• WSPA: Reviving the Lost Art of Enterprising Reporters

    September 25th, 2011

    As I travel around the country visiting TV news departments – I am amazed at how enterprise reporting has become a lost art.  Back in the day, when I was on the street as a reporter, we were required to not only come in with a viable story idea every day – but also we were required to have – and work – our sources.  And – for those of you who may be wondering – yes we did have electricity – and even color TV back in those days.

    Well, if you are one of those “walk-in-without-a-story-idea-hand-me-an-assignment” new breed of reporter – you need not apply at WSPA, the Media General station in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  They demand that their reporters come to work armed – not only – with daily story ideas – but also ones that fit the station’s On Your Side brand of journalism.  It has become   part of their newsroom DNA.  They call it “managing the brand.”

    Longtime WSPA Managing Editor Karen Kelly says it starts when reporter candidates are initially contacted by the news managers.  She says, “We are very specific about our expectations.”  The managers explain the On Your Side brand and Karen says, “We look for reporters who exhibit an aggressive reporting style, are prepared to ask smart questions, and are not afraid to ask those tough accountability questions.”

    WSPA News Director Dan Cates says, “From the very first interview reporters understand that daily, and special report pitches must fit the On Your Side brand.”  And by the way, those reporters are not only expected to offer one fresh, branded story idea each day – they are required to have two of them.

    Kelly says the WSPA news managers believe the success of their enterprising reporting is based on four elements:

    • Knowledge – All the reporters understand not only the daily requirements but the market research and strategic plan for executing the brand
    • Consistency – The managers are relentless in their demand that the reporters pitch two strong, branded stories every day – no one gets a pass
    • Reputation – The reporters know what the station demands right from the first interview – and the On Your Side brand is well-known in the market
    • Teamwork – Everyone – not just reporters – build on the reporter story ideas in the editorial meetings with managers and producers monitoring progress all day

    The main elements of the WSPA On Your Side brand are displayed in the news conference room.  It keeps the news staff focused on the brand every day in these meetings.  As the meetings progress, each reporter either makes their story pitches in person, or by phone from bureaus in the far flung Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville market that spans two states.  I have been in plenty of those WSPA editorial meetings – and the one thing I have never heard (which I ALWAYS hear in most every other newsroom) is – “I don’t have anything today.”

    The WSPA producers don’t skate through these meetings either.  The meeting leader always starts with the question – “What’s the buzz?  What are people talking about today?”  After several minutes of everyone pitching in (and this is before most of the reporters usually join the meeting) the list usually has 15-to-20 items on it.  Then the reporters start pitching their ideas – and get feedback and questions from the producers and news managers.  The reporters are always required to begin with their On Your Side story ideas for the day.

    Managing Editor Kelly says these enterprise story pitches become a habit due to WSPA’s consistent approach.  Karen says, “It’s not something we do for a couple of weeks, and then forget it.  It is not a fleeting idea, but takes years of daily reminders of our expectations.”  I have been in those WSPA editorial meetings, and have witnessed more than once, when a reporter is sent out of the room to work the phones because they dared to come in empty-handed.

    News Director Cates says, “Our viewers know what we do.  They expect it.  We get dozens of calls and emails each day with story suggestions.”  Cates goes on to say, “We make sure that viable leads are assigned to specific reporters for follow-up.”  Viewers also call, email or Tweet specific WSPA reporters.   Kelly says, “Our reporters develop contacts and turn exclusive branded content because of our reputation and brand recognition.”

    With everyone engaged in the editorial meetings at WSPA, the reporters don’t just get the okay to cover a story they have suggested, but the direction and elements of the story are discussed before they head out the door.  What are the anchor breakout possibilities?  Are special graphics needed?  What will the viewers want to know?  Cates says, “If the On Your Side angle isn’t evident, everyone works together on ways to dig deeper, and add relevance and perspective.”

    If there is breaking news the WSPA managers use these meetings to ask questions of producers and reporters like – “How do we cover this story differently?” and “What perspective and relevance can we add that is impactful to our audience?”  No one leaves the editorial meeting without a complete understanding of the important, branded stories of the day and with initial plans on how those stories will be told by the producers, reporters and anchors.   Of course, many times those morning plans change during the day – but strong communication between the news staff in the field and the Managing Editor, Executive Producer and each newscast producer back at the mother ship allow for the needed adjustments.

    So, the all but lost art of enterprising reporters is alive and well at WSPA.   What about at your shop?

