management – Page 4 – Survive Your Job In Television News

Not In True Confidence: The Danger Of Becoming The Boss’s Confidant.

Because the TV business is so small, the lines can blur sometimes in work relationships inside newsrooms. Too often managers, especially first time managers, really want someone to talk with and choose an employee. If this isn’t a clear indication that more mentors are needed in the TV news industry, I don’t know what is. When you move to a new town, take on a leadership role and work insane hours, it can be hard to meet people. You can’t confide in your boss because you have things to prove. But going the employee route is really unfair.

That’s the element we are tackling with this article. I get DM’s and emails all too often from journalists wondering what to do when the boss starts dishing on the newsroom politics. This is a catch 22. If you say, “I don’t want to be part of this” you can make an enemy out of that manager. BUT getting access to this “knowledge” can lead to you blurting out inappropriate tidbits when you feel backed against the wall. So let’s talk through what this scenario really means.

Being the Confidant:

* Does not protect your job

* Does not make you more powerful in the newsroom

* Does give you great insight into inner workings of your newsroom

The biggest misconception is that being the confidant means you have more job security. Many assume that means they must be considered very solid in their own job and that they are “safe.” Not true. I witnessed many managers have a session with their confidant, then later throw that same person under the bus in a managers meeting. This is not an absolute, but it does happen more often than not. At their core, many managers know using an employee as a sounding board, is not smart on many levels. Instead of correcting the situation, they would prefer the confidant disappears. Maybe that means putting you on an opposite shift. Maybe that means dumping you all together. Do not assume that the manager is protecting you, as he/she confides in you. In that regard you could really be at a disadvantage.

So this next point now becomes more clear. You are not more powerful in the newsroom. In fact you can be more alienated and vulnerable. Your co-workers do not like that you may know more about what’s happening than them. If you are labeled a favorite, it is like being the teacher’s pet in school. A certain percentage will not like you just for that. They fear you are “reporting” what employees are saying about management in general. It is never good to be known as the newsroom snitch or a supervisor’s spy.

Your best defense: Listen and never give advice back. You do not want to snub the manager, and potentially open up wrath, but you DO NOT want to end up in the middle of all the political firestorms. Listen, and only tell the manager: “I have full confidence you will handle everything well.” Then get away as fast as you can. The manger wants advice and reassurances. The same statement over and over is a delicate way to encourage the manager to find a new way to cope with the issues. Long term, you just do not want to be the confidant.

While you are getting the scoop, use it to figure out how the management team deals with each other. Knowing who the pot stirrer is, who the blamer is and who the martyr is can be very helpful when they come to you asking for something. Quietly try and sort this out for your own advantage and keep it to yourself. Stay out of the politics. If other co-workers ask if you are the confidant, say only that you are just doing your job, and being told how to do it better. Let the co-worker take that how they wish. You do not want pressure from the staff to be the person that tells management all the issues in the newsroom. Nothing good will come of that.

One final but crucial thing to keep in mind, never use the knowledge you have to attempt to curry favor with the ND or another manager you fear is out to get you. Do not let on that you know anything. Do not ever bring an issue up with the ND then say, “Well your EP told me (fill in the blank).” Knowledge is not power if you share that you have inner insight. It can make you a liability. Stay out of it all. If you have an issue that is driving you crazy, DO NOT use your inside knowledge to push your own agenda. You will pay for it. Do not say “I know you were warned about these live trucks needing this part by the managing editor on June 10th.” or “I know you were told this reporter is consistently making fact errors by the EP on multiple occasions.” If you must bring an issue up, make the argument the way you would with no inside knowledge.

Bottom line, your goal needs to be delicately getting out of being the manager’s confidant. You want to give very little in the way of advice, so the manager moves on. Long term, as tempting as knowing the station gossip is, you will be better off. There are too many ways you could set yourself up for trouble.

What Managers Really Want To See On A Producer’s Reel.

We recently talked about what hiring managers want to see on a reporter’s reel, and since then producers have reached out asking: “What do I show?”

Last week I put that question up for debate on Twitter and was surprised to see so many people say “A-Blocks.” Simple answer: NO. That is not good enough at all. Here’s why: A blocks in most shops are truly a group effort. Anyone can end up with one or two sizzling A-blocks to show off.

When I screen producer reels, I take a very close look at how you start each and every block, what the flow is like throughout the newscast, and your TEASES. Often I see a great A-block tease then, as of the end of the B-block, the teases STINK. That is a clear indicator the producer gets help at the end of the A.

