Practice Makes Perfect
The repetition of the production class is really paying off as we get closer and closer to the end of the semester. While the last two Wednesdays have had many breaking news events, my team and I have become excessively better at managing reporters, multimedia journalists and the rundown when stories and new developments are thrown our way.
As a web teammate, I have become much better at multi-tasking and remembering the little details of each story. In the middle of the semester, one of my goals was to strive for quality and not quantity since speeding through each story was hurting the accuracy of the information presented. Since that goal, I have been able to achieve a better balance in creating coverage that people in Los Angeles will care about and in managing the website and the Facebook and Twitter accounts. For instance, when doing a story a few weeks ago about the Veritas Forum coming to USC, I contacted my friend and got a direct quote about how excited they were to be hosting the event.
When contemplating my improvement, I feel I have become much better at dealing with breaking news as a lead producer. As a lead producer earlier in the semester, I struggled to handle a small breaking news story about the Miramonte School teacher. Conversely, this week, I really felt I had great control and news judgment when covering the most recent off-campus shooting and especially the passing of Dick Clark mid-afternoon. The minute I heard about the death of the music pioneer, I started to call and search for professors or colleagues who might have known or worked with the man. Additionally, I immediately was able to take control of the situation and reassign an anchor to write that story, which became a package and a couple of other elements, including Twitter responses.
Even though I have progressed in many areas, I do acknowledge that I still have some areas that need improvement. As much as I do love to talk, communication on a continuing basis is crucial for all teammates, especially as pages of a show are changed at the end of the day. I’d like to thank the studio crew and anchors, especially, for rolling with all the changes I made during this week’s show!
