Friday, April 13, 2007

MCC-You Know Me

I’m Jason Clough, and I am the Multimedia Content Manager.

Every TV News station has an Assignment Desk. We just call ours the Multimedia Content Coordination Center. It is the core of the newsgathering operation. On the desk are people called Multimedia Content Coordinators. For the purposes of saving my finger strength, I will refer to them as MCC’s. We look, dig and hunt for news.  We scour the internet, answer phones, listen to a bunch of police and fire scanners while three people ask us questions all at the same time. The purpose is to find possible stories and than work with the reporters to develop them for broadcast and for our website, NBC17.com.

The Multimedia Content Coordination Center is staffed 24 hours a day, including weekends (and yes, even holidays). We never shut down. We strive to answer every phone call by the second ring. The desk has several workstations. As an MCC, we have our own computer and multi-line telephone. The remainder of the desk is graced with police/fire scanners, a two-way radio to the reporters and photographers in the field, maps, 5 TV’s and usually several bottles of antibacterial wipes along with a single can of condensed air ( to clean out the keyboards). We have a fax machine, although most stuff know comes through email. We monitor news in over 20 counties and 75+ cities and towns.

We are the people who talk to viewers calling with the potential story ideas; PR companies pushing new products or innovations. We sort through dozens of meeting agendas, everyday. We talk to people who recently lost loved ones. We ask the tough questions and probe for the tough answers.

Our goal is simple: Find the stories that you, the viewers, want to see. Tell the stories that impact your lives. It’s our personal commitment to each of you. And now, through this blog, I hope to interact with each of you; hear from you and respond to you.

-Jason