Reporters Editing Stories...Bigger Markets?

[NewsChica3]

hey...i'm surprised when i see jobs in bigger markets (than where i'm at now) list editing vid as some reporter duties. ive seen it for some places in flordia and in las vegas.

im wondering if anyone can put two cents in as to if its something they do all the time or just when things get tight.

i 'know' how to edit tape to tape...but that doesnt mean i'm any good at it. -ml

[sinclairscared]

Reporters DO NOT edit in this market.

[NoName]

Learn everything you can and become good at it.
Consolidation and do it all types are the growing choice of station ownership and management.

[NewsChica3]

'sinclair' what market are you in?

reporters dont edit in my market either... 117, and thats why i said i was surprised when bigger markets like vegas and some fl have it down as job requirments.

[sinclairscared]

Rather not say...
Let's just say it's top 25.

[Michigan J. Frog]

Some reporters like to edit. Frees up their photog to shoot another VO or whatever, too.

[2:30]

It's the wave of the future. It's inevitable. It's also a bad idea...but since when has that ever bothered a manager?

[Boots]

"Frees up a photog to shoot a VO" I'd rather be editing your package then shooting that VO. In a perfect world it would be about story telling not vosot patrol.

[Order Up]

I edit and like it. I have watched my story too many times when others edited it and ended up hating it. That was my fault because of bad communication between myself and the photog. (A skill I need to work on.) I like the control when I edit my own stuff.

[Michigan J. Frog]

Originally posted by Boots:
"Frees up a photog to shoot a VO" I'd rather be editing your package then shooting that VO. In a perfect world it would be about story telling not vosot patrol.Right.

But it's not a perfect world and there are fewer and fewer people on staff every year. The news still has to be covered.

[NYC Street]

Stations that build their operations around reporters editing packages ignore the reality that the requirement to *cover* news doesn't end when it's time to put a package together for the 5.

While the trend towards reporters doing all sorts of technical work may be cost efficient, it's part of the overall cheapening of the product: while you're editing, you're missing the late development or interview. While you're shooting you're not getting the extra bit of information that alters the entire story.

A suit will tell you that the company is prepared to accept that loss in order to save the extra salary. Declining ratings and trust for news will tell you what a bad decision that is.

[Shot A Load]

Originally posted by NYC Street:
Stations that build their operations around reporters editing packages ignore the reality that the requirement to *cover* news doesn't end when it's time to put a package together for the 5.

While the trend towards reporters doing all sorts of technical work may be cost efficient, it's part of the overall cheapening of the product: while you're editing, you're missing the late development or interview. While you're shooting you're not getting the extra bit of information that alters the entire story.

A suit will tell you that the company is prepared to accept that loss in order to save the extra salary. Declining ratings and trust for news will tell you what a bad decision that is.IN our shop photogs consitantly end up going out and shooting more than just another VO leaving the reporter to edit. If the photog is in shop he edits. I think it's good that both members af the "team" know how to edit. BTW we have reporters that cut out and go home while the photog works overtime to edit that voiced VOB.

[Reporter Girl II]

I agree - reporters should know how to edit... and even shoot, if they started out one-man-banding it. I've had to pick up the camera once sin my current market (Top 30) - due to the photographer getting sick, and I edited once in the back of the live truck while en route to another live location. We were really desperate in both cases. In general, my offers to shoot and edit in a pinch have been declined. But I certainly don't mind doing it.

[NYC Street]

There's a difference between knowing how to edit - always and obviously a good idea, because it lets you write and generatebetter packages - and being called upon to do edit regularly, always and obviously a bad idea, becuase it limits you in doing the critical work of actually getting and understanding the story which you're packaging.

[Roy Hobbs]

I can edit and shoot, but nothing beats that teamwork between reporter and photog. If you work together as a team, you've both edited the story as you shot and in your head.

Having the photog edit helps you sit back and suggest alternatives. As a reporter I always stand right alongside the photog if possible so I "see" what he sees through the viewfinder.

It always infuriates me when I see a reporter dawdling around doing nothing instead of observing his/her photographer. News isn't about the reporter, and it sure as heck IS about what the phtographer does. Thus endeth the lesson.

[Duh]

In the promotion world, someone who produces and edits is called a "preditor". Would a reporter/editor be a "repeditor"?

[ July 05, 2005, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Duh ]

[LMS]

In general, I think the photographer should edit what was shot, but the reporter should be in the bay while it's happening. The way I see it, if it's a collaborative process in the field, it should be a collaborative process in the edit bay, and as a matter of fact, at my desk as well. I have always welcomed any photographer I have ever worked with to sit in while I write. few take me up on it, but I usually insist on being present during the editing when possible.

