slides for Mon oct1

1. Locating the News
JCM 331
Fall 2018

2. FROM YOUR READING……
1. What is spontaneous (AKA spot) news?
2. What is a planned story?
3. How are spontaneous and planned stories DIFFERENT from an
ENTERPRISE story?
4. What is and what happens at an assignment desk?
5. What are “the wires” and how are they used by news reporters?
6. What does it mean to LOCALIZE a story?

3. Who is the Associated Press?
• A not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its
contributing newspapers and radio and television
stations in the United States
• The world’s largest news organization
• In 2017, it published 2000 stories a day, 70,000 videos a
year
• Members of the cooperative contribute stories to the AP
and use material written by its staff journalists.

8. Router for Live News Vehicles
POLICE SCANNERS
FOUR TELEPHONES
THE ASSIGNMENT
DESK
KNBC-TV LOS ANGELES

9. BEAT vs. GENERAL ASSIGNMENT reporting
• Beat reporters cover a specific
area, generally every day
• They are more likely to have a
better sense of what is happening
in their area of coverage
• General assignment cover
DIFFERENT stories every day
• No set area of coverage
• Fewer sources to rely on
• MORE FLEXIBLE structure for
newsrooms with SMALLER staffs
BEAT REPORTER GENERAL ASSIGNMENT
REPORTER
BRANDON KAMMERMAN
Sports Reporter, WVUA-23
CHELSEA BARTON
Dayside Reporter, WVUA-23

10. Understanding News and Wire Services
• Rely on a “COOPERATIVE” model where all members
or subscribers to the service also CONTRIBUTE to
the service
• Associated Press is the BIGGEST ! (Does broadcast
and print news reporting) – Also has its own “AP
Reporters”
• CNN Newsource is the nation’s premier news
service, licensed to local news providers
throughout the world, so they might utilize news
material gathered by CNN to enhance their own
newscasts.

11. CNN Newsource
• CNN Affiliates share their video with OTHER CNN affiliates
• CNN news stories shared with local CNN affiliates
• LOCAL EMBARGO (restriction) placed on stations using competitors video in the
SAME MARKET

12. • CNN Newsource:
Username: uoal
Password: boast
(When logging in, use ALL lowercase letters)
• Locate raw footage
• Locate packages, which include scripts (lead-ins, verbatim) and
supers (information to identify those in the package)

13. FIVE QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO
ANSWER ABOUT LOCATING THE NEWS
1. What is a beat?
2. What is the difference between a beat reporter and a GENERAL
ASSIGNMENT (GA) reporter?
3. What is an assignment desk?
4. What is a news service?
5. How does CNN Newsource Work?