It’s 8:30. The morning meeting is getting started. You have a great idea for a story about the county budget stalemate, but when you begin to describe it people start fidgeting. Finally, the managing editor says, “It’s an important topic, but there are no pictures. It’s a newspaper story. We’ll do a 15 second reader.”
This all too familiar scenario is played out in newsrooms around the country, probably every day. So how can we take tough topics that often die untimely deaths and turn them into great storytelling, the kind viewers will remember and producers will want in their newscasts?
In April and May, 1999, two stations participated in a NewsLab experiment designed to answer that question. We set out to help them produce interesting and memorable packages on challenging topics. To do that, we developed a plan designed to make the morning meeting a source of support and creative brainstorming for these tough-to-tell topics.
KGTV in San Diego and KVOA in Tucson signed up for the experiment. Each station chose a topic and someone to advocate for that topic.
In San Diego, managing editor J.W. August was designated as the advocate for stories about the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). At KVOA, reporter Sandy Rathbun took on the advocate role for stories about the county budget crisis and stalemate.
Former news director Irv Kass4 coordinated the experiment. Working closely with the advocates and their news directors, Kass developed strategic plans for each station. These documents set deadlines for the three-week process.
During the first week the stations selected the topics and did preliminary research. In the second week, specific story ideas developed and the advocates made sure stories were set up for the final week, when the packages would be produced.
At KGTV, J.W. August chose reporter Kim Edwards and photojournalist Richard Klein to work on the project. During the course of the experiment, the team developed stories on SANDAG, a little understood but important local agency. SANDAG is responsible for 750 million dollars that are spent in the region. It’s made up of 18 city governments and the county. In the station’s first package, Edwards and Klein compared SANDAG to a wrestling team, with some heavyweights like San Diego and other smaller cities. Their opponents are other regions seeking federal money. When the team works together, the story explained, the region wins.
After the package aired, the newscast producer, who resisted the package in the morning meeting, was won over. He could see that good, creative story-telling can turn tough topics into interesting television. He said he’d be more receptive to similar ideas in future morning meetings.
In Tucson, the county government faced a budget crisis. To raise more money, four county supervisors favored a new sales tax. One supervisor said no. In Arizona, you need a unanimous vote to pass a sales tax.
In order to tell this story and grab the viewers’ interest, the station used a simile. They compared the board to a quartet in harmony, with a soloist playing a different tune.
Using a clip of a barbershop quartet singing a song with lyrics that say, “Money, money, money, ain’t it funny, how we’re always out of money,” the package was effective. And having seen how well it worked, the morning meeting became a source of creative thinking for future stories on the budget. Click here to view story.
Each station produced additional packages on the selected topics. At KVOA, they followed up with a story about cutting services when a community doesn’t have the revenue it needs. They used a market basket simile, to show that the county has to make choices similar to those individuals make when they shop.
KGTV did a follow-up report on SANDAG’s role in funding transportation.
The story worked well because it was personalized using a bus commuter as the main character. In Southern California the car is king, but this commuter bucked the trend and felt like royalty, having a wonderful travel experience on a half empty bus.
The experiment was designed to be replicated. It did not remove the participants from daily news responsibilities. They did not get a week to work on the project exclusively. They produced other packages while they were learning their topics. In the middle of the experiment, a major news story intervened–the shootings at Columbine High School. We didn’t cancel the experiment. We delayed it a few days and then moved forward.
Each station felt the experiment succeeded. We learned that if you decide to cover a particular topic you can produce fine work but it helps if you designate responsible members of your station team as advocates. And that person can’t do it alone. At both stations, the advocates enlisted others to create an informal team with a shared mission. Another key to success was in the planning. We helped the stations set specific goals, with dates and deadlines for stories to make air. That established the necessary lead-time for advocates to contact sources and gather elements that made the stories work.
References:
- We decided to work in two medium market stations fairly close to each other geographically. We asked six stations in San Diego, Las Vegas, and Tucson if they wanted to participate. The two stations selected were most enthusiastic about the experiment, and were willing to begin it right away.
- KGTV is the ABC affiliate in market #26.
- KVOA is the NBC affiliate in market #78.
