Story Harvesting
Even though I want to cover the major world stories like ISIS, I always remember that the USC campus is ATVN's priority. I check the Daily Trojan and USC News to find stories relevant to USC students. Not every event at USC is newsworthy, and I check for events that involve significant amounts of money or high profile public figures. Any issue that affects the entire campus is also important.
The first place I check for local news is KTLA5's website. They will often cover stories about strikes or fires that ATVN might be interested in covering. One of the downfalls of the news on their website is that they report on many random acts of violence like gang shootings or some dude lighting himself on fire inside Starbucks. These stories are interesting and relevant to the greater Los Angeles area, but USC students may not find it important to hear about every single shooting that occured in LA County on Monday. Well, the Starbucks story is pretty crazy and interesting, but my next consideration would be how much video we can find on the event. I also consider limitations like how many of our reporters have cars and if certain stories are too far away for us to cover.
When it comes to national stories, I head to NBC's website. Currently, I can expect to find the latest updates on the harsh winter conditions hitting the East Coast. They would also have many different angles on the immigration issue.
For international stories, I rely mainly on CNN. Even if their Breaking News has stayed the same for awhile, I will know that it's the latest update on that story. I keep an eye out for major national stories such as Brian Williams as well as the big international ones such as ISIS.
