Hurricane!
The news executives and staffers who were there explained how they served
their viewers, and survived.
Deteriorating Paradise: Station Fights To Save Region
The great barrier islands, bays, and salt marshes of North Carolina were threatened.
The VP/GM of WRAL-TV, Raleigh, John Greene, shared with The Rundown the specifics of a major station
project.
Summer Heat:
Covering The Great Blackout Live
Fifty million people lost their electricity on August 14, 2003. In
spite of incredibly difficult conditions, broadcasters jury-rigged
equipment and devised creative solutions to stay on the air and serve
their communities. Several executives discussed how they did it:
Ken Plotnik, New Director, WABC-TV, New York
Dianne Doctor, News Director, WCBS-TV, New York
Deborah Collura, News Director, WDIV-TV, Detroit
Jim Tortora, News Director, WIXT-TV, Syracuse
Adam Bradshaw, News Director, WHEC-TV, Rochester
Here are lessons they learned that could be incorporated into your own
disaster planning.
Station Wins Court Fight For Mayor's E-Mails, Calendar
The business of how New Orleans is being run --- and how billions of federal dollars are being spent --- is a major issue in the post-Katrina era.
The news team of WWL-TV went to court to get the records that would show what the mayor has been doing. The answer from the city: Oooooops! Much of it has been erased and lost.
At one point, the mayor threatened to meet Executive News Director Chris Slaughter in the parking lot behind the station. Slaughter explained it all for The Rundown.
Choose Your News:The Ultimate Interactivity
A new franchise is taking interactive news to a whole new level.
News Director Randy Dixon explained how viewers are choosing their news and participating in an innovative
newsgathering experiment at KATV-TV, Little Rock.
Columbine:
Viewer Sensitivities Were Key
The live images were monitored carefully when two young men killed 12 other students, a
teacher and themselves at Columbine.
Patti Dennis, KUSA-TV's News Director, told us, "We had pictures coming in from
hospitals that I told them absolutely, positively, I did not want to see on our air. I
forbid it!"
Newscast
expanded
at 10 p.m.
KOAT-TV, Albuquerque, expanded the 10 p.m. weekday newscasts to an hour, and quickly saw
audience growth. The plan was explained by Mary Lynn Roper, President and General Manager.
Officers
raiding meth labs: Many are ill from exposure
Former Utah narcotics officers, who put their lives on the line when they raided illegal
meth labs a decade or two earlier, have died or are battling unusual illnesses.
The chemicals used to make the meth are deadly.
The story was investigated by the team at KSL-TV, Salt Lake City. Reporter Debbie
Dujanovic found 58 police officers who had investigated meth labs in the previous two
decades.
News Director Con Psarras explained how they put the project together, and told us,
"We only found a few officers who didn't have a serious health problem. When compared
to the average rates of illness and cancer among that age group, the statistics were
indicative of a pretty big problem."
Of the 58 officers, 40 were sick or dead.
High
on meth, speeding, killing --- and still driving
A log truck driver kept on rolling, in spite of overloading his truck and causing a fatal
accident. The driver was off the road for only about one week after the accident.
KING-TV's Chris Ingalls found there was no penalty, no suspension of his license, nothing
---he just went right back to driving. There should have been three strikes against him.
He was speeding. His truck was overloaded. He tested positive for meth.
Changing the culture: A 24-Hour web
channel
Web sales more than doubled in one year at WIBW-TV, Topeka. General Manager Jim Ogle
shared with us the strategy that is working for his team.
Web
Video Journalist Hired
A photographer has become talent and is producing stories for the Web site of WPRI-TV,
Providence. He shoots, writes, and narrates the pieces. News Director Joe Abouzeid and his
team explain how it works.
Broken
School Buses
Kept Rolling
Safety violations in the Indianapolis school bus fleet were so severe that the state
police began an immediate investigation after they were contacted by WTHR-TV. News
Director Carolyn Williams and investigative reporter Bob Segall explained how they
executed their project.
Rare
Interviews, SWAT Team Tapes Give Depth to School Shooting Anniversary Special
A deranged, armed drifter entered a Colorado high school. He took seven students hostage.
A special on the hostage drama was produced by KMGH-TV, Denver.
It featured interviews with people who had never talked about it publicly.
"If we were going to do something, we wanted to do something significant and
impactful, and that meant we needed to get a lot of players involved," said News
Director Byron Grandy.
Violent criminals
get a break because of loopholes
Because of plea bargains and bureaucratic mistakes, sex offenders are not being classified
in the most serious categories and notification is not required --- even for some of the
most dangerous offenders. And in Maryland, judges have the power to modify an offender's
sentence at any time. WEWS-TV, Cleveland. WBFF-TV, Baltimore.
