Talking Heads

Getting your voice heard above all the commotion in the newsroom is difficult. Finding a spare two minutes to talk to your teammates without getting interrupted is also difficult. Creating a Google doc that you share with your EP and teammates, easy.

With one week of lead producing already under my belt I felt a little more prepared starting my day on Tuesday. I found that communicating through a Google doc was a quick and easy way to share something fast with my producing team. While the Google doc did not replace having an actual face-to-face conversation with my teammates, I was able to quickly glance at what video was ordered and what stories MJs were assigned to. Unfortunately,realizing a Google doc was sometimes as effective as talking was not an easy process. 

I learned two things about my communication skills this week. One, I fumble over my words when I have multiple conversations with different people in a short amount of time and two, sometimes I can't get my point across in an effective, cohesive way. I know my MJs and reporters must have been frustrated with me by the end of our conversation due to my fragmented and incomplete sentences. Eventually, I was able to pause and gather my thoughts and communicate in an effective way, but it definitely took some practice and blank stares. 

The newsroom cannot function without clear and focused direction from those leading it. Communicating with all members of the news team from the reporters, to the web and graphics department, is essential in piecing together the broadcast. Once our team was all on the same page, each element of the newscast flowed nicely.

Broadcast news is all about communication. News can't travel if people aren't writing, listening or reading about it. The task and sometimes challenge for the producer is mastering the art of effective communication across all mediums.