A New Assignment Desk - Your Input Needed

[sapphoto]

I am the assignment editor(only one) at a 75-100 market in the midwest.

I get a chance to get a new desk layout. I've been asked to give my wish list to the engineering/building people.

I've only been at the desk for 1 1/2 years.

What would you ask for?

Scanners, monitors and what should be on(or accessible), and other hardware/software/etc.

Thanks for helping a deskie out.

[Jax]

At least four scanners, if it's reasonable, get 10.

One thing I always like having is a seperate monitor for each TSL site. They only need to be about 3 inches or so, just so I could see which lives were up at a glance.

[MoistureFluxCapacitor]

E-mail the folks at KDVR in Denver and see if they can take a few pics of their layout for you.

I was the Sr. Deskie there when the station was built and got to hand pick how we set things up...and it was the Starship Enterprise of Assignment Desks by the time we were done.

Tons of workstations...radios, scanners, monitors, even a record deck so that we could roll on city cams, take tape feeds.

It was a very efficient setup.

[hoosiergirl]

I've worked in several newsrooms where the desk is actually a tier higher than the rest of the newsroom which assignment editors found helpful. You can see who's in the newsroom better and direct from there. I would also make sure you have tons of extra room to organize phone books, newspapers, media guides, recycling of dumb faxes etc.

[vuphinder]

Wide open spaces where you can read the newspaper and press releases to decide what you will send the reporters out on that day.

[!]

even a record deck so that we could roll on city cams, take tape feeds.

Ah, the perks of non-union markets!

[Sigonfile]

An assignment desk that rises above the newsroom a bit. (No more reporters hiding in their cubicles). A video assignment screen on the wall. A full scale City map with GPS pings for all your news crews in the field. Scanners banked off in categories.. one stack of fire, city, county, state, ect. Eng/Sat monitors to tell when your remote shots are tuning in. Interface switcher?PA to communicate with control room/ ENG, editing, studio, dressing room, ect.
Comfy chairs and a whip.

[Bureau Chief]

For years we had a large white dry erase board for story assignments and updates like most newsrooms have. We have plans in the works to replace it with two large LCD screens, one at each end of the newsroom, sort of like airline landing/arrival set ups. It will list each story, the current status, and who has been assigned it.

We also have long range plans to move the AE desk back about 8 feet into its own alcove so that the constant crap from the scanners dosent interfer with newsroom reporting and hopefully will lower the stress level a notch or two.

[!]

What would you ask for?
Assignment Editors who don't get all their news from scanners, press releases, and newspapers would be the best investment of all, certainly more useful than all the technology mentioned in this thread.

[Rambunctious]

A small fridge, a microwave and a urinal so you don't ever have to leave.

:D

[Old Shooter]

Scanners or radios that with alphanumeric readouts as to which jurisdiction you are listening to. Can be very helpful if you are scanning outlying areas rather than having a dedicated radio.

Competition monitors where you control the volume.

Tie in to your RTS or headset routing

At least one more phone than the maximum number of people working the desk at any time.

If this is a new install LOTS AND LOTS of AC outlets. I never ran a desk without 18 powerstrips strung everywhere.

If you have a major airport have a large scale map of the field showing runways taxiways etc.

You will get pushback on this but I feel it is EXTREMELY important and every one I have installed eventually got used. A phone line that is not part of the station phone system but is a single line run directly to the desk. Preferably from a different location than the station demark. Phone systems fail at the worst times and a cut line or fire in the phone room takes you out of the game really quick. Also when **it hits the fan cell service will be spotty at best. This is why I am still a fan of pagers, They're cheap and they always work.

Also if you have your own 2way system don't let them think it can be replaced with cell phones.

Design your desk for comfort and daily use but make sure you spend some time thinking about how it will function in the most critical moments when all hell is breaking loose in your city..

[Obewon]

As much soundproofing as you can possibly install

[SamG]

Antenna lines for the scanners that go to your roof.

[Sigonfile]

two tasers....one marked "News director" the other, "Executive Producer":thumbsup:

[Sir Dropham Pants]

A Jabba The Hutt style trap door for whiny staffers who come to complain about their assignments.
example:
Reporter: "But city council meetings are boring!"
You: "Oooh. Ahhh Ahh Ahhh." (pushes button) ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0pFDEfbks

[ae468]

Don't forget to get at least one television at the desk. You will want to watch the competition, or the national nets to see what's happening, and what they've got.

And don't anyone say anything about watching network or the competition in town, we ALL do it! :)

[CJ]

If you have your way, i'd ask for 2 smaller LCD monitors: 1 for your lives/city cams, the other to watch the competition and the cable Nets. Plus, get your own TV (with Cable) so you can watch the same thing except w/ volume.

Also, scanners that are organized so when someone hears something on a scanner they can tell you what scanner they heard it on.

[vuphinder]

A big red "X" on the wall where one would bang their head repeatedly.

[hoosiergirl]

A Jabba The Hutt style trap door for whiny staffers who come to complain about their assignments.
example:
Reporter: "But city council meetings are boring!"
You: "Oooh. Ahhh Ahh Ahhh." (pushes button) ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0pFDEfbks

Love it. That had me laughing.

