Amping Up the Morning Meeting
The weekly 8 a.m. morning meeting may seem dreadful and cumbersome to most, but it is one of the most essential parts of creating a newscast. We usually congregate in the editing room in order to get away from the hustle and bustle of the newsroom. The EP starts off by asking for stories included in the wires, followed by local, national and then international stories. When we have a good amount of stories written up on the white board, we then move onto assigning our reporters and MJs to them.
For some reason, there often is not much enthusiasm or energy during the morning meetings, whether it be during the story pitches or the assignments. Maybe it is because college students aren't used to waking up early and getting to the meetings by 8 a.m.? Or maybe our reporters and MJs just aren't interested in the stories going on that day? Whatever the reason is, the situation needs to change, for the benefit of the newscast and everyone working on it.
My first suggestion is to have every single person working on the newscast to attend the morning meeting, whether their shift begins at 8 a.m. or 4 p.m. This may not be realisitic, but I believe that having their attendance would help tremendously. Rather than simply assigning an available MJ or reporter on a story, they will all be able to choose the topic they are most interested in during the morning meeting.
My other suggestion is to have every participant pitch a story he or she truly cares about. Being interested in the topic will definitely push the MJs and reporters to go the extra mile for their story. For example, I personally have little interest in sports, and would not feel motivated or excited at all to cover anything in that arena. However, assign a story related to fashion or beauty to me, and I will go above and beyond to get what I need for it.
The morning meeting should be a time when the ATVN staff is able to share ideas, discuss opinions and build team spirit. Having everyone there in the morning and giving them the opportunity to speak their mind will help make the entire team feel as if they are part of something great.
