Advice for new reporters

[News Active]

Hi,

I have been asked to go to a journalism school here in Finland (yep, that's in Europe..) and tell the students (that some day will be TV and newspaper journalists) about the work of a television news photographer.

I would also like to give them some useful advice (what to do and what not to do) and somehow try to make them understand what this work really is about.

I'll try to stress that this is team work and that the reporter and the photographer form an EQUAL team and they both have their part to do with television storytelling.

(I will mention how important it is to get the script as early as possible to the edit bay and to stay out of the way (and picture) when filming b-roll and a few other things.)


I would like to hear what do you others have on your mind? Is there something that a newbie reporter could easily avoid if they would have been told beforehand?

[Sean-1966]

I don't know about others but a lot of the kids coming out now seem to have a sense of the world owes me. They figure they've learned it all. I guess one thing I would tell them is to watch, listen and learn how it's done in the real world.

[NEWSSHOOTER3]

L-I-S-T-E-N. Listen to your subject. Listen to your sound... as it comes out. Listen to your photographer because, as much as you might hate to admit it, he or she, has probably done far more interviews than you! :)

[Nooze Hound]

tell them that no matter how stupid it might be, ALL reporters have done a fluff peice about Aunt Alma's Famous Brownies atleast once in their career.

So suck it up, the shooter doesn't want to be there either, and he DEFINATLY doesn't want to hear about how many years you went to college to do a fluff piece about Aunt Alma's Famous Brownies.

[1911A1]

Don't spend three hours crafting the greatest script of your career and then give your photographer only thirty minutes to edit it.

[Shootblue]

No freakin' sh!t.

[Lenslinger]

Purloined from The Lenslinger Institute, the Top Ten Things I’d teach at the New Reporter Academy - none of which applies to the fine journamalists I currently toil beside.

1. Write To Your Video!

I know it seems remedial, but this prime directive can befuddle the glossiest of correspondents. Just ask any photog whose jugular throbbed as he tried to stretch three shots of some bit player over a minute and a half of impromptu profile. Scour every second of that fresh footage, embrace its rhythms and fill in the gaps and every the surly burn-out at the end of the hall will want to work with you.

2. Have A Plan

I can set up stories at 70 miles per hour while fondling a dollar menu cheeseburger . Imagine what you can do from the comparative luxury of stationary news cubicle. Make some calls. Hey, I’m not above the occasional cold-call or drive-by - but don’t ask me to circle the block nine times while you try and decide which Cadillac belongs to the city manager . In short, don’t waste my time. I ain’t got a lot of it.

(2.5) The Story Is Not You

This is TV news we’re talking about; reporters shouldn’t be invisible. But if you find yourself knocking the little sick kid off his pogo stick so you can bounce and twinkle on-cue - then you Sir or Ma’am have bum-rushed the wrong spotlight. Don’t fret though, we got lots like you. A little time out in the field and we can beat the drama-queen out of you. Otherwise, look into Entertainment News or Reality Television. But be warned: It’s a long line and the conversation is mind-numbing.

3. Try Not to Over Explain Things

You’re putting a microphone on someone’s lapel, not shoving them through an MRI tunnel. That little speech you like to give about ‘don’t be nervous just because we’re attaching this piece of audio recording equipment to your person’ achieves the exact opposite. Try this instead: Engage them in polite conversation during set-up, then start in with the questions once you know I’m rolling. No one need yell ’Action!’ (Yes, it happened once).

4. DON’T Touch the Radio

File this one under professional courtesy. See, that news unit you’re primping in is your partner’s office. He (or she) knows its every content by heart and has probably already driven the damn thing to the moon and back. Thus, the lowly car radio is an intimate part of the photog’s psyche - it’s probably the only non-logo’d gizmo he has complete dominion over. So don’t jump in and twists its knobs to the new hip-hop station - especially if your driver’s sportin’ Dead Head stickers on his windshield.

5. DO Touch the Tripod

Hey, here’s a contraption your more than welcome to fiddle with - it’s the lowly tripod, that three legged beast that refuses to walk on its own power. Dragging it along will do wonders for your video and chances are your photog will be more than happy to leave you in charge of it. So hoist that baby on your designer-clad shoulder and try to keep up. Just don’t complain. Your partner has easily schlepped that and more up steep gravel driveways and through revolving doors and has yet to bitch about breaking a nail.

6. Mind the Nats (SHUT-UP!)

You know that little black tubular thing hanging off your partner’s camera? It’s a microphone! It records sound - long after you finish your prophetic stand-ups. With that in mind - put a sock in it, wouldya? Natural sound can often drive the drama of a piece, interview subjects will spout out the greatest sound-bites known to man once they’re up and moving. But we can’t use any of this impromptu theater if you’re yammering on about prep school or your famous husband! So do whatever it takes to remain mum for awhile. Remember, there’s duct tape in the car.

7. M-0-S’s - Curse of the Weak

Man on the Street Interviews. Producers love ‘em - mostly because they’ve never had to loiter outside a Wal-Mart and pepper strangers with obtuse questions. Still, they’re a necessary evil in broadcast news - so learn to do them well. Easy in, Easy out, no one gets hurt. As much as we hate them, they can spice up a narrative. Just don’t get carried away. If your nightly pieces each contain forty-five seconds of some yak in a parking lot scratching his head - you ain’t tryin’ hard enough and everyone knows it.

