franking, reporters must actively pursue the information, following links that include press releases and position papers.

■ Third-party databases—the most objective information about politicians, these databases track the votes of congressional members. Journalists search these reports to check how their local delegate voted on a particular issue.

Politicians are also adept at maintaining a strong Facebook presence, tweeting their opinions, and keeping campaigning websites available to promote their viewpoints. As always, reporters must decipher what information is usable against what is simply being offered to boost the odds of a successful reelection campaign.

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICERS

A public information officer (PIO) works for a municipality as a conduit for information from the elected officials to the voters and press. Most cities have a public information officer who performs in a similar capacity to the police department’s PIO. The difference is that the city PIO provides information on upcoming meetings, recognitions, and events (instead of criminal activities from the police PIO). Amber Worthy of WAGT in Augusta, Georgia, says she speaks with the local PIOs weekly, adding:

Have a relationship. Treat them like humans. And help each other when necessary. Not all of them will be nice. Never abuse them. Learn what’s trivial and what’s not, what’s worth waking them up for and what’s not.

It’s super important because when you burn that bridge it may never be able be rebuilt. You also risk burning the bridge for your station. It’s happened. I pretty much always had a good relationship because I learned to relate and it was not always about business. They are like your coworkers.

I even like to run my stories by them to make sure it’s accu rate, saying “Hey! Can I email this to you before it airs?” It shows you want to be accurate and transparent and it makes them want to do the same.

The newsroom should contact the city PIO at least twice a week to check for story ideas. An excellent PIO will not only be willing to go on air for an interview, but will also help arrange interviews with the mayor, city manager, or others with in-depth knowledge of an issue. Here, the PIO should be used as a frequent source but an infrequent interview subject. After all, the voters elected the mayor and want to hear him or her speak.

FIGURE 2.6
A screen image from The Library of Congress (https://congress.gov)

Other groups will have PIOs, or at least spokespeople, who deserve routine contact from reporters. The chamber of commerce, the industrial authority, the airport manager, and the county extension agent are just a few examples of news sources that should be phoned for occasional updates.

THE CALENDAR

This is often the simplest (yet most overlooked) source for a story idea. First, what holidays are approaching? Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are all excellent visual holidays, whereas others such as MLK Day or Memorial Day will have their own specific rallies or events.

Second, is the end of a quarter or fiscal year coming up? Institutions such as schools operate on three calendars; the fiscal year that starts on July 1, the academic year that runs from August to May, and the typical annual year that has a January 1 start date. The Supreme Court’s year starts in October and ends in June. Local and state governments use fiscal and annual, plus federal agencies have various start and stop dates. Changes at the start or end of any of these will generate reports, analysis, and budget outcomes.

Third, who is meeting? Councils, boards, and governing bodies meet on a regular, recurring basis. Additionally, there can always be previews of upcoming meetings or reactions to recent meetings.

Fourth, is there a seasonal angle? Farmers depend on crop cycles, thus reporters should be keenly aware of their region’s major crops. An early cold snap may only be a surprise to early morning commuters, but it can mean devastation to a citrus farmer.

Fifth, what day of the week is it? Monday is a solid day for sportscasters, as they can recap the events from the weekend’s games. Friday is a good day to preview a weekend event or a new summer blockbuster; movies are generally released on Fridays unless there is a Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday.

Finally, the calendar is an excellent resource to list “evergreen” stories. An evergreen story is one that does not need to air on a specific date. A profile of a local civic leader, for example, can air either today or later this week. But there are two important considerations for these stories. First, reporters don’t want to hold stories indefinitely. Second, because most of these stories are features, it’s important that the subjects don’t wait for their stories to air. It is poor practice to promise an interview subject that the story will air this evening when it will actually sit for a few days.

FIGURE 2.7 Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

PRODUCTION MEETINGS

Once the story ideas have been gathered from the various sources, the producers, assignment editor, and reporters meet for their morning production meeting. This is a highly interactive meeting in which all parties are encouraged to speak up. The meetings last approximately 20 minutes, and during this time stories are advanced, questioned, assigned to news crews, or discarded. Quite often, if a reporter or producer is not passionate about a story idea, it is dropped in favor of another.

Newsrooms have a major production meeting around 9am to assign the day’s activities, although other meetings can be scheduled as needed for the late newscast. At the production meetings, many variables are considered, including:

■ What are the follow-up stories to the previous newscasts?

■ What stories are being covered by the direct and indirect competition?

■ Are there news tips appearing on social media like Facebook or Twitter?

■ Were any crimes or notable accidents obtained during beat checks?

■ Have the scanners yielded any stories?

■ What news releases are in the future files?

■ Are there any ongoing series (health, business, etc.) that should continue?

■ Are there significant events on the calendar?

■ Have calls to PIOs yielded any news ideas?

■ Are there national events that could be localized with interviews?

■ Does anyone have an enterprised story?

Once these basic questions are satisfied, news crews are assigned and the producers begin the job of stacking the newscast. Stacking involves taking the available stories and placing them in a logical flow in a newscast. This is the essence of producing, which is covered later in this text.

SUMMARY

The assignment desk is where most information enters the newsroom. The assignment desk staff monitors the news wire, the police and fire radios, and the telephones and receives an endless assortment of news releases by mail and email. Assignment editors also look for story ideas from reporters. The assignment editor, who may be the news director as well in some markets, makes the initial decisions about which material should be considered for coverage. He or she also assigns reporters and photographers to stories.

Assignment editors and news directors rely heavily on the rest of the news team, especially producers. The producers select material and decide what goes on the air; they are responsible for the look of the news. Most newsrooms hold daily meetings to plan the newscast and maintain assignment boards to keep staff members apprised of their duties for the day.