Newsroom Reality

The “Perks” of the Job

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:34:19 -0700

You run into many unexpected “opportunities” in your position as a reporter. For example, access to see the renovation of the state capitol before everyone else, interviewing famous celebrities and politicians and maybe even skydiving or riding in an military fighter plane. Part of the appeal of the job is the ability to know or see something before anyone else — and then getting to be the one to relay the information or experience. While all these things are typically accepted as ethical in the journalism world, some other “perks” don’t have a clear ethical line.

For example let’s suppose a news crew wants to go tour an offshore oil drilling rig in the gulf coast after a hurricane. Do they fly in the same company helicopter as the CEO to ask him questions on the way and see his “experience,” or do you take your own ride because it’s unethical to rely on the oil company for transportation and fuel costs? NBC grabbed a lift from Chevron, reimbursing them for the estimated cost of the flight. Things get more foggy from there.

If you are at a campaign event for the governor and are starving, do you eat a sandwich put out for his supporters? If you are covering the local ice cream shop’s fundraiser and the 80-year-old grandma who owns the joint offers your a scoop, do you refuse? What if the mayor invites you to dinner, do you accept? Do you let him pay? Do you order an appetizer, the lobster, desert and drinks? All are interesting ethics questions reporters are faced with often. Do people ever really know you accept these gifts? No. Would people care if they found out? Maybe. Are you able to keep favorability toward your new friend out of your story? Yes, but subconsciously?

Patrick Guntensperger takes a really great look at the issue of “gifts” or “bribes” as some might call them. Take a read and see what you think about the issue. He talks about how the decreased pay and increased workload of reporters make some disgruntled and pessimistic. Those reporters will take any freebie that comes there way. It’s not like being a lawyer, he writes, there is no ethics code of conduct for the industry nor any laws against accepting gifts. Do things change after several years in the business? Taking Professor Bivin’s Media Ethics class and learning about the rules is one thing but after 20 years of being underpaid and overworked do principals and practice not match up exactly right?

I write about this today because I was faced with my first ethical dilemma recently. Out on a story I was covering, I was offered a “media pass” that was meant for me to “learn more about the mountain” so my “knowledge, background and expertise would come through in my reporting” on issues dealing with the ski and snowboard area. If there is news up at the mountain, I doubt I will need a “media pass” to drive up there and cover it. Basically this breaks down to a free season pass. Does it come with strings attached to always report favorably on the mountain? Not explicitly. But this type of tactic is used by public relations and publicity folks everywhere. It is a “media pass” in the form of a gift designed to influence the news media and thus public opinion.

My family definitely doesn’t come from a media background. So I asked various aunts, uncles and relatives. Some asked, “would the media pass influence your reporting?” while others simply said, “it’s the American way for companies to do what they can do increase business.” But what I think my family doesn’t understand are the responsibilities of journalists in refusing gifts that come from interview sources. It comes down to public perception and trust. If media folks begin to take gifts from whoever is giving them out and are required to fully disclose what and from whom the gifts are coming from, people, in my opinion, would doubt the credibility and honesty of the information included in the report. And then where does it end? Can I accept a free car from Toyota as long as I disclose that fact and tell myself I won’t let my reporting on the automobile industry by swayed?

What do you think? Would it bug you if reporters started accepting these gifts? What if reporters disclosed the information? Should I have taken a free season...um...I mean, media pass to go skiing whenever I wanted this winter?

TV News Must Adapt

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:05:01 -0700

I have fond memories of working at the the campus newspaper during college. The Oregon Daily Emerald gave me so much opportunity and enriched my life immensely. I attribute a lot of where I am today to the time I spent on the third floor of that student union — the Emerald Newsroom. I served there for two years as Online and Multimedia Editor (A position that I created, but that’s a story for another blog post). I did video packages much like something you’d see on local news.

I had many long conversations with my editor about journalism. He was convinced local TV news was incomplete and sensational journalism. He was certain newspaper journalism was the king of reporting and that he was going to save the industry from a slow and certain demise in the age of the Internet. At the time I laughed and thought to myself, thank god I’m not going into a dying business like newspapers. Well, he’s just gotten back to Portland after reporting for the Wall Street Journal and I’m sure neither or our industries has a bright financial future.

Without getting too theoretical and going off like many wannabe fourth-estate saviors, I’m just going to make three simple points to people with a lot more power: The boss of my boss’s boss.

GET LOCAL, DO IT NOW AND NOT JUST ONLINE. Somewhere along the way the “local” in local TV news broadcast was forgotten. Stations try to cover national stories but don’t do as good of a job as the national news. Localization is overrated. Yes, it is possible to bring a local perspective on a national issue but most times man-on-the-street interviews are what comes of this “localization” effort. Do it sparingly. Also, many producers will pull “talkers” (think water-skiing squirrel and kitty beauty pageants) from 2000 miles away when they ignore local events and organizations. People watch local news to see what is happening locally. Not in Arkansas. Some companies like Fisher Communications, most notably, have started hyper-local online blogs. Great. Good start. But blogs from a TV station are not the solution to cash-flow problems. TV stations have a big expensive FCC license for a reason: Use it. Managers need to take a chance on new, local, unconventional programming. Yes, you’ll need to invest some time and energy but I’m convinced the advertising dollars will come in along with viewership for stations that separate themselves from the competition. Live @ 7 is a great example of this from KGW in Portland.