Managers want to see a very solid newscast, with great flow from start to finish. They want consistent use of graphic elements, and natural sound. They are looking for movement of the anchors with purpose (and that is proving harder to pull off than you might realize for many producers) and conversational flow. Here’s another element they are looking for: How you utilize social media in your newscast and with your own accounts. This is getting to be as important as your reel. If you act childish on your Twitter handle, they will not look at your reel.

Now let’s address the second most common misconception, that producer reels should always have heavy breaking news. Not necessarily. News managers know that to a large degree how breaking news is presented has as much to do with how the staff is guided by management, as it does how well the producer puts it all together. This does not mean that managers do not want to see a killer breaking news/continuous coverage newscast. But that should not be the only newscast on your reel. Your “everyday” work should actually sell you more.

So to answer the “What should my reel have?” question, you need two things: A very well put together “regular news day” show and one that showcases how you handle breaking news. Yep, two newscasts. Oh and, by the way, do not leave all of the WX hits and sports in there, show the transition, then cut to the end of the segment. We newscast reviewers don’t need to see what the high temperature was or who won the game and we get tired of constantly having to fast forward. You’ll get brownie points for showing that courtesy!

The Interns Are Uprising! But Is It Their Loss?

The interns are staging an uprising. And many big media executives are sweating. Charlie Rose has already settled a lawsuit against his production company. FOX Searchlight lost a case and is appealing. Now MSNBC and “Saturday Night Live” may have to go to court. Each is accused of working interns to the bone, having them perform menial tasks that regular employees should perform, and not paying them a dime.

Whoa, Millennials! Way to stick it to Old Media!

Except… I think I’m going to have to side with Old Media on this one.

As TheWrap points-out in a nice piece which puts a face on Hollywood interns, the unpaid internship is the way to get your foot in the door in television, film, and journalism. The real threat of these lawsuits isn’t to the big media companies’ bank accounts. The real threat is to next year’s crop of interns and the ones who would be applying the year after that. You see, in this age of “we make billions but we still only buy that stiff, generic toilet paper for the company’s restrooms because it saves us ten-cents a roll,” we may not see paid internships as a result of these lawsuits. We may just see internships go away. And that would be a shame.

I did it. I should say my mother, father, and I did it. I don’t know how we scraped together enough money for me to intern at Dispatch Broadcast Group’s DC bureau the summer before my senior year in college. But we found nearly $1,000 each month — from somewhere — to pay the rent on an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was within walking distance of the Metro’s Red Line, which I would take downtown to Dispatch’s suite in the National Press Building.

I held the reflector above the correspondent’s head, my arms aching, as she sweated through standup after standup in the stifling heat that just seems to lay on Washington in the summertime as if trying to literally smother it. I grabbed the camera and tripod and began shooting a news conference one morning when our staff photojournalist got stuck on a Metro train because of some delay in Northern Virginia. Thank goodness he showed-up in the middle of it because I was a horrible photog. I wrote packages and VO/SOTs out the wazoo. Some days I didn’t even get a thank you from the correspondent. But, boy, what a thrill that my words were being read by her or the big time anchors at WTHR in Indianapolis and WBNS in Columbus!

I wasn’t getting paid with money. But that news organization was giving me something I would’ve been willing to buy. Their correspondent and photographer were showing me literally how you get around Capitol Hill as a journalist (this was pre-9/11 but security was already tight and the word “labyrinthine” is never so apt as when it’s used to describe the Hill’s hallways, tunnels, special subway system, and liveshot/news conference locations — each with their own quirky nicknames. You’ve got your “Swamp” and “Triangle.” Plus, there’s no telling who you’ll spot in the Ohio Clock Corridor.)

Just to give you a feel for how big a financial struggle this was for my family, there were many days when I’d wander down to an ATM outside the National Press Building and there would be no money. And I was a college kid, super hungry all the time. I’d call my mom pleading for another 20 or 30 bucks. She’d say she couldn’t believe how expensive Washington was because she’d just given me $100 a few days before. And I’d say, “I know. It’s unbelievable.” And she’d say, “Well, I’ll try.” And somehow she’d scrounge-up some money, run it to a teller at Bank of America in our hometown, and within 24-hours it would be in my account. I must have used credit cards, too, to survive. They practically hand them out as welcome gifts at colleges, after all.

But that wasn’t the end of the scrounging. In the fall, I began my training as a student at the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism, which came with a small stipend but more importantly included an internship at CNN’s Washington bureau.

