Room for Improvement

There are many sources of news out there, so why should anyone watch ATVN? What does my newscast offer that any one of the other stations airing at 6 p.m. doesn't?

These are the questions I have to ask myself when I'm producing the news. I find that the better the show turns out, the better I have answered those questions. The two are definitely connected. We are halfway through our shows this semester and the goal has changed. I know the basics of how to produce a newscast. Now, I want to produce a great one.

Sometimes it is a little bit disheartening after putting my soul into the newscast that very few people actually tune in at 6 p.m. When I think about it as a viewer, however, I really can't blame them. The competition for a news audience is fierce, especially among college students who are perpetually logged on and plugged in. I need to focus on improving the newscast for the second half of the semester.

First, I would like to make as many stories as possible directly relatable to my audience, which is the typical USC student. ATVN tries to cover USC campus news as well as what affects college students in general. You can't be everything to everyone and ATVN is not going to be replacing CNN any time soon. We should strive to be the leading source for news about USC and dig deeper. Tuesday's assignment desk editors do a great job on scouring the internet and social media to see what people are talking about. Let's keep it up and make sure we have content that keeps people coming back for the next show.

Second, I want to challenge myself to think about the website more when I'm producing. While the show isn't breaking any records, ATVN.org gets a significant amount of traffic throughout the day. I think both the show and the website can improve by increasing the mentions of the website on the show and teasing really good material for the show on the website. Our Twitter and Facebook platforms can also help direct people to the web and to the show. I want to have better communication with the web team and remember to encourage MJs and reporters to send photos and short video clips in before they come back so our website can feature their work. 

Finally, I need to work on story development. If we focus on getting the most relevant stories and we feature them on the web then we have to make sure we are delivering great content. It is very easy to get a minute long news package on the air. It is much harder to deliver a strong, well-shot, balanced and substantive piece. This week I was so pleased that one of Tuesday's reporters, Wan Xu, delivered a package that reflected what I envisioned when she left the newsroom that morning. Developing a story requires work on the part of the reporter and also of the producer. I'd like to be able to help reporters think outside the box for their stories and find a fresh angle that our audience would be interested in watching.