Team D Newscast: 4:30

If I had to describe today's newscast in one word, it would be stressful.

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It was a very slow news day today, so it was difficult for reporters and anchors to find good stories. Greg and Jessica were reporters and we all kept in touch discussing our story ideas.
Greg and I thought an update on the demolition going on on State Street was a good story. He went to the site near I-81, but wasn't able to get sound bites from construction workers. He said the construction workers aren't allowed to talk to the press and that the person who is allowed wasn't there at that time. Greg found a man who lived near the demolition site and talked to him about how the demolition is affecting him. It turned out to be a great wrap and Greg did a great job of finding another story and not quitting when the first idea didn't work out.
Jess also had trouble finding a story. We were in touch throughout the day and she told me she would do a story about high retail sales. She went to the Chamber of Commerce, but was not able to talk to anyone. She contacted a professor from the Whitman School of Management and was able to make a good story on time. Like Greg, she did a great job of not quitting when what she had planned didn't work.
Jesse was our anchor and he did a really great job. His foner was about the North Syracuse school district's budget vote tonight and his anchor act was very informative. During the newscast, Jesse's delivery was very impressive. He's normally a quiet speaker, but during the broadcast, he sounded confident and made the stories he read comfortable to listen to. Professor Nicholson complimented him after the broadcast and said it was his best delivery so far in the class. I also thought Jesse and I worked well together preping for the broadcast.
The actual newscast went pretty well. Right before we had to get in the studio, Jesse noticed one of our copy stories was very repetitive to Jess' story that came right after, so we decided as a team to cut the copy story. We were light coming out of the commercial, so Jesse and I decided to use a 10-12 second floater. After the floater and the kicker, we were still a little light on time, but Jesse read the medium weather and the long good-bye. He did a great job of filling extra time at the end. We ended about 9 seconds early, but I didn't think it sounded bad at all.
The second time producing was definitely harder than the first time. I had a really hard time helping my reporters when they were stuck with their stories. Since I'm normally not a good quick decision maker, this was very stressful and I don't think I did a very good job in this aspect. Jake was really nice and tried to help me think of another angle Jess could take with her story, but I wish I'd known how to help her myself. In my opinion, I had to ask Professor Nicholson for help too many times. I like the feeling of accomplishing many tasks, and I feel as a producer, that's what you feel. I thought I did a decent job of writing stories, using sound bites from other classmates and ABC. I thought the rundown was difficult to construct, but I felt good about it afterward.
I still enjoy producing, but I was disappointed in my performance as a producer. I think I will learn from this and hopefully next time I produce a newscast or show, I will do a better job. Producing is a decision-making job, and I hope if I keep producing other newscasts or shows, I will get better at making big decisions.