8. Be Nice!

Maybe it’s just the Southerner in me, but I’m a big believer in manners. Remember, a wireless microphone and perfect teeth don’t make you any better than the people at home. It is, after all, their town, their trends, their TV’s. Run roughshod over their sensibilities and you’ll find yourself getting less respect, fewer insider tips and worst of all you’ll incur the wrath of the photog staff - who probably plan on living here long after you’ve ridden an escape-tape out of town. Remember, no one likes a pompous ass - not even the ass himself.

9. Know When to Blend

The greatest story-tellers I’ve ever worked with were gifted with invisibility. Okay, so maybe they never achieved total transparency, but they all knew how to ratchet down their personalities long enough to let their subjects of their stories take center-stage. They also possessed a certain chameleon-like quality, an ingrained ability to reflect the room around them. This comes in handy whether you’re visiting grieving hill-folk, lecherous politicos or senile witnesses. You know - like last Wednesday. Or the day before that. Or the day…you get the idea.

10. Write To Your Video!

So important, I had to include it twice. Why - because no matter where you ate lunch or who you gossiped about in the car, telling the best story possible is your Prime Directive. Your partner thinks so - otherwise he wouldn’t have bullied those three grannies out of the fast lane to get you back in time. Use those well-earned minutes to craft your oh-0-important words around the sights and sounds they brought back. Do this well and every photog in the building will have your back. Slather some crap on a page with little thought to the footage it will adorn and screams of anguish and doom will ring out from the edit bay. Quickly, shooters will wiggle out of working with you and curse your very name.

[f11vid]

Wrap it up! You can always think of a more clever line for your script.You can always do a slighty better edit.But at some point you HAVE to END the creative process and actually get the program on the air.It may be slightly imperfect,but then,most gems are ;)

[Freddie Mercury]

The relationship between time given to edit and the quality of the finished story is lost on many reporters, green and veteran. I assume they figure if the problem is how it was put together and not their words, then it's not their problem. That kind of thinking will keep their reel looking "almost good".

It must be harder to quit than smoking, because so many vets do it. I guess the best way around it is to stop it before it starts, so please stress it in your session, and lenslinger, maybe it deserves a spot in your list, because even if everything went well to that point, if we have 10 minutes to slam a 1:30, nobody's looking good today.

[Goon]

Leave your ego at the door.

[photogguy]

Another version of "wrap it up".

You don't need to do a twenty minute interview for a minute-fifteen story.

[Shootblue]

I've almost moved to "shoot to cover" mode because it doesn't matter what I shoot, how many times I tell them what I shot, try and show them, Clockwork Orange them, it still doesn't matter. Speaking of things that don't matter, we have an influx of reporters who confuse this genre with newspaper so we get way too many supers written out in their script, i.e. "City Manager Tom Smith" when the story really doesn't need it. What a waste of time, an editing nightmare, and a shot that usually comes from nowhere.

[cameradog]

You mean Rosenblum hasn't taken over Finland? The way he tells it, ALL of Europe uses one man bands, and it's just us dumb bass-ackward Amurkins who haven't seen the way of the future.

[News Active]

Thank you all so much for your input! Now I have something to talk about for a whole day, but I only have two hours!

All of your advice and ideas have been a great help! I wrote four pages of notes.. Unfortunately it's all in Finnish so you wouldn't propably understand a bit of it.

If I knew how to write English better than I do, I'd give it a try and translate it to English.

I'll have to mention this website to those newbie reporters.

And Cameradog, actually the smaller bureaus of YLE (the national broadcaster) have adapted that model.. with less than moderate results. These "multi talents" have to shoot video, interview, write the TV story, do a radio report and file a text version for the web on every story they do.

You can only guess the quality.. or the lack of it.

Fortunately still all the major broadcasters have two person crews, some even have a sound operator. So the game is not lost yet.

I'm planning to tell my class about Rosenblum and his ventures in the USA as a warning experience.. ;) I heard a rumour that one journalist at YLE got a stipend to participate on one of Rosenblums two week courses in some warm southern country in the Asia.. Yes, tax payers money hard at work.. :-)

Thank you again, everyone!


-t

[jumpkutz]

1. Tell them to read Fred Shook's book, "Television Field Production and Reporting."

2. Become involved in whatever they're version of our NPPA is.

3. WRITE THE PICTURES FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See Bob Dotson's storytelling checklist in Fred's book and follow it.

[jumpkutz]

Yeah, I used the wrong "they're," it should be "their."

[f11vid]

What's Finnish for " Donuts"? ALWAYS bring coffee and donuts for your photographer in the morning ;)

[backfocus5]

Don't spend three hours crafting the greatest script of your career and then give your photographer only thirty minutes to edit it.

Agreed! I used to hate it when I would get the script 15 minutes before air....and it was top story!

Hey, since you're going to be in Finland why not stop off next door and pay a visit to the Swedish National Bikini Team!?