Make Your Station's Web
Site A Powerful Asset
Your station's reputation and brand do not automatically move from the broadcast to the
broadband media. Here is advice on how to compete from top consultants and award-winning
Web managers.
Protecting Crews and Gear From Unruly
Crowds
Jubilant fans of the Los Angeles Lakers set fire to two police cars and damaged news vans
during an unruly celebration after the team's championship victory. It didn't
particularly appear there was going to be vandalism and violence. But it grew.
At one point, a photographer told his reporter, "Run for your life!"
Tornadoes
Drive Record Web Traffic For Live Blogging, Viewers' Photos
Live weather blogging proved so popular that response far surpassed the initial
expectations.
Valuable local information flowed in from people as they simultaneously received the
specific details of the storm and connected with an authoritative source. The general
manager at WIBW-TV, Topeka, Jim Ogle, told us, "As they interacted with us as the
storm approached their area, they would write things like, 'You don't know how much it
means to me to be able to hear this from you first person."
Dog
bite zones: Hot spots were identified
Anchor Artie Ojeda of KNSD-TV, San Diego, created a franchise of "zones" pieces,
in which he built stories around public statistics, sorted the data and posted the numbers
online by zip code or neighborhood.
Official
cars: Should the mayor be riding in a gas guzzler?
The cars the politicians were driving on the public's dollar were investigated by reporter
Bill Sheil of WJW-TV, Cleveland.
Dirty
and dangerous swimming pools exposed
Half of the swimming pools county flunked their first inspection of the summer. In
Charlotte, WCNC-TV reporter Stuart Watson revealed that problems ranged from medical
issues to safety hazards.
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Tracking the stimulus billions
Viewers Want To Know
Where Is The Money Going?
 The federal government is starting to spend $787 billion
taxpayers' dollars to hopefully stimulate the depressed economy.
Will it have a positive impact and create jobs? Will it produce something
valuable and lasting or just be a temporary infusion that is dissipated? Will
some of it be siphoned off by political insiders, their cronies and allied
special interest groups?
The impact of the stimulus package is being tracked aggressively by WFOR-
TV, Miami.
"As in any good investigation, the mantra is 'follow the money.' What other
story could that apply to more than the stimulus money?" says Adrienne Roark,
News Director.
A significant portion of the public is following the massive money payout.
"Our viewers on our Facebook fan page bring it up every day. They want to
know, 'Where is this money going?' We've got to pay attention to
this," she says.
Roark and reporter Stephen Stock explain how they are covering this.
Used Car Buyers Beware Of
Incomplete Vehicle History Reports
Investigators at WAGA-TV, Atlanta, discovered that as good as CARFAX
is, it doesn't always have all the information --- and some unscrupulous
car dealers are using that.
Subscribers: The full
details are here online.
Investigations:
Foreclosure Woes, Summer Dangers
Expensive Obscure Studies
Here are several interesting investigations that worked well at
the stations where they originated.
Foreclosure problems
KUSA-TV, Denver
Foreclosures are still plaguing many communities,
and creating more problems.
Summer dangers: Inspections of amusement rides and
pool drains
WISH-TV, Indianapolis
Few states have a enough inspectors to check every
threat to public safety. Carnivals, fairs and pools are many. Investigators
are few.
Tax dollars may be funding research studies of questionable value
WSOC-TV, Charlotte
An analysis of research projects funded with taxpayer dollars raised questions
about the value of some expensive studies.
The State Of Your Money:
Hold Government Accountable
State workers and pols are sitting on expensive chairs in Indiana.
There was strong viewer response as the investigative reporter Bob Segall at WTHR-TV
found officials purchasing new furniture even though the state had a warehouse loaded with excess
material. Taxpayers were so outraged over wasteful spending that a second story
on state agencies purchasing promotional trinkets scored well.
"People have their antenna way up. There is so much
scrutiny going on over their own spending that these stories struck a
nerve.
"People are angry about it.
It garnered a lot of attention and a lot of talk."
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Jim Tellus
President and
 General Manager
WTHR-TV, Indianpolis
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Help Viewers
Save And Protect Their Homes
Here are stories relating to the economic downturn and
housing problems that could be happening in your market.
Subscribers, please find your complete report in our archives. Thank you.
Help Viewers
Protect Their Money
If people understand potential scams and their own
rights, they may avoid major financial losses. Several stations' investigators
have just produced reports explaining dangers.
These include:
Pay Me
WAGA-TV, Atlanta
There are employers who are stiffing workers, refusing
to pay them. However, there are things a worker can do to get their boss to
pay up.
Zombie Debt
KSDK-TV, St. Louis
Old, long-forgotten obligations can sometimes be reactivated. Consumers
are often unaware of the possibility.
