Assignments
Monday, November 12, 2007
Too many events, not enough crews…
On a day when there are so many different activities and events to cover, the assignment desk has some interesting choices to make.
Today is Veterans day. And much like every holiday that is recognized in our country, that means there will be a number of local events to cover.
As a news station, we try to cover as many of the local stories as we can. However, we cannot make every single event that is going on, so we must decide which ones to send a crew to.
We prefer to cover events that are visual and have interesting people in them. Just like you, as viewers, want to watch visually exciting stories, we like to cover them.
With any story that we cover, there are no guarentees that we will get out of it what we came for. But if an event offers elements right off the bat (that we know will be a good visual story), we lean towards sending a crew to that event.
Today, we decided to send a crew to a ceremony in Lillington where they were going to be laying a wreath, hear from speakers, and have a local boy scout troop. This type of event gives us the opportunity to shoot a lot of different elements for a story.
We also decided to cover a local saloon who is giving free haircuts to veterans. This is also a very visual story that will offer the reporter and photographer a lot of good shots and sounds for their piece. If we do not cover a local event, it is not because we did not like it. We simply do not have the crews to cover all of the events in our area.
I do encourage people to forward as many events on days like these (and all days throughout the year) to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We will try our best to cover as many as possible.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/12 at 01:16 PM
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
I cannot tell you how happy I am about election day being over, but for the reasons you might think…Election night takes weeks of preparation for us. Sitting at home watching the names and numbers scroll across the screen or clicking on a race on the web you would never know but I am the person who sat here for hours typing every name, every race, getting them organized.
Then you have all candidates’ profiles, debates, commercials, victory speeches and the fun leading up to and including election night. It takes a team of people to keep everything straight and to sit in a newsroom on election night…you have never known such chaos. You might think we were crazy people but it does all make sense to us that’s why sitting at home you don’t notice.
So goodbye to Election Night 2007 give me a few days and I will start to unhappily say hello to Election Year 2008. Happy voting!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/07 at 08:13 PM
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Hello Friends and Family!
We are experimenting with the power of email and need your help!
NBC 17 is home to the fastest growing newscast in the Triangle…NBC 17 News at 7pm!
This full hour of local news is dedicated to being “Accurate, Balanced and To the Point.”
We are conducting an experiment to see how many people we can have watch NBC 17 News at 7pm on one night: this Wednesday, November 7th.
Will you please help us? It’s easy…
1. Watch NBC 17 this Wednesday, November 7th, at 7:00pm (plus check out our newest feature - Pintsized Pigskin – the Triangle’s tiniest football warriors with the largest hearts of any athletes you’ll ever see!)
2. Forward this message to 10 of your local friends and family asking them to do the same
In addition, if you have the time, we’d love to hear your comments about the newscast. Please send your review to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thank you for your support on this project and for your support of me.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/06 at 03:09 PM
Monday, November 05, 2007
The decision process of reporting on funerals…
Although we, as news folk, must make decisions daily on how to cover certain events that are happening in the area, there are a couple of events that usually require a little bit more debate on how to cover them. Funerals of people that we have covered in the news are definitely one of those decisions.
Today, former Sheriff John Baker Jr. was being laid to rest. During this morning’s news meeting, we were debating on how we were going to cover the services. First of all, as an assignment editor, I make the calls to find out if the services will be open to the media. In today’s case, the family had invited the media to be there for the funeral, so we were cleared to come. Next, we had to decide how we wanted to cover the services. We decided to send a crew to tape and record the services. Since Sheriff Baker was a leader in the community and known to many people, we decided to cover his services. It is a good opportunity for us to share the services with viewers who might not have been able to attend.
We treat every funeral differently and don’t usually cover all of them. What are your thoughts on the media covering funerals? Email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/05 at 01:02 PM
Saturday, November 03, 2007
If you are an area blogger, we hope you will come to our next blogger meetup this Wednesday, November 7th, 2007.
We held our first blogger meetup over six months ago, and were amazed at what we learned. Interesting, it was that first meetup that inspired me to launch “Inside the Core,” which became our stations first-ever blog.
My goal for this blog remains the same as day one. I want to invite you into my world in the newsroom as you have all invited me into the blogosphere. It is my hope that we will learn, empower and engage one another in two way dialogue. That is why I hope you can all make it to our meetup. Here are the details.
What: Triangle Bloggers Meetup
Time: 7pm
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Where: New World Coffee House 4112-124 Pleasant Valley Road Raleigh, NC
*We will provide refreshments and pastries.
Please RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you can make it or you can just leave a comment on this blog entry (and I’ll pass it along).
See you there!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/03 at 07:45 AM
