Modus Operandi

It's a strange transformation, switching from viewer to reporter.

The perspective I carried with me from outside the tube was of a critical nature, molded by a strong agreement with Jon Stewart et al.'s critiques on whether the media truly fulfills its duty to inform and illuminate its viewers in the industry's quest to maintain profitability.

The other view came from the fact that nobody I knew, who was both under 40 and not in broadcast, watched local news.

These two essential notions shaped my preconceptions of broadcast when I decided I wanted to become a part of how people became informed about the community around them.

Now that I have crossed the boundary from consumer to producer of local news, it's interesting to be on the flip side. What news is deemed worthy of inclusion in the newscast. What, if any, cohesive and consistent framework of criteria for story inclusion is used. Whether stories are shots in the dark, or are maintained as consistent narratives. What events are deemed notable enough for inclusion within that narrative structure.

The way broadcast news works is pretty much the way broadcast news has worked for a long time now. Logo updates, technology upgrades, After Effects, Pathfire, XDCam, HDTV, and even the Internet have not changed the fact that VO's are 25-30 seconds, VOSOTs are 45 seconds, Reporters are off the top of the a-block (mostly), "Good" PKGs start with natural sound and in no circumstances should be over 3 minutes (and that's stretching it), soundbytes under no circumstances should be over 15-20 seconds (and that's stretching it), always use active voice, never use big words or words that aren't conversational, etc.

Though many of these essential cornerstones of broadcast journalism are intuitive, I feel that we still must differentiate between rules that rely upon dogmatic tradition and those that make sense, no matter how long that rule has been in application. We must not be afraid to make changes, because adaptation as an industry is essential at this point.

The crisis local print newspapers are facing is a canary in a coal mine for our industry. The era of a news cycle with the release of information coming once a day in the morning is being kept alive on life support by those who need the "feel" of that paper in their hands... a demographic that is gradually disappearing. Local newspapers have been forced to adapt, and those who don't transition to maintaining a stellar internet presence will become extinct. Some newspapers are even experimenting crossing over into videojournalism, an avenue that might become direct competition down the road. And with our own local television news cycles coming only at set, predetermined times a few times a day, it's hard not to see that with more on-demand programming, print's challenge will very soon become our own as well.

Which brings this long pedantic diatribe to my point: What this site is about.

It's for others in the same position, broadcast journalists who are figuring out the personalities and egos of their industry, feeling the strange juxtaposition of being so upset you want to bang your head against a wall one minute and loving your job so much you thank your lucky stars your news director somehow picked you out of a bin of resume tapes the next, sharpening of the knife that is your journalistic acumen and being witness to lowest common denominator journalism in your own market, and the lessons learned which hopefully will prepare someone else who will act with more foresight than I did in a given situation.

It's for those who want an inside peek at what it's like to be a television reporter. The trials and tribulations, ethical dilemmas, and observations on the challenges of becoming more than just being on tv but an actual journalist.

And it's to start a discussion about what aspects of broadcast journalism need to change, and what aspects we need to keep in order to entice younger generations to start watching local news.

If enough traffic picks up, comments will be enabled in the near future. Of course, you're always free to email me at kdavis2600@gmail.com with your own experiences or thoughts, all of which I will try to post.

In no way shape or form will I attribute any absolute certainty to the opinions, observations, and anecdotes contained within.

Just think of it as if Alice chronicled her journey to those below as she began down the rabbit-hole.