"Goodnight, Pullman"
Photos and Writing by Ian Smay
Famous broadcast journalist Bob Schieffer said, “I think journalism is a great way to do public service, to have an impact on your community.” The students in COMJOUR 465 at Washington State University work over 20 hours a week to produce the Palouse’s only nightly television newscast. Most of them take at least 10 other credit hours of coursework on top of making the news each night. While this may seem like a tall order for most people, the team that makes Murrow News 8 every night see it as less of a chore and more of a calling, pushed by a drive to inform the public of the day’s pressing local and national issues.
Anchor Matt Mohney looks down at his script before the show while a crew member tests the teleprompter. Anchors keep a script on their desk in case the prompter crashes during a show, or if they made additional notes as more information came in.
Murrow News 8 uses three cameras; one for each of the two anchors and a camera in the middle for a wide shot of the desk. Students from another class run the cameras during the show.
Doug Taylor edits video for the show in Avid, a video editing program. The producer tries to use as much video as possible, as it makes people more likely to stay tuned to the newscast.
Students from a production class at WSU run the camera, graphics, sound, and other technical aspects. The two classes have to work hand-in-hand to make the show run smoothly.
The teleprompter is made up of a screen that displays the script onto a two-way mirror, allowing the camera behind the glass to capture the anchors without the words appearing in the shot, while also allowing the anchor to look directly into the camera as they read.
Brooke Wolford writes a script in iNews, the program that the class uses to organize the show in a common place where all team members can access the show and add the scripts they have been assigned.
Anchors Alec Scully (left) and Charly Nelson (right) sit at the desk and read throug their scripts to familiarize themselves with the night’s show and catch any errors or difficult phrases to ensure a smooth reading on-air.
Three members of Murrow News 8 work on the show before going up to the studio while Newsroom Manager Shannon Heckt looks on. At least three hours a day, oftentimes more, go into producing the show before anyone enters the studio for taping.
Another view of the control room, this time from behind where the producer sits. The producer watches the show from the control room to make sure everything goes smoothly content-wise, and can communicate via an IFB earpiece with the anchors at the desk.
The weather anchor must turn this in to the production team upstairs everyday so they can build a set of four weather graphics for the show. These graphics include today and tomorrow's weather, a statewide map, and a five-day forecast.
Anchors Matt Mohney (left) and Darold Bivens (right) organize their scripts as they do a read-through. The anchoring team sometimes do up to 5 read-outs before a show in an attempt to work out any rough spots, and to proof-read, as changes can be made in the teleprompter even after the paper scripts are printed.