    Jim

     

     

     

     

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  • 9/11 – I remember…

    September 11th, 2011

    As I watch the coverage of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, once again I am struck by the power of television, and the news organizations that bring strong emotions into our lives.  Those emotions are conveyed in many ways – the sadness of the relatives of the 9/11 victims, the images of the horrific day ten years ago when a sadistic enemy used our own airliners to kill thousands of Americans on our own soil for the first time, and through the wonderful stories of the many heroes of 9/11.

    There is one constant in these emotions – the power of seeing these events live while we sit in our homes thousands of miles away.  For all its foibles, live television news has been a powerful force in our lives – in my life – for decades.  Yes, there are many things wrong with television news – but nothing ever invented has gripped my gut like live coverage on television.

    I remember sitting in my freshmen high school English class on November 22, 1963.  It was a Friday and I was looking forward to our football game that night.  Suddenly the principal came on the school’s public address system to tell us President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.  We were instructed to stay in the same room for the remainder of the school day, and he put the live radio coverage on the P.A. system.  While it was a sad, gripping drama the radio coverage was missing something I wanted to see – live pictures of what was happening right now.

    I remember two days later, a Sunday morning on November 24, 1963.  I was a 15-year-old glued to the TV set as I had been all weekend, watching live coverage of the aftermath of the JFK assassination.  They were transferring the alleged shooter – Lee Harvey Oswald – to a different location when suddenly, as I sat in my living room, a man walked in front of him and shot him live on television.

    I remember the next day watching the JFK funeral live on television, when suddenly his 3-year-old son John F. Kennedy, junior stepped forward as the horse-drawn casket passed by. He stood erect, at attention, and snapped a salute to his dead father.  I can still see that image in my mind’s eye 48 years later.  I remember the announcer saying it was the very young man’s third birthday on the day his father was being buried.

    I remember July 21, 1969 as I watched on live television – a man walked on the moon for the first time.  It was surreal – the video was a bit grainy, it was black and white, but it was amazing to see Neil Armstrong bounce down the final steps of the lunar lander as I sat in my home.

    I remember January 28, 1986.  I was now vice president of news at KPNX-TV in Phoenix.  I had CNN on in my office as I always did.  Another space shuttle was being launched from Florida.  The Big Three networks were not covering it live – these launches had become old hat.  I was walking out the door of my office when suddenly the Challenger blew into pieces live on television.  I remember the smoke was oddly colorful – blue and brown shades against the clear Florida sky – as the tragedy unfolded live on TV.  I quickly rushed an anchor to the set – and we reported on the explosion five minutes before NBC scrambled to do a live report.

    I remember September 11, 2001.  It was an unusual Tuesday for me – I was not traveling that day – something I did almost every Tuesday.  My wife Sherri had arrived home late the night before after working at American Airlines – where she assisted customers who needed a flight somewhere, or were stuck somewhere trying to get a flight home.  Sherri was also on the airline’s Care Team.  If there was a crash – she would be one of the people taking the calls from friends and relatives of people on that flight.

    I remember tuning to the Today Show where I saw a smoking tower at the World Trade Center, live on television.  They were saying a small plane had crashed into it on a clear, cloudless morning in New York.  As I watched live suddenly a large plane crashed into the other tower.  It happened so fast, and seemed so unbelievable, that it took a few seconds before I realized what I had just seen on live television.  Then the reports started coming in of commercial airliners being unaccounted for in a number of locations, and the one that had become a fireball into the side of the second tower may have been from American Airlines.

    I woke Sherri up, and she headed into work to start taking those calls – those terrible, grief-stricken calls – from people wondering if their loved ones had been on the American flights that crashed on that horrible day.  My wife was gone for three days while I sat in front of the live television coverage of the horror of 9/11.  It takes a special person to deal with those calls that kept coming in from around the country.  Now, she too, was forever connected to the day America was attacked at home.

    I remember May 1, 2011, late in the evening, when the word started spreading on television and social media – that gutless bastard Osama Bin Laden had been killed by U.S. Navy Seals.  In minutes live television began showing the spontaneous celebrations outside the White House as Americans rejoiced that an evil man had been gunned down.  Some waved American flags.  It was a stirring scene brought into my home on live television.

    And now, on 9/11/11 – once again live television is bringing pictures – in HD now – into our homes so we can be joined as a nation watching another historic day in America.  The live pictures are powerful.  It is what television does best.

    Jim

     

     

     

     

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