Last Post 28 days, 14 hours Ago
While you were watching American Idol tonight, the Fox 9 news team was working on confirming a story about a ride accident at the Mall of America.
8:24: Newsroom learns about possible accident with injuries from Annie Hua. She's one of our Assignment Editors who learned about the accident while she was at home. We immediately move a crew from Roseville where they were finishing up a story that was supposed to air at 9pm. The reporter and photographer stopped everything and started driving towards the mall. Their live truck operator had to roll up cables, pack up lights, lower a mast that carries a microwave transmitter, and follow along.
8:31: Our reporter Maury Glover and assignment desk confirm the accident and have details of injuries. Back in the newsroom producers alert the anchors and start changing the show’s lineup (what we call the rundown) to include the breaking news. Producer Kara Owens starts digging through file video tape to see if we have pictures of the ride in question. Alexa Klang on the desk starts looking everywhere on the internet for pictures of the ride.
8:35: Maury calls in to say he’s en route and is writing the script with the information he has so far. Back in the newsroom, while working on other potential problems later in the newscast, we come up with a plan to cover the story if the live truck can’t make it to the mall on time.
8:43: We find file video of the amusement park at the mall, but still no video of the ride. At this point Kara Owens is still digging through other stories to see what she can find. A few minutes later, Maury Glover arrives at the mall and calls into the newsroom.
8:51: The reporter is in position for his report. And we have a new development for him. We found video of the ride. He plans on using a still picture, then file video. It’s too soon to go into the mall to find witnesses before the 9pm report. But we have the information. The live truck is now just a few minutes away.
855: The live truck arrives, but it takes several minutes to set up. This is going to be close. This is about the time we can all hear in the background that American Idol is about to announce who is going home. While you’re all in suspense, we’re using that as a time cue to get ready to go on the air.
859: We have color bars from the live truck, but they’re still pulling out a cable to get the camera and audio into the truck and back to the station. We start the newscast with Jeff and Robyne going over everything we know.
9:03: The reporter’s picture and sound are good. We go back to Maury Glover live from the Mall of America with new details in a Fox Alert. Right after Maury’s report, he goes into the mall, checks in with security, tracks down a witness, and then prepares for another report at 10pm.
Keep in mind, there were several other events happening at the same time we were preparing for this Fox Alert. Seconds can be like hours in TV news. But this crew all pulled together to work fast at confirming information so we could bring it to you first. I hope that your only stress at the time was who would be sent home on Idol!
Have a good night! And thanks to everyone in the newsroom who pulled together to get this story right, and first!
Patrick Armijo
Executive Producer
| Member Comments |
 |
 |
||