FWIW, as recently as when I was in a thirty market, although I was a reporter, there were times I edited, shot and set up the live truck. You gotta know how to do it all. My partner was shooting and the live needed to be set up. I made sure I was checked out and qualified so I could do it when necessary. Sometimes, my partner was running cable and I picked up his gear and did a quick sot - with his permission of course. And my favorite partners were the ones I could trust to get information themselves while I was somewhere else on a scene.

It's all about teamwork and doing what needs to be done.

[Produce man]

Well, since KRON now is all OMB, I think it's safe to say a trend is developing. One had better learn all they can to remain an asset.

[livetobelive]

While it's not a requirement -- I am a reporter in market 7 and I often edit my own vos/vosots. Packages are one thing -- but smaller elements are often knocked out by reporters here. I was shocked.

[BarkieDawg]

NYC Street -

One of the biggest pieces of advice I've given photogs who want to have "their own business" is that you rteally can't be drumming up jobs to do, while you're doing jobs to pay the bills. You can't be out pitching your services while you're doing another job. SO your income suffers.

The same is true of a news operation. You can't be out digging up news while you're out shooting news, while you in the house editing news. You're always gonna miss something. At some point in time these idiot bean counting managers will figure that out. When their people miss the big 4PM factory explosion. because all their one man bands are at the house editing their 5pm packs.

Oh, and yeah, I know at least four New York City market stations where they one man band right now.

[ July 05, 2005, 12:29 PM: Message edited by: BarkieDawg ]

[kneedinthegroin]

I've been in a station that the photogs didn't edit. (not a union thing) They shot the tapes and hung out in the photog lunge. Many of them, around from the days of film, claimed they didn't know how to edit. They'd have to feed raw tape back from live shots for the editors to handle. This was not a huge market. (Mid 50's)

[Basically A Nice Guy]

Bump, to infuse the board with something that apparently was overlooked at the time.

[Charlie Brown]

I really don't mind editing my own stuff.

[Meow Meow]

Even when I was in market 200+ we never edited our own stuff. Yuck. I hate editing.

[Don Konkey]

Originally posted by NYC Street:
Stations that build their operations around reporters editing packages ignore the reality that the requirement to *cover* news doesn't end when it's time to put a package together for the 5.

While the trend towards reporters doing all sorts of technical work may be cost efficient, it's part of the overall cheapening of the product: while you're editing, you're missing the late development or interview. While you're shooting you're not getting the extra bit of information that alters the entire story.

A suit will tell you that the company is prepared to accept that loss in order to save the extra salary. Declining ratings and trust for news will tell you what a bad decision that is.Well, in the real world, and I use that now authoritatively after working for a national agency and now coming home to a small market, things do not work that well. Sure, it would be nice to have a dream team of trained monkeys that each play their role in the life of a news package. For the rest of us that are not that lucky, we have to make do with consolidated workforces. At my shop, the reporters edit their packages and the PA's edit the VO's and VO-Sot's.

Call it cheapening, call it consolidation.... it's reality.

[facts]

I like to edit.. and do so on my "special projects" stories. Not the day to day stuff. top 10 market.

[Roy Hobbs]

Originally posted by Meow Meow:
Even when I was in market 200+ we never edited our own stuff. Yuck. I hate editing.Meow!!! Shame on you! You sound like the infamous Barbie that said "Math is tough!"

Don't you at least like the art of watching a piece come together the way you pictured it in your mind and/or witnessed it as it happened out in the field?

Man, youth is wasted on the wrong people LOL graemlins/hug.gif

[ November 10, 2006, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Roy Hobbs ]

[Diggin' Bear]

I edit my own...every day. It was the custom in our shop, and I prefer having the final say over how the product works. In fact, when we've had problems with photogs - such as, vacations, breaking news, etc...I've even picked up a camera and shot for myself.

Know what? That's fun to do on an occasional basis, but if I had my choice with our chief photo doing the composition and me - I'd take him every single time.

[CJ]

I have to say that it's a valuable skill. For example... You can understand how a story is put together from their point of view and if you move on you can understand how your new photog works.

One thing that you shouldn't do... Is leave your work for the show editor. It's a pain in the a$$ when that happens!

[AnchorsAway]

I'm in a Top 25 and union rules prohibit reporters from editing.

[The Thrill]

I prefer to edit my reporters' stuff...but there have been a couple of reporters over the years whom I consider top-notch editors.

That said...in breaking news or just plain time-crunch situations, there will be times when the reporter needs to edit while the photog sets up the liveshot, fixes a problem, etc.

As a colleague once told me, EVERYONE in a TV newsroom should know how to take a feed and how to edit. Period.

They shouldn't be doing it all that often, but like everybody else in that newsroom, reporters oughta be able to pitch in and help in a crisis. Not ideal, but when necessary...