EMBRACE THAT T-WORD YOU HATE. I’m going to say it: Twitter will be around for a while. Your reporters, producers, anchors and yes, even your news managers need to get onboard the transparency train and hop on Twitter. People who feel listened to by a station will be loyal to that station. News managers need connect with local people online and let them know: Hey, I run this station, what do you think we should put on the news? Are there going to be some crazies out there? Sure. But Nielson doesn’t know who’s crazy and who isn’t. Reporters: Use Twitter to find leads and story ideas. Producers: Use Twitter find breaking news and reaction to what you choose to lead your show. Anchors: Use Twitter to publicize the newscast and connect to your community and local events. Everyone has a role and the longer you scoff at stupid “social media networks” the station across town is utilizing the resource. Remember, Twitter is two-way: ask for suggestions to improve the newscast, put out poll questions and use viewers’ thoughts on air — don’t just use Twitter to publish links trying to up your hit count. One great example is a forward-thinking, innovative News Director in Eugene.

PRODUCE CONTENT IN WAYS FOR TODAY’S NEWS CONSUMER. The decision makers need to look at what is happening to newspapers to get a glimpse into the future of their industry. Newspapers couldn’t change quick enough to an online ecosystem and are folding left and right. I love this industry too much to see the same thing happen. Put your content out there in ways in which fit your new news consumer. Don’t worry about ratings or profits in the short time. Monetize after you find a way to save the company. As my picture above for this post might suggest, we aren’t in the 50’s any more. Men don’t come home from work to find their wife, daughter, son and family dog waiting for them to eat dinner in front of the 5 O’clock news. People want to do things on their own terms and own time. If I’m a student and get out of class at 6, I want to go to the gym and then study (or party depending on what type of student I am). If I could get a 10 minute local news and weather update on my phone while I’m on the treadmill I’d watch it. (I’d also watch a minute ad in the middle, for all you ad guys and gals out there). Same thing goes for the soccer mom waiting for her son to get done with practice or daughter with ballet: This is a captive, lucrative audience who’s already got the iPhone or Blackberry you could be reaching her on. Many are worried about the cannibalization of ratings. Ratings don’t matter without revenue. Ad sales are already taking a nose-dive. Imagine if you could tell your client you have 20,000 local news consumers downloading the 10-minute update and watching their spot every night. You could even categorize your audience and custom tailor clients with consumers. The technology, infrastructure and consumers are there — are you?

Just three points I think would make a world of change to the companies who commit. Someone in the newsroom wrote a quote on our wall the other day: You’re too old to know everything. I take that quote seriously and realize I’ve got a lot to learn about the business — but so does every News Director, General Manager and CEO as that business changes into something they’re unfamiliar with.

I pull a lot of ideas from various people who can say it a lot better than me so please read them — I’m sure they’re a little more coherent than me. I’m sure my good friend and former campus newspaper editor has plenty of ideas to save his industry as well. I just hope it’s not too late to save both. But for all the uncertainty, one thing I’m sure of is that adapt or not, someone will fill the void I’m talking about and they’ll make some scratch from it.

The Good Old DAys

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:38:03 -0700

Before you read any father, please watch this video. It’s a TV news promo spot for CBS 2 in Chicago from the glory days of television news. In one of my first posts I talked about my motivation for wanting to be a broadcast reporter and while this old spot is cheesy and overdone, I couldn’t help but smile as I watched it. I think it shows more personality than a newspaper ever could while still caring about accurate and fair reporting.

But it also goes to another point about TV news today — big name anchors that have big salaries to go along with them. That was the way things were and to a degree still are. The New York Times did an excellent article about a year ago on big-time star anchors either leaving or being pushed out by companies looking to cut costs. From the days of that promo spot to the 90’s, a big name anchor in a big city could bring in upwards of $500,000. But when the economy tanked and automakers (TV news’ biggest single advertising base) stopped buying commercial time, local TV managers started looking to cut costs and cut costs quickly.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing. I didn’t get into the business to sit behind a desk and look pretty expecting to rake in the salary of a doctor or lawyer. I’m just saying that the glory days of TV news are over and just like finding out Santa isn’t real, a little sad. The TV news man used to be a respected job and something people would look up to. Now, thanks to many reasons (mostly bad apples) I’m lucky if my 12-year-old cousin thinks it’s cool. Instead we have people beating up cameramen and harassing reporters.

I’m probably rambling a little here but I think it’s an important point because reporters are the people keeping the government responsible and responsive to the concerns of the community. Maybe the prestige of the job was a little high to begin with thanks to promo spots like the one from CBS Chicago, but I think today it’s a lot lower than where it should be.