Debt Negotiators
WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh
They promise to negotiate successfully with a person's
creditors.
But are they really useful? |
Subscribers: Please access this report in
our archives. Thank you.
Schools In
Crisis
No Room For Waste
School districts should be focused on invested the money they have
available into improving the education they are offering. There are
controversies about how officials are spending taxpayers' funds.
In Phoenix, KPNX-TV devoted much of a 5 p.m. newscast to the current
education funding crisis there. Vice President/News Director Mark
Casey explained to us how they brought the project to air.
In Pittsburgh, WPXI-TV discovered expensive fuel contracts for school
buses. Officials had locked in when the prices were much higher last
year.
In St. Louis, KSDK-TV examined claims that a major firm contracted
with school districts and then marked up office supplies.
In Tampa, WFTS-TV found about half of the children receiving the free
or low cost federal food programs aren't eligible.
Subscribers: Please continue this story in our archives. Thank
you.
Some Nonprofit CEO Salaries Appear
Excessive During Economic Crisis
People want to know that if they donate to a charity the money will go
to help someone in need.
In Charlotte, the 990 tax forms that nonprofits are required to file
with the government were analyzed by reporter Jim Bradley of WSOC-
TV.
He discovered that the leaders of 11 nonprofit agencies had salaries
in excess of $100,000.
"The point was this: if they can afford to pay their people so much
money, do they really need to receive money from United Way donations,
and could that money be better used elsewhere?" says Kim Holt, Senior
Executive Producer, Special Projects.
In Louisville, WHAS-TV investigated a "church" that tells the public
it is helping the homeless. Reporter Adam Walser found that the much
of the donated money is used for something else.
Subscribers, you
can access the full story here online.
Take Charge
Thursday
Help Viewers Take Control
| In response to job losses and the down economy, news managers at WNDU-TV,
South Bend, have developed a regular franchise to help viewers take charge of their
personal finances. |
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Take Charge Thursday with detailed information on a specific
financial topic is available every Thursday during the news block from 5 to 6:30 p.m. |
"We began looking for what we could do to lift spirits and talk about
positive things. "We wanted something that would empower people and would be tied
into a specific day of the week," says News Director C.J. Beutein.
Subscribers, for the full explanation
of how they produce this franchise, please print your issue from our archives. Thank you. |
Help Viewers Get
Jobs
 People need advice on where to find openings and
how they should prepare so they can stand out when they apply. TV news teams have provided help.
Financial
Fitness Boot Camp
A major project combining financial information and advice aired on WCNC-TV, Charlotte.
News Director Mary Alvarez and reporter Anna Crowley explained how it was executed.
Help
people survive in hard times
Viewers were urged to help tackle hunger in a campaign created by WFMJ-TV, Youngstown. The
details were explained by News Director Mona Alexander and General Manager John Grdic.
Kmart Crashes, Executives Fly High
As hundreds of Kmart stores closed and thousands of workers lost their jobs, an
investigation by WXYZ-TV, Detroit, raised serious questions about how the company's
managers were spending its money in 2002. While clerks earning $10.35 an hour were
being asked to make sacrifices to save the company, executives were flying in a fleet of
private jets, driving luxury cars and living in palatial homes.
The station's General Manager, Grace Gilchrist, told us, "These compensation packages
seemed to be so out of tune with the ethics the company was built on that it struck a
chord with us. This behavior was also very puzzling to the shareholders and to the
employees."
Exposing
Outrageous Perks: Workers Take Cuts, Execs Fly High
Auto industry executives were flying high in company jets on personal business, while jobs
were slashed and workers were being asked to take cuts in salary and benefits. It was
examined in 2006 by WXYZ-TV, Investigative reporter Steve Wilson documented the use of
corporate jets by executives --- and often their families ---for purely personal trips.
Trip after trip after trip, the camera rolled as the executives climbed aboard to travel
to their second homes or on vacations.
Group
Aims To Be Viewer Choice
For Economic Information
A yearlong viewer economic survival project has been launched by Hearst-Argyle.
Project Economy will appear throughout 2009 on air and online.
 "The emphasis will be
on localism, and our objective is to serve as the local source in our markets for economic
news and information," says Brian Bracco, Senior V. P. News for Hearst-Argyle.
Subscribers please print out the
article in our archives. Thank you.
Or if you prefer to have it e-mailed to you, as many
subscribers do, please let us know.
| Book is a valuable tool for
staff development Don't
Get Distracted:
Stay Focused on Your Core Product |
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An updated edition of a valuable newsroom resource has just been published.
Delivering viewer-centered information is the focus of The Producing Strategy, Version
2.0, by veteran consultant Larry Rickel and longtime successful anchor Ed Sardella. |
| Their premise: everyone in the newsroom is a producer. We must all
be involved in strong storytelling and making the newscast a special experience for the
viewer. Don't abandon your power base while upgrading your new media, says Rickel.