[Brookstone]

Originally posted by NYC Street:
A suit will tell you that the company is prepared to accept that loss in order to save the extra salary. Declining ratings and trust for news will tell you what a bad decision that is.Oh yeah! Been there and got several t-shirts.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

I often edit my own stories...and enjoy it. I can't tell you how many times I've written to the video, and the shots not match. So I prefer to edit(top80) because it's my own fault if the pkg turns out crappy.
graemlins/face_banghead.gif

[CKMD]

I didn't see the original date and saw a BarkieDawg post and NYC Street and almost died...then I saw the date.

Reporters here don't edit unless they want to...and some do.

[Fire Hydrogant]

Get used to the idea.

My news director last week scared the sh!t out of all of us last week with a Power Point presentation about his recent visit to some convention in Atlanta where they talked about the "technology and the future of television news." Basically, they said technology would eventually consolidate and thus eliminate a lot of the human jobs that currently exist in TV. Imagine one person doing the directing, switching, audio, chyron, rolling videos (tapeless), and operating robotic studio cameras all from one little suitcase-size device.

Also picture a new breed of TV journalists called "backpackers" who shoot, write, edit and feed their stories via wireless internet connection from a laptop computer in the field.

Decisions like this will of course be made by business management types who don't really know the technical end of TV, but whose jobs are to minimize overhead costs and maximize the bottom line. It's coming, the only question is how soon.

[newschick26]

I'm not a reporter-- but a producer, and if I have an idea for a cold open or something, I might edit it myself. I do know how to edit very well, though-- because we have several different shows and the editor sometimes gets behind. I like having this skill and feel useful. I can also shoot. Although I haven't had to do it at this station, at my last one, if there was a shot I wanted and no one around to do it, I would pick up a camera and get it myself. I shouldn't be shocked, but some of the newbies who come in have never picked up a camera or edited a piece of video. I wouldn't be the producer I am today without truly understanding how all the visuals come together.

[soonershooter]

Originally posted by Fire Hydrogant:
[QB]Get used to the idea.


Also picture a new breed of TV journalists called "backpackers" who shoot, write, edit and feed their stories via wireless internet connection from a laptop computer in the field.

QB]Congratulations!
You just identified the Gannett "Backpack Journalist"(BPJ) program! This has been in practice at my station--WFMY in Greensboro, NC--for a little over 2 years. The only part that isn't applicable to us is the wireless feeding part--we're still working on that.
We are on our second set of BPJ's. The first set went in opposite directions: one up the Gannett ladder to become the first BPJ at KUSA in Denver, the other out of the business. There are positions (filled and unfilled) at ALL Gannett stations--union rules permitting. This includes KARE in Minneapolis.
It takes a certain type of person to do the job.

[Chief]

I've always edited my own stories so I really wouldn't trust a photog to put it together the way I want it. I'm sure there are fantastic photogs/editors in some shops, but in others, it pays not only to edit your own pieces, but shoot it as well.

I don't have a problem with one man banding. It's not necessary where I work, but on the show pieces, I much prefer to just schedule a camera and head out alone. Shooting allows a reporter to actually begin the first draft of his script in his head looking through the view finder.

Second draft is in logging the bites and video.

By the time you've written the story, you're already working on the third draft. And that has to make the pieces better in most if not all cases.

Shooting and or editing is not a difficult thing, if that's the objection.

[NYC Street]

Interesting to see this one surface again, particularly with comments from my pal, the late Barkie...

Those "technology convergence" powerpoints have a limited point. Technology has, in fact, changed the way we do our jobs, and sometimes there is some labor savings involved. However, the ability to edit on a laptop and the ability to use a smaller camera haven't changed the fundamentals of reporting, or the amount of time or the number of different skills and discrete tasks it takes to cover a story.

In larger markets it hasn't changed another fundamental: there are lots of us at every story. And that means you're certain to be a distance away from the newsmaker - and if you're too far away, you won't get sound.

There are consultants running around - one of them very prominent, whose sole claim to fame seems to be that he once worked as a minor producer at a network - these consultants are making outrageous claims about the "savings" a station can achieve by going to a one-person band instead of staffing stories conventionally, with at least a shooter and a reporter, if not a two person crew and a reporter.

Not one of those stations who've bought the consultants' patter has improved their newscasts or their ratings. Not one of those stations is known for breaking stories, or covering breaking news well.

Indeed, in this business, one of the greatest truths seems to be that you can't cut your way to success.

[Fake Post]

Believe it or not, I have seen and worked with people who are excellent at reporting, photography at the same time.

I would put their work against any top (I only report-or shoot-or edit) shop.

Problem is with these folks is that they burn out quickly.

When you're doing a OMB, eventually something has to give. For some, it's their sanity, for others an early grave.

[ November 13, 2006, 08:52 AM: Message edited by: Fake Post ]