The Emotional Toll

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:56:01 -0700

I like reporting on the weekends. It offers a different pace and style of storytelling as well as a change in content sometimes as well. It’s a refreshing break from reporting during the week on crashes and controversy. Like a super fun story I did on Halloween. I found a cute little kid heading out trick-or-treating with his mom for the very first time.

I know as a reporter I need to defend the “hard news” brand, and what that great good that responsibility does for the community. But I will always have a special place in my heart for lighter feature stories like this one. I feel people want the news but they always want to see a reflection of the life and demeanor of the community when they flip on a newscast.

I felt great after that story, feeling reenergized and reinvigorated to go out there and do my job. That all came to a close a day later when I was sent out to cover a tragic story. A father who just got back home from a hunting trip greeted his wife and three kids in his house, then decided to go back out to wash his truck. He got in his truck to back it out of the garage. His three-year-old son had followed his dad outside and was killed by the truck’s left rear wheel as he backed out. Absolutely heartbreaking. This was my story assignment and I was supposed to go knock on this family’s front door. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to do it. I ended up speaking to a neighborhood friend of the family. It was sad and I felt awful for having to ask the questions I did.

I knew it was part of the job before I got into the profession. I was told, “sooner or later you will be sent out to talk to victims and their families.” I was asked if I thought I could deal with it. I replied confidently yes. It’s definitely easer to say that do. I’ll be fine — I’ve dealt with worse in my life. I’m glad I haven’t been forced to do more of this type of thing. A lot of stations make their newscast almost completely around tragedy and sadness. That is one of the biggest things that leads to the desensitizing of TV reporters. It’s discussed a lot more in this recap of a journalism school discussion worth a read.

The bottom line is that a lot of people in the newsroom can be dark and disconnected when it comes to sad stories like this one and I can only hope I don’t change no matter how many tragedies I cover. Everyday can’t be Halloween, but then I seriously hope most days aren’t like yesterday.

Technical Difficulties

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:13:04 -0600

I had heard the horror stories. I knew it was possible. I didn’t know how often or how quickly it would start. I learned. Fast. For those who don’t know, above is an IFB (which stands for Interruptible Feedback). Basically it’s an earpiece that allows the reporter in the field to hear information from a producer and cues from the anchors. This little guy is almost never noticed until something goes wrong and then it still really isn’t noticed — the reporter just looks unprepared and nervous.

A reporter’s relationship with their IFB is love/hate. You depend on it until it turns on you and then you’re up a creek. The stories range from feedback blowing out a reporter’s ears to picking up a delayed or completely different audio stream. My first negative experience came yesterday on a breaking news story in Caldwell, Idaho.

We got the call at 9:15: Get out to the abandoned grain mill in Caldwell, a girl fell 20 feet and is stuck — we need a live report by 10. Well great, I thought. It’s only a 30 minute drive. That gives my photographer and I less than 15 minutes to get the camera, lights, audio and live truck’s signal setup. Not to mention I’d have to gather some information from firefighters before going on air. Okay, T-minus four minutes to air. I’m ready to go. I’ve grabbed the deputy fire chief for a live interview, got my microphone and IFB turned on and ready to go. I hear my producer: Good work buddy, you’ve got about three minutes — we’re coming straight to you.

One minute to go. I hear the news music play in my IFB. Then the anchor: We begin tonight with breaking news. The Caldwell fire department——

Then nothing. IFB when dead. As if I’m not already sweating getting ready to report on a breaking story I just learned about five minutes ago. I start thinking: How will I hear my cue from the anchor? How will I hear his questions to me after my live interview and report? I was screwed. Big time. Luckily my photographer was also listening and pointed at me to start talking. Okay, and we’re off. Just keep it cool, Michael, you’ll figure something out.

And I did, sorta. I remembered the old trick my older brother and I would do with our Game Boys when they ran out of juice. The old off-and-on trick. I reached down during the interview and turned the damned IFB box off. Okay, I thought, I’ve got at least a one minute window for the fire deputy to finish his answer. I’ll ask a followup and buy some more time. When he was finishing up the followup, I slyly reached down and turned the box on again praying it would work: Thank the lord I was getting something. I heard the anchor ask his question and the battery lasted just long enough to finish my report.

Holy smokes. It was 30 degrees and my hands were frozen solid but I don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much in my life. Crisis averted and lesson learned: check your batteries. ALWAYS.

Technical problems will always crop up and I’ve learned that being able to minimize these ever-present issues will make you look better on air. Luckily the breaking news experience turned out halfway okay. But imagine if I hadn’t been quick on my feet to divert potential disaster. The anchor would have asked his question and I would have been standing there dead in the water staring at the camera just completely blank, ignoring him and his question. It would’ve been bad. Real bad.

But in a day and age with so many new ways for a live report to go wrong with cost-cutting leading to more inexperienced staff, learning the technical skills in addition to reporting skills and learning the preventative measures to solve a problem before it happens is something that will make any journalist a better TV reporter. Oh, and keep those mistakes from cropping up on YouTube for eternity.