Talk about doing the job of regular staffers! I was quite literally former CNN economics/political correspondent Brooks Jackson’s researcher, field producer, and tape logger — a job I particularly despise to this day and still have to do. But demand payment? Are you kidding? Brooks was like my father-away-from-home offering me advice about the biz and life in general. He is still a wonderful mentor and friend. Plus, it was through him that I met Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, when Brooks interviewed him in a majestic room inside the Treasury Building. On other days, Brooks would introduce me to some of the smartest people in the world studying this issue or that at the Heritage Foundation, Brookings Institution, Cato Institute, or Congressional Budget Office.

Believe me, 90% of it wasn’t glamorous, though. There were hours spent transcribing long interviews and adding asterisks around soundbites that I thought might work for Brooks’ next piece. I would get dizzy searching for b-roll in the bureau’s cavernous video library, where the numbering system never seemed to make sense. Plus, there were lots of long days. When I worked for him, Brooks was reporting for Wolf Blitzer’s show, which at that time didn’t air until 8 p.m.

Keep in mind, Brooks was working even harder than I was. He was logging, researching, and corralling interview subjects before I got to his office in the morning and was staying much later than I was at night. He also always wrote his own package scripts. So maybe some of this passion for a good ol’ fight against The Man comes from interns who worked for network divas who expect producers and interns to do everything for them.

However, to sue Old Media or New Media because you weren’t paid for the time you toiled away preparing interview materials for Charlie Rose or because you were asked to help book guests for MSNBC seems to me to be the height of ungratefulness.

Do you realize what a chance these broadcasters are taking even letting someone as unqualified as a college student, like I was, in the door? Do you realize the damage you could do to a world class news organization with one screw-up that gets on-air? But even without having had any qualifications — and even with all the real world education you got and the contacts you made through that opportunity — you’re going to turn around later and demand that they pay you?

Excuse me, but unless there was some egregious treatment by these media companies that I’m not aware of, the former interns behind these lawsuits will not be receiving any sympathy from me.

And to current and future interns: If you’re not getting anything out of your internship, quit. Otherwise, suck it up and take in all you can take in. At the end of it, if you didn’t have the time of your life, it’s not an attorney you need to consult. You need to go see your college’s career counselor because apparently this one’s not for you.

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For more information on the federal rules governing internships and whether your station/network might be at risk of a lawsuit alleging that interns should’ve been paid, the U.S. Dept. of Labor has created this fact sheet. In addition, you’ll want to consult your company’s attorneys to make sure your current and future internship programs meet the guidelines.

Matthew Nordin is an investigative reporter at WXIX-TV in Cincinnati. Join him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @FOX19Matthew.

Managing more seasoned journalists.

Here’s a situation I am asked about a lot. A young producer is put in charge of a newscast or shift and the seasoned veteran reporters and anchors seem to challenge the producer’s every decision.

I recently wrote an article about earning respect as a young journalist, which can help somewhat. But let’s delve into more specifics on this scenario.

When a producer, especially a young producer, starts a new job or takes on a new newscast you must lay ground rules quickly. How? Sit down with the key players you will deal with each day, one-by-one. Spell out what you plan to do to help that person in their job, and in turn what your expectation is for that person to best contribute to the team. Emphasize team from the beginning.

This helps you nicely reiterate the person’s role and that you expect them to also lead by example. Case in point: A producer recently contacted me about a longtime anchor in a market who pitched a holy fit on the set. (Apparently he did not read “Why Don’t You Show Us How It’s Done Then”). How do you get that person to settle down? First, know that the anger comes from somewhere. So, let the person vent to you in a meeting. Then ask the person to work with you to come up with a solution. In other words, the person has to take partial responsibility for handling his/her own frustration. You set up that you are willing to help, but that you are not the sole solution finder. Then, after you two come up with a solution, reiterate to the anchor how crucial he/she is for building the team for your newscast and/or shift. Then ask the person if you can call on him/her for help as you grow the team so everyone can get more satisfaction from their jobs. This, again, nicely and professionally allows you to set your own expectations for the anchor.

If it is a reporter being difficult, you can handle the situation in much the same way. Sit down and have a “clear the air” session. Remember, these reporters often have a reason for being angry. You owe it to the team to listen and try to help. Talk through a solution together. Then ask for the reporter’s help to be a role model as you build the team. Most of the time the reporter: a) wants to be appreciated b) wants validation that his/her opinion is even considered when decisions are made and c) wants to be part of the team, not just a warm body handed an assignment to execute each day.

Finally, keep in mind, that sometimes the biggest help for managing more seasoned veterans is time. If you know what you are doing, and effectively perform your job each day, many of these sticklers end up becoming your biggest advocates. They are just tired of “training” people and resent that management “seems to leave the newscast vulnerable.” If you know your stuff, you will gain respect over time. Be patient. Listen. Have reasons for the decisions you make. It will work out.