Dare to Prepare

Making a newscast is a task that involves preparation, knowledge of relevant issues, and an ability to think on your feet. As a Thursday producer, we only have 45 minutes to complete our morning meeting before two of the producers have to leave for class, so it is doubly important for us to have a speedy meeting. I’m learning that the best way for me to be efficient during the morning meeting is to wake up by 5:30 to surf the net for interesting story developments and watch the morning news.

By doing so, I normally have a good idea of what our top stories will be before the day even begins. (Of course, breaking news is the main exception to this rule.) I also am more aware of which angles we can cover, and which journalists we can send out to the story. This week, for example, we were able to send out an MJ to an early court hearing involving the Bryan Stow case – which she might not have otherwise been prepared to attend. 

After pitching a story in the morning meeting, it is vital that we continue to update the story by checking the wires throughout the day. The consequence of not doing so is being the only station in Los Angeles without the latest update, thereby rendering your story virtually irrelevant. It’s easy to make decisions in the morning meeting and execute those same decisions throughout the afternoon, assuming that the information will remain constant – but the value of news is the “present”, and the present is constantly changing by the second.