TV news transformed by pandemic

Taping microphones to light stands. Producing newscasts from home. Doing live shots on an iPad.

Local TV journalists across the country are improvising and McGyvering to get the news out to their communities as they cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. We got some insight into what they’re doing on a conference call arranged by the Carole Kneeland Project, a nonprofit that trains news leaders.

Social distancing means no longer using lav mics for interviews but hand-held mics don’t work well from six feet away. Many newsrooms don’t have enough shotgun or boom mics with “fish pole” handled to do the job, if they have any at all. So they’ve taken to using what’s available to extend the reach of hand-held mics, attaching them to light stands, tripods, and even dowel rods from the hardware store.

Most newsrooms are deserted or staffed by a skeleton crew. Morning meetings look a lot different.

With many newscasts fronted by a single anchor instead of a news team, anchors who aren’t on air are still busy. At WTSP in Tampa, Florida, director of content Kelly Frank has anchors doing multi-hour shifts on social media, engaging with the community. Some stations have given anchors green screens and have them doing their newscasts from home. Lyn Plantinga, general manager at WTVF in Nashville, equipped her house-bound anchors with 55″ Roku-connected televisions to use for graphics.

Some local TV competitors are now cooperating to cover the news. In Minneapolis, the four commercial stations and the PBS station set up a news-sharing arrangement, pooling their coverage of news conferences to keep the number of cameras at any one event to a minimum. Stacey Nogy, news director at KARE, says news managers decide who does what during a conference call every morning. “We’re all holding each other up right now,” she said.

What there’s no shortage of is stories, especially about people are helping each other through the crisis. “We put out a call [for stories] and we are flooded,” said Melissa Luck, news director at KXLY in Spokane, Washington. WKOW in Madison, Wisconsin, launched a COVID19 Facebook group to share resources and information. The group quickly grew to more than 7,000 members. “The community can help you [respond to questions],” said news director Ed Reams, who believes that building relationships now may pay off in the long term.

While every newsroom is close to overwhelmed by everything that has to be covered, Michael Fabac, director of news at the News Press & Gazette company, says it’s important to plan ahead. “Put in public information requests now,” he suggested. Ask for local agencies’ emergency plans, emails and text messages including key words. At some point, the crisis will be over and viewers will expect us to hold officials accountable for how they’ve handled it.

 

Image from Laura Harris on Twitter

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