The Little Details are Just as Important

While there are many things that are important for putting together a newscast, some details are often repeatedly overlooked. When mistakes are made to these details and not fixed, it can lead to some major problems.

CGs are one thing that definitely needs more attention. Many times MJs are pressed for time and trying to finish editing before their shift ends. Because of this, they often say they are done and the video is sent, but the CGs are not added and the runs and TRTs are forgotten as well. This is something we all need to be more careful about and help to remind everyone about.

Another detail that I see slip through the cracks a lot is end of the day copyediting. Many times when stories are assigned and it says that an MJ has finished writing them, it gets marked as being DONE in the writer’s column. Most of the time when this happens, important errors are not caught and spelling, grammatical, and sometimes factual errors are made. This usually happens for the late in the day stories and it is something we need to be more aware of.

Another detail that I find I need to work on is remembering to put the OTS cutlines in the script side as well as the rundown. On Thursday, I remembered at 4:30p.m. I had not put them in and that is a big inconvenience for the director when they come into the newsroom.

While there are so many pieces that make the newscast run smoothly, it is often the little details that can make it fall apart. Now that we all have a good understanding of how the show works, we need to not forget the little details that can make our shows be a perfect show!