It is very easy to get caught up with all the tasks- big and little- involved in creating a newscast. There is so much to worry about! Between deciding what visuals we need, what sounds we need, who do we want to interview, how long is every video, etc – we sometimes forget about an extremely important element. The copy!
The trouble with bad copy may make it difficult for the anchors to read naturally and may not allow us to tell the audience a story effectively. News writing is best when kept nice and short! We must write like we talk. As a producer, I have to copyedit a lot of different stories (written by MJs and my fellow producers among others). It is hard to make a judgment of what is not clearly written and what is just my preference.
Another issue with copy is timeliness. The majority of the times after an MJ has finished writing a story, I'll assign him/her or someone else to edit the footage. After every element has been taken care of I move on to the next story, and it shouldn't be like that. The problem is that many stories continue to develop throughout the day, which is why it is always important to be on the lookout for breaking news.
After producing on Thursday's for "See It Live" for three weeks in a row I was back on Team Tuesday to produce another episode of "Annenberg TV News." My job for this show was digital/graphics producer and my tasks were to oversee all the graphics of the show as well as creating a digital video for the Facebook page.
I spent the first half of the day focusing on the digital video, and the other half on my role for the show. Copy editing is extremely important when it comes to digital. We use text on the screen so that viewers can grasp the information without the necessity of the playing audio. I made sure to double-check my spelling and grammar to avoid any typos.
The show was a nail-biter. Thirty minutes before 6 pm we were still missing the majority of the copy and videos. I was running around the Media Center towards the end of the day to make sure we got all the needed elements. This experience taught me that all producers should work together (as a team) to make sure all elements are being taken care of. I was too worried about graphics and video, that I rarely read the copy. It was terrible! I got so caught up in the chaos that I forgot to check on the substance of the newscast (the copy).
If today's show taught me one thing it's to be prepared for anything! I also learned to copy edit as I go, to collaborate and communicate with my teammates but most importantly to enjoy the experience.
Annenberg Media