Take Time to Communicate
My experience producing a live newscast has been a great learning process so far. I never thought I would have gained so much knowledge on how to put a 30-minute show together so fast. I was always on the other side of the newsroom working on one story each shift as either an MJ, reporter or anchor, but now it is my turn to be part of the entire process of creating the show. One of the most important things I learned about putting a 30-minute newscast together is communication is key.
When producing a show there are so many elements that go into making a rundown from scratch it is often easy to make some mistakes. It is one thing hearing what the tasks are for each producer, but it is another thing to physically do them with a time constraint. As video producer my first week I assigned MJs to edit videos and didn’t realize until after I checked on the progress of their work, that I needed to do a lot more then just assign. It is easy to tell people what to do, but if there isn’t effective communication then nothing will get done properly. I learned very fast that with every MJ I assigned a task, I spent an extra 10 minutes explaining exactly how to do the task. After I thoroughly showed them on the computer a step-by-step of what to do, I let them take over and complete their work. Once they were done and showed me what they edited together, I could tell how proud they were of what they accomplished.
Since I have been involved with ATVN for a couple years it is easy to think that everyone knows what I am talking about when I say, "Don't forget to put in your CGs, TRTs and out cue." However, this is some of our helpers first time in the media center contributing their work to the show. For the first two weeks of putting on a live 30-minute newscast, it was valuable to spend those extra minutes explaining and creating relationships with the MJs, reporters, anchors and producers. Although no one is perfect and we are all new to our positions, I think we have a strong foundation and will only get better by doing. Communication between everyone in the newsroom is something we do need to work on going forward, but I am very excited to see what Team Tuesday is capable of doing in the upcoming weeks.
