By Alex Harrsingh and Jacob Atkins
NBC4 reporter David Culver joined us and provided an inside look at the battle between print and broadcast journalists on breaking news stories. Both he and our previous guest, Washington Post reporter Taylor Shapiro, are covering the story of missing UVA coed Heather Graham.
Background:
- It’s his
second year at NBC4.
- He’s usually
out in the field covering stories in Northern Virginia.
- Went to
college at College of William and Mary.
- He always
wanted to go into journalism and communications but his college had no journalism or
communications programs. However, he said that you don’t have to have to go
through a journalism or communications program to go into journalism.
- His first
internship was at WRC in between sophomore and junior year of college. He
pitched the idea of a writing a blog while in Spain to keep in touch with WRC. He did
it for his 5 months abroad.
- Later,
his college president removed a historic cross from the school chapel.
Christian conservative alumni stopped donating after that. The backlash forced
him to resign and the president told the students. Culver sent an email to WRC,
who then sent an anchor to the school to cover the story. Culver provided important assistance. Culver later got a
job as web producer of the WRC site during senior year, per that anchor’s
recommendation. Culver was able to post his own content on the site, resulting
in air time as well. It turned into a reporter position, and then into an
anchor position. He wanted to come home, back to Virginia, so NBC4 worked out
for him.
- During his
sophomore in high school he sent emails to WRC and was able to develop a
relationship for when he was ready to work. He knew his limits, and adopted a strategy of "pleasant persistence.”
Tips:
- He says you
should maintain a true relationship rather than only contacting people when you
want something.
- Craft new
emails each time you email a potential employer.
- Make more
personal relationships (not work related).
- Invest in
people even when others might not.
- You have to
be very focused on every word you use,
the slightest bad word choice can “burn a source.”
- Be genuine
and develop relationships with genuine people.
Creating good
relationships with sources:
- You have to
be able to develop stories through sources.
- His family
was his original source.
- He started to
meet people in PR offices and then made relationships with people in the field.
Experiences
with broadcast and print journalism:
- He says that
sometimes in broadcast you need the time to gather information. Related story-
He presented the police predictions for the arrival of hannah graham suspect
during a broadcast. It turns out the suspect came in 20 minutes before the
broadcast and drove behind Culver during it.
- Time
constraints for on air programs makes it harder to get more developed stories.
- Print
journalism allows for more time to simply observe.
Advantages of
print: time to tell full stories, space, don’t have to monitor possible stories
as there are more reporters
Advantages of
broadcast: easier to develop relationship with viewer, visuals are a big
advantage
- He never
looked at the web as demise of TV, more complementary instead
Questions:
Do you work
from script or just go with it?
Recorded:
script goes through various people before it gets to Culver.
Live: Bullet
points.
Is the quality
of news threatened by the new on-demand media consumers?
Education vs.
entertainment: he considers himself to be an entertainer and educator. He
tries to put
out the strongest points while keeping the audience in mind. He tries to bring
facts while also bringing emotion.
Is it ever hard
to keep your own emotions contained?
With breaking
news, he will present the story through his own eyes. With politics, he will
have no issue not showing emotion. Basically to be genuine when it’s necessary.
Have you ever
had to not run a story because of who the story is about?
Managers would
prevent a story if there was a lack of information, but not because of who the
story is about.
With really big
stories, do you ever scramble for information in between broadcasts?
He has to be
writing stories in advance for future broadcasts, like planning out the 6:00
show during the 5:00 show. So if new information pops up then it will be in the
proceeding show.
With on demand
society, do you find yourself judging stories by their interest?
He can make
stories interesting even when there might not be a large audience interest in
what the story would have been.
How is being
cuban american in the industry?
He notes that
minorities go in cycles. That there is a push to get more hispanics on air so
the growing population can relate, although, there is also a necessity to
communicate (can you speak spanish?)
Were you well
versed in camera equipment?
He has a camera
and has learned the skills for behind the scenes camera work.
Does your
personal image ever work against you?
While he
filters himself a little bit, he won't try to fit a mold. However, earlier on
in his career he tried to emulate other anchors. He quickly learned that being
genuine was better. Also, while it is hard to get credibility considering his
age, his age can also be used as an advantage.
Is there a
possibility for a personal life in your field?
Yes there are
opportunities for a social life, but in his case he’s so passionate he does not
see a major need for a social life.
Class Notes on Broadcast Journalism
Words to live by: write for the ear, not the eye
Goal: you are writing news for the anchor to read off
with as much clarity and simplicity as possible
Major differences between print and broadcast
journalism:
·
Unlike
print journalism, broadcast journalists write in the PRESENT TENSE
o
The
present tenses conveys the IMMEDIACY of a story, which is an advantage of broadcast
journalism
o
Example:
A Washington man is dead tonight after his car flipped on I-495
·
Put
attributions before quotes rather than after
o
Example:
GOP leader says the Teat Party scandal could cost Republicans the Senate
·
Never
use “quote marks.” Instead you must explicitly write out the quote for the news
anchor to deliver the news
o
Example:
The principal of Longfellow Elementary School says, quote, get to class kids, unquote
·
Don’t
abbreviate words unless completely necessary
o
Example:
not NAACP but N-DOUBLE-A-C-P
·
Unlike
the inverted pyramid structure in print journalism, broadcast journalism uses
an oval structure to tell stories to viewers
o
Climax
à Cause à Effect (in that order)
· Avoid numbers unless completely
necessary
o
If
you do use them, round off
Remember: your audience is in a hurry, so your writing
should be brief, concise and without jargon
Remember: use short, simple tenses and write in the active
voice
Remember: viewers have their hands on the clicker so
get to the point fast and stress the immediacy of a story
Homework for Thursday October 23rd:
1.
Pick three out of the four highlighted stories and write
leads for them in a broadcast journalism format. Have them available to pull on
your computers