[Sultanosurf]

Clear line of sight to cubicles also allows access for deep throws. Which is why my office in the back of the newsroom always had broken picture frames.

Hey, and not one post about shooters who whine about their assignments? Bias!!

[CKMD]

two tasers....one marked "News director" the other, "Executive Producer":thumbsup:

Weird...I have one marked Assignment Desk and use it every day because of all the news that we miss or the decisions made to cover non-stories from the paper.:moon:

I'd love to be able to change the set-up we have our desk in now.

But, seeing as our company is a cheap and is firing production people to save 20 grand a year, it's not going to happen.

Soon, they'll see the assignment desk as non-essential and tell us to read the paper....since they are a newspaper company.

[Bureau Chief]

WTOP in DC just got a new newsroom. Pretty nice...heres the video.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1362462

[Sultanosurf]

Glass enclosed. To muffle the screams.

Bonneville (aka the Church), has always done things nice. TOP is a great station, although it's a little weird to hear news on FM.

Sigonfile & CK, forget the tasers, try these: (Sorry, couldn't resist)

http://members.aol.com/sbpont/phlog/006.jpg

[photogguy]

Assignment Editors who don't get all their news from scanners, press releases, and newspapers would be the best investment of all, certainly more useful than all the technology mentioned in this thread.

And how are you going to know about the spot news that comes across the scanners daily?

We also have long range plans to move the AE desk back about 8 feet into its own alcove so that the constant crap from the scanners dosent interfer with newsroom reporting and hopefully will lower the stress level a notch or two.

Maybe not that good of an idea. If you move the scanners where the sound doesn't bother people in the newsroom, you lose those ears listening to the scanner, ears that might pick up something an AE didn't hear because he/she was on the phone.

Don't forget to get at least one television at the desk. You will want to watch the competition, or the national nets to see what's happening, and what they've got.

And don't anyone say anything about watching network or the competition in town, we ALL do it! :)

Try for one monitor for every news competitior in the market, as well as your network, CNN, and Fox News.

[!]

And how are you going to know about the spot news that comes across the scanners daily? I didn't say "eliminate the scanners." Some useful news comes from them.

But the most important stories in your community are not usually heard over a scanner. 95% of that stuff won't matter two days from now.

Stories that matter come from journalists who know the community, have contacts, and work them.

[photogguy]

I didn't say "eliminate the scanners." Some useful news comes from them.

But the most important stories in your community are not usually heard over a scanner. 95% of that stuff won't matter two days from now.

Stories that matter come from journalists who know the community, have contacts, and work them.

I didn't say "eliminate", either. But if you move them back into an alcove to "quiet" the noise in the newsroom, you move them away from ears that help to hear about big stories, as they're happening, stories that otherwise will not be known about in the newsroom until seen on the competitor's newscast. I mean, you can't work contacts if you don't know about the spot news that's happening right now.

Also, 95% of ALL the news that's aired won't matter two days from now.

[!]

I didn't say "eliminate", either. But if you move them back into an alcove to "quiet" the noise in the newsroom, you move them away from ears that help to hear about big stories, as they're happening, stories that otherwise will not be known about in the newsroom until seen on the competitor's newscast. I mean, you can't work contacts if you don't know about the spot news that's happening right now.

Also, 95% of ALL the news that's aired won't matter two days from now.

Move the scanners as far as you want.

Better people with better contacts and ability to dig up stories beat scanners when it comes to generating worthwhile stories.

[Who Cares???]

I worked for an Idiot once who had the output of the scanner(s) plugged into the paging system speakers, so that everyone in the newsroom had to hear them. What a trip... I knew then it was time for me to move on.

[Bureau Chief]

The scanners are still hearable, just removed from the middle of the room. There are times that even answering the phone is tough due to the noise.

Being where we are, we have bleed over from Canada, and can even pick up fire traffic from Detroit and Buffalo. They are on the same freqs as our fire departments. I sat one night in our newsroom and listened to a major fire in St. Catherines Ontario. I could even hear the individual portable handheld units clear as though they were across the street. Interesting but useless for our purposes.

There is a need to bring the stress level down a notch in the NR. Right now the reporters spend more time answering the phones and trying to communicate with each other than they spend writing and researching...that needs to change. For instance, for some dumbass reason, the weather wackers and the sports junkies all ring into the newsroom, making it nuts in the hour or so before airtime. The simple act of giving each of those depts their own direct number will solve several major issues. I think that sometimes we are own worst enemies.

We make it harder on ourselves than we need to. Rethinking each of the days normal routines and changing it to deal with todays newsroom's needs can help. Just because "thats the way we have always done it" is the way things are, doesnt mean that it has to stay that way.

[trunky]

"Right now the reporters spend more time answering the phones and trying to communicate with each other"

Whoa....your reporters answer the phones? crazy. The reporters at my station rarely answer any phone besides their work cell phones. Photogs answer the "newsroom phone" more often than the reporters. And sometimes when they're not busy, some of them will even hang out at the desk (briefly), listen to scanners, and answer the phone.