As broadcasters move onto new platforms, it is more important than ever to stay
focused on the role the TV newscast plays in your four-screen strategy.
Rickel and Sardella explain their theories, and the value of their book. |
|
Advancing
The Story:
Broadcast Journalism In A Multimedia World |
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Broadcast journalism is a good starting point for multimedia
storytelling. Two broadcast veterans explain how a person with television skills can
expand their abilities an excel in the new media. Debora Halpern Wenger and Deborah Potter
offer specific techniques and strategies for maximizing the advantages of each platform. |
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Copyright 2009, Standish Publishing Company. This material is for
your personal use as a subscriber, and may not be reproduced or transmitted to other
parties of any kind.
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The Rundown has reported weekly on local
television news, programming, and community service projects since 1981. This material now
fills a massive hard copy archive of 7,000 pages --- easily the largest record of hometown
television's activities. Key articles are available in our online archives.
Search
Rundown Archives
Free
45-page Report
Hostage
Crises:
Do You Let Gunmen Control Your Air?
When an upset, armed individual is threatening to kill
someone, the police commanders supervising the emergency response and the news executives
in charge of covering the confrontation have many sensitive decisions.
Here's how broadcast executives have dealt with these dangerous emergencies.
TV Reporting:
Covering Police and Crime
Terrorism
Threat: Manhole Covers Left Unlocked
Underground cables carrying electricity and computer data --- the lifelines for America's
cities --- are exposed. WABC-TV's Jim Hoffer discovered that Con Ed has not locked its
manhole covers --- despite Homeland Security recommendations.
Attack
On America
At first it appeared to be a terrible aviation accident at the World Trade Center.
It turned out to be much more. Here is how it was covered by the news teams on the
scene.
Security
gaps are many
Long before, and then after, the terrorist attacks of September, 2001, several television
stations conducted investigations into lax security at airports and other major public
facilities. Most of these reports were prepared after the 2001 attacks. In some cases, the
broadcasters were credited with helping to make positive changes.
A
Young Kennedy Dies
When John Kennedy, Jr. and his wife vanished off Massachusetts, hometown TV stations
provided long hours of coverage, serving viewers anxious for any news of the president's
son.
The
Crash of Flight 191:
Tragedy at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
The news crews had close access to the scene. They were searching for accurate
information, but had to be very careful about what they showed.
Winter
Weather Hampers Rescue at Denver Crash
A Continental jet flipped and broke apart on a snowy runway at Stapleton Airport. The
blizzard-like conditions which may have contributed to the accident made coverage
particularly difficult.
Media
In Montoursville:
Trying To Be Very Sensitive
When TWA Flight 800 exploded in 1996, more than 20 victims were from one small town in
Pennsylvania. Newspeople tried to be sensitive to the grieving relatives, friends
and townspeople. At the same time, the reporters and photographers were dealing with
their own feelings of sadness and shock.
The
White Bronco Chase
Accused of murder, O.J. Simpson travelled along the highways of Los Angeles, and one
of the largest television audiences ever watched it live.
Murders at School:
San Diego Shootings
Accurate information was difficult to obtain. Students were interviewed with care.
Oklahoma
City Explosion: Covering the Terror
That this could happen in America's heartland was unthinkable. Even more astounding
was the news that Americans had unleashed this violence on fellow Americans, murdering
more than 150 innocent men, women and children.
Two reporters, four stories, one big
award
The judges awarded a Peabody to the investigative unit of WFAA-TV, Dallas, for the overall
quality of its work. The station won for four separate stories submitted by investigative
reporters Brett Shipp and Byron Harris.
The Peabodys do not recognize categories, nor are there a set number of awards given each
year. Although the entries were submitted separately, Executive News Director Michael
Valentine said it was the caliber of the work by the unit as a whole that made it a
winner.
Students drinking contaminated water
Youngsters are being exposed to lead every day in Los Angeles. The surprising source ---
the drinking fountains at their schools -- - was revealed by KNBC-TV's Joel Grover.
A canoe trip across wild, remote Maine was organized by WGME-TV, Portland and the Press Herald.
News Director Kevin Lynch explained this big adventure.
Museum Broadcast
Communications
The MBC is a not-for-profit organization that has offered opportunities
for public learning to a diverse population since 1987 in Chicago.
Its mission is to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform, and entertain
through our archives, public programs, screenings, exhibits, publications and online
access.
Live. Local. BROKEN News. The Re-engineering of Local TV
offers strategies to survive the extraordinary changes underway in technology and audience media habits.
These are the theories of the veteran consultants at Audience Research And Development.
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