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Monthly Luncheon
Report
(Wednesday,
June 11, 2008 PCC Monthly Luncheon)
Television News Beat
Reporters
MODERATOR
Susan Anderson
Adjunct Lecturer
"Chicago Broadcast and
Journalism Methods"
Medill School of Journalism,
Northwestern University
PANELISTS
Ed Curran
Technology Reporter and
Meteorologist
WBBM-TV
Steve Dolinsky
Food Reporter, WLS-TV
Lisa Parker
Target 5
Consumer-Investigative
Reporter
WMAQ-TV
PROGRAM SUMMARY
Susan Anderson (from left),
moderator; Ed Curan, Steve Dolinsky,
Lisa Parker.
Photo by Ted
Lacey.
PCC Program Confirms the More You Know about Local TV Beat Reporters, the
Greater Your Placement Opportunities
By Sue Masaracchia-Roberts
Award-winning Former CBS general assignment reporter and current adjunct
Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism professor, Susan Anderson,
moderated a trio of local Chicago beat reporters in June at the final PCC
luncheon of the club year.
Susan Anderson
Founder and President, S.E.A. Communications
susan@ownthestory.com
Among the first wave of women in television journalism, Susan Anderson has
had more than 20 years of experience as an on-air journalist. Starting at WBBM-TV/CBS
in 1972, she founded Factfinder, the first local television consumer
investigative unit in the county, and headed it for nearly a decade. Becoming a
news anchor in 1980, Anderson created and reported for the daily segment All
About Health until 1997 when she created SEACOM. During her career she has won
seven Emmys, as well s awards for Best Consumer Reporter, investigative
reporting, Outstanding Woman in Communications and broadcast journalism awards
from AP, UPI and Scripps-Howard.
Anderson noted that, “Citizen-journalists are now more prevalent,” providing
clips like the Clinton-Obama footage.
The days of three people crews, expense accounts, and having one day off a year
as a “research day are long gone,” said Anderson. “Today, everyone must work
across platforms.” The panelists at this program bore this out.
Ed Curran
CBS-TV (WBBM-TV/Channel 2) Meteorologist and “gadget guy”
ejcurran@cbs.com
As the CBS morning news meteorologist, Ed Curran can be seen on Channel 2-TV
between 5 and 7 a.m. and on the 11 a.m. newscast. He also serves as the
technology reporter, unveiling the hottest consumer electronics trends and
gadgets on the market. A Chicago native, he began his broadcast career on the
radio, working at WGCI-FM, WIND-FM, WLS-AM and with his own show on WGN Radio
for eight years. He became a technology correspondent for CNN as well as having
worked at WGN-TV/Channel 9, then WMAQ-TV/Channel 5.
People can contact him regarding new products, such as the switch to digital
television. However, when discussing new products and gadgets, Curran does not
use PR pitches but likes to work directly with the company. If e-mailing him,
his preferred method of contact, he requests that PR people BRIEFLY spell out
their ideas, preferably in bulleted form. Then, if they choose, a link and/or an
attachment can be included.
“I prefer the lead up front,” he said. “Lead with the bullets and get my
attention.”
He especially likes to discuss trends – like in global positioning (GPS) units –
and stories that are visual. He will use B-roll if no other option for visual
footage exists, but will source it if he does use it. He does not use video news
releases.
Regarding the station’s ongoing evolution, he commented, “We lost 19 people in
March and are moving to a new building. As are many, we are doing more with
fewer people and are replacing rooms full of people with machines.”
Procedurally, before anything airs or goes online, lawyers review everything he
produces.
As with most media, Curran’s information is expanding to the Web with extra
material, beyond the facts covered on the air. “This provides a value-add, a
reason for people to go to the Web,” he explained. “And it’s always nice to have
an exclusive.”
Steve Dolinsky
WLS-TV (ABC/Channel 7) Food Reporter
Steve.b.dolinsky@cbs.com
Having been reporting on the food industry since 1995, Steve Dolinsky has won
12 James Beard Awards for his radio and television work. He has also written
about restaurants, chefs and the Chicago food scene for years in the Chicago
Reader, Citysearch.com, Chef and Chicago Social (CS) Magazine. He began Culinary
Communications, a food industry-focused media training company working with food
and beverage professionals, training them how to handle media exposure. Best
known for his Hungry Hound radio and television segments on WBEZ-FM (National
Public Radio’s Chicago outlet), WCKG-Radio (105.9 FM) and WLS-TV, he is seen
frequently reporting on segments around town and – most recently -- at the Taste
of Chicago reporting on food fare. He has been at ABC7 for five years, having
taken over when James Ward retired.
With two young children, Dolinsky loves to cook and, in reality, only dines out
about twice a week with them. For his stories, he is most interested in behind
the scenes recipes, trends, techniques and the use of unique ingredients.
Although he is one of the few reporters who likes to get some of his information
by phone, he still prefers receiving e-mails.
However, for e-mail, one of his pet peeves is receiving a note as part of a mass
release.