Don' your sports guys and weather guys have phones at their desks? You could help your cause by just giving out their phone numbers. "You know the sports guys are getting ready to go on right now, but here's the guys/girls phone number. Try that in about 40 minutes and you can call it from now on."

[Sigonfile]

Every once in a while, I'll test the producers to see if they are aware of scanner traffic in the newsroom. Scanner transmissions gets so common that sometimes the producers within feet of the desk, will miss an urgent call that may potentially become a big story. Noted that the assignment desk and assignment editor is usually responsible for monitoring the calls, that person may sometimes be away from the desk or on the phone. My favorite trick is to pull up a site on the net that has recorded 911 or fire calls. My favorite one is a fire transmission call for a small plane that has crashed into a building. The transmission is pretty generic and really doesn't give too many street locations that would give the call away as being from another area. I have seen producers shoot up from their chairs and scream, "Everybody quite, where the hell is that?, are we rolling a crew?" I then tell them that this was a test of their "newsroom awareness" and they passed with flying colors.

[user name]

Every once in a while, I'll test the producers to see if they are aware of scanner traffic in the newsroom. Scanner transmissions gets so common that sometimes the producers within feet of the desk, will miss an urgent call that may potentially become a big story. Noted that the assignment desk and assignment editor is usually responsible for monitoring the calls, that person may sometimes be away from the desk or on the phone. My favorite trick is to pull up a site on the net that has recorded 911 or fire calls. My favorite one is a fire transmission call for a small plane that has crashed into a building. The transmission is pretty generic and really doesn't give too many street locations that would give the call away as being from another area. I have seen producers shoot up from their chairs and scream, "Everybody quite, where the hell is that?, are we rolling a crew?" I then tell them that this was a test of their "newsroom awareness" and they passed with flying colors.

that seems like kind of a dickish way to go about things...

[!]

that seems like kind of a dickish way to go about things...
Agreed.

I wonder what they'll say to him when he inevitably misses something on the scanners and it shows up on the competition?

Re: your test--my experience has been that, upon hearing your little test, a good producer will make eye contact with you, you should nod, and they should go back to writing, leaving you to deal with the call.

No jumping, no screaming, needed at all. We're professionals, not children.

By the way, you are being paid to listen to the scanners. The producers are being paid to write their newscast. If you need help, that is a problem.

[TVNewsLady]

There's a lot of talk here about scanners, and they are extremely important to the AE's job, but from my perspective one important thing an assignment editor can do is have a meeting with news management and producers BEFORE the morning meeting with reporters. That way you can decide what are "Must Cover's" for the day and determine how you can best spread out your manpower. Not enough of this kind of meeting is done anymore, and it can make a BIG difference.

[Sigonfile]

Most reporters I have worked with in the last ten years don't care about scanners and how important they are to obtaining "spot news". They just expect the desk to hand them a story idea and away they go. I've had reporters turn the volume completely down on the scanners while I was away from the vehicle. I come back and they are listening to their I-Pods or chatting on the cell phone about their evening plans. When I do hear a "spot news" story, guess who's the first to run to the scene and try to cross the scene tape and piss off the authorities. I let them get "burned" the first time so they will understand the basics of working with authorities in the future. I bet the majority of photogs in business have had a "field source" come up and ask. "Who the heck is that and please teach them the rules of the game!"

[Bureau Chief]

Yes, our wx and sports departments have phones at their desks. We have an 800 number but it too rings right into the newsroom. Sports is the biggest offender but has no direct line. Anything to save a buck. We have a large network of wx watchers, a few will use the direct line into the wx center but the outlying ones want to use the 800 number that rings into the newsroom to save a few cents. I would say that we probably recieve about 60 to 70 calls a day for these two departments, most within an hour of airtime.

[overthehill]

The Assignment desk MUST be elevated a foot or more above the remainder of the newsroom (although with disability, etc these days you may have to have a ramp too).
I've seen several newsrooms where the desk is located in the CENTER of the newsroom--the hub so to speak--with reporters, producers, etc in circles around the desk.

For "looks," you want a large station logo near the assignment desk/wall, etc. Makes the newsroom look cool for visitors and might be a great background for newsroom lives.
Make the desk look techy to outsiders, but functional for the users.

White board and then more white board for the assignment editor(s). Desk space and shelving galore. You might even consider the old style assignment board with columns for slugs, reporter, photog, city, etc. Shelving for reference books, maps, maybe phone books, dictionary, etc.

Multiple phones, rather than ONE multi-line phone. Ask most AEs why they prefer multiple phones.

Space to hang a city or state map to keep track of crews.

Plenty o' power outlets and several IT hook ups.

Consider a "bar type" ledge for reporters and producers to lean on as they talk to the AE. No kidding. It helps!

I like the idea of having a small bank of monitors so the AEs can monitor inbound live truck feeds, the network feed or "air."

Save room to eat your lunch at this newly designed desk, because you'll never leave!