Feedback May 2002 (Vol 43 No 2)

these days than he ever used to. He says it’s not just the fact that often stories don’tmake sense; some are missing words. He’d like producers to be taught that a story isn’tfinished until the writer reads it out loud.Other common complaints were the producer’s lack of knowledge of the localmarket and world events. My colleague Bob Lissit developed a General Knowledgequiz after being embarrassed by a student who was asked to drive from Syracuse toAlbany for a job interview. Lissit says first, the student called the news director to askwhere Albany was. Then, at the interview, the student couldn’t come up with thename of New York’s Lieutenant Governor on a news quiz. The student didn’t get thejob.His General Knowledge quiz consists of local, state, national and internationalquestions as well as business, science and health items. He gives the quiz four times asemester with many repeat questions. The point is that if a student doesn’t knowsomething, he or she has incentive to find it out. It also illustrates the breadth anddepth of knowledge required in TV news. And perhaps it has helped a student or twomove beyond the first round of the interviewing process.If students have basic criminal justice classes available to them, they should beencouraged to take them. Craig and Mike Walter, a former Tampa and Kansas Citymorning anchor, both say that they’ve had to ad-lib to make a young producer’s copy"legal" while on the air. Keep in mind, these are the people who are proofreading andapproving the copy turned in by the reporters. A failure to understand the differencebetween "arraignment" and "conviction" can mean a very short career.Producing is much more than stacking stories in a rundown that (hopefully) timesout correctly. It involves a unique combination of research, management,organizational and reporting skills. Crooke says there is no person in a newsroom whoimpacts the content and quality of a newscast more than the producer. When you lookat it that way, it becomes clear that newscast production can’t be taught simply as anafterthought tacked on at the end of a student’s college career.References:Marks, Rick (1999). Beyond the Anchor: Students and Broadcasting Opportunities.Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 54, (1): 79-86.Papper, Bob and Michael Gerhard (2001). Making the Web Work: What doconsumers really want from a station web site? It’s the question everyone’s asking.Plus…results of the RTNDA/Ball State University Survey on station web sites.Radio-Television News Directors Association & Foundation.(http://www.rtnda.org/technology/web.html)Tuohey, Chris and Michael Cremedas (2001). Survey of television news directors,producers and anchors. Unpublished Survey.Tuohey, Chris (1999). Professors and News Directors Should Emphasize Advantages,Realities of Producing Careers. The Rundown. (http://www.tvrundown.com/touhey.htm)BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 39