“Craft your release to meet my needs,” he said, adding, that he looks for
trends. “For example, if I hear about three places which use peanut butter in
different ways, like in risotto, I can compare ingredients. If I get a lead
about different peanut butter use – like in stew, in ice cream or grinding their
own -- from two people, it’s a coincidence, but if I hear about it three times,
it’s a trend.”
“It is tough to do round-up stories when you have only two minutes on tape and
the stories are one to two hours away. Story sources must be close by – within
an hour of downtown Chicago,” he explained, “since we don’t always have a crew
to film. It’s tough to get a crew, especially since [my food stories] are not
the priority.”
Dolinsky suggests that PR people do their leg work before contacting him and
warns them not to call asking if he got a release, as that is a major pet peeve.
Typically, he is in the studio on Wednesdays and Friday, while on Mondays and
Wednesdays he is researching and shooting stories.
Providing general insight to PR people, Dolinsky said, “It is easy to go to
websites in the various markets to determine the beats of reporters, assessing
what they cover.” Public relations professionals “should KNOW the story and the
product they are pitching before they contact me. They should also know the
difference between a trend and a limited product. If it is a hyper-seasonal
story and you supply what I need, I will mention the company,” otherwise he
rarely mentions product sources. Stories he does not use on the air, he may use
on the Web.
“There is a shift in advertising dollars to the web,” he explained. “I am
creating content in a unique slot. People are interested in it and the shift in
advertising money will follow that. I always watch what the competition does,
and know there is a whole spectrum of food coverage. Even though it may look
like I follow others when their stories appear before ours – like online, we
shoot three weeks ahead of when our stories air.”
Three people manage the Web content for the station and, Dolinsky explained
that, if something airs before it goes on the Web, it is not reviewed by legal,
but anything that appears on air, it is carefully scrutinized first.
As for B-roll, “we shoot all our own stuff and would rather not use B-roll,”
said Dolinsky. However, it has been used on rare occasions, like a shot of pigs
in Spain they used in the credit. If B-roll is submitted, they prefer 16 x 9
format.
Working in a field that could offer its own array of risks, to answer the
burning question of how he can eat so much and yet keep himself slim, he
revealed that he uses a personal trainer and drinks only water, no soda or wine,
in addition to carefully monitoring his portions.
Lisa Parker
NBC-TV (WMAQ-TV/Channel 5) Consumer Reporter
Lisa.parker@nbc.com
Reporting on a wide range of topics from real everyday consumer stories to
national issues, Lisa Parker has worked for NBC5 since 1996 and was responsible
for initiating their consumer investigative unit. Also an award-winning
broadcast journalist, her awards include Midwest Emmys, Edward R. Murrow
Regional RTNDA awards, a Gracie Allen Award, as well as several state and local
broadcast awards.
Her stories include children’s product safety, potential defects in automobiles,
toxins in mainstream consumer products and other sources of potential consumer
danger which have been a catalyst for change. A Northwestern University Medill
graduate, prior to joining NBC5, she worked at stations in Virginia, Wisconsin
and Iowa.
Always on the lookout for patterns and trends, many of her topics come from
viewer feedback through e-mail and the station’s hotline. However, “most pitches
don’t meet my needs,” said Parker. “What will get my attention is a current
consumer newspeg or something that is funny. If there is a naked profit motive
in the pitch, it will most likely be pretty transparent.” She added that most
local PR professionals know how to pitch a story, but out of town agencies
aren’t doing their homework and their pitches are typically off target. You need
to know that,” according to Parker, “you don’t want Product 5 to do a story
about you.”
Parker also needs visuals that feature real people, especially if the consumers
are local.
There is a giant push to the Web. The station targets viewers by demographics,
age group and news clicks.
“Our reports are “evergreen’ and our stuff stays,” she said. “People go to the
Web and there it is. Rather than providing other resources on air, we relegate
that to our website now. On the Web, we provide built-in clicks that will send
visitors to sites like www.fda.gov, etc.”
In terms of B-roll, she added, “NBC has a policy against using them or VNRs
unless they are our last resort. The reason for that is we don’t know if
anything was staged for outside sources.”
There has also been a lot of downsizing at NBC, which is owned by General
Electric. “There are challenges across the company, especially as we lose people
and resources. Due to eyeballs leaving [television screens] and revenues
increasing on the Website, it’s a lot less expensive to put things on the Web
than on the air.”
Different standards exist on the air, when it comes to editing and fact
checking. A New York-based legal reviews all stories to ensure they do not
contain anything that can be construed as slander, libel or defamation.
The intent of the station is to make the Web more interactive. To that end, they
print unedited blogs containing opinions. “Younger people are getting most of
their news from blogs,” Parker added. “Currently, there is no additional video
content on the Web. We turn all the stories into print-friendly pieces. But that
is about to change. Even though what is found there will be parallel, the
content will be original.”
When it comes to citizen journalists, Parker acknowledged that there is the
potential for “hidden agendas so we need to treat them like any source and
verify their reports.”
She added, “Even though it means little to our viewers, exclusives mean a lot to
our management. I’d love to have an exclusive story! That means that no one else
has done it. We need to get people to watch!”
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