Team 2 Rundown Rationale

By Callan Gray (NCC News)

October 20, 2010 12:00 p.m.

Headlines

These headlines were picked because they addressed the top stories in our cast. The Jamesville-Dewitt school renovation story was included because it was our leading story and the most important to Syracuse community members. The headline about the polls actually encompassed both poll stories, effectively killing two birds with one stone. The last headline on the Four Loko story gave listeners a human interest story to look forward to, spicing up the heavy news rundown.


JD Schools

We started the news cast with the story about the Jamesville-Dewitt residents approving an $11.5 million funding project for renovations within the school district. We led with this story because it was timely and the most relevant to Syracuse area residents. The meeting approving the funding was Tuesday night, so by Wednesday morning even though it wasn't breaking news, it was something that people probably wouldn’t know about unless they attended the meeting. The funding plan also affected a large number of people in the Syracuse area; there are about 3,000 students in the JD school district. The story was interesting as well because the plan was approved by such a large percentage with a 467 to 64 passing vote.

Siena Poll

The next story we used was a reader about new Siena poll results released at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The results showed that Democrat Andrew Cuomo is ahead of Republican Carl Paladino in the New York State gubernatorial race. These results were definitely timely since they were released the morning of the cast. They are also timely because of the recent gubernatorial debate on Monday, which has attracted a lot of press because of the lack of focus and interesting comments made during it. Because this was a breaking news story we put it at the top of the cast. It also has local ties because Central New Yorkers vote in the election and should know where their candidates stand.

Schumer, Gillibrand

We followed with a second Siena poll story about the Senate race. The story showed that Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand were ahead of their respective competitors Jay Townsend and Joe DioGuardi. It flowed seamlessly from the last story about polls. We felt it necessary to do two separate stories on the Siena poll to keep the listener engaged and to help organize the statistics. By breaking it up, the listener does not tune out after the gubernatorial race results are read. This story was timely as well because the poll was released the morning of the newscast and while it is a state story it has local connections since Central New Yorkers vote for the Senators. It is also timely since the elections are in 2 weeks on November 2.

South Avenue Fire

We made a jump here to a story about a fire in Syracuse that firefighters had a hard time battling because of traffic. I put it fourth because while it occurred this morning, it was no longer a breaking story since the fire was out by the time of our cast. It was newsworthy enough to go at the top half of our rundown because it has human interest and was a day-of story. People may have seen the fire on their way to work since it happened in a traffic heavy zone and may want to know exactly what they saw. Traffic was eventually blocked off so commuters could be interested in why they had to take a detour and if it would be a problem on their trip home as well.

Four Loko

We made the transition from the fire story to another one that has to do with life risks. This story was about the dangers of an alcoholic-energy drink popular on college campuses that the state is considering banning. This was newsworthy because of the high number of colleges and universities in the Syracuse area. It is also interesting on a national level because the drink is being investigated by the FDA. It was not a particularly timely story, because investigations are still occurring and the state has not made a decision on the drink, but it is a decision that has the potential to affect businesses that carry the drink and residents who purchase it. This is a story that could have a follow up story when a decision about banning the drink is made.

Oil Spill Anniversary

This story highlighted the 6-month anniversary of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It flowed nicely out of the last story because it was health and consumer related. It addressed the issue that fishing has not completely returned to the area, which is relevant to Upstate New Yorkers and businesses that may have imported fish from the Gulf before and after the spill. The story is of national interest because it tells Americans that the cap placed on the well is not perfect and that the problem has not gone away. This story brought our newscast back up to the national level and acted as segue between the Four Loko story and the next story about gay rights in the army, which are completely unrelated.

Pentagon Gay Rights

This reader continued the national flow and discussed the Pentagon’s order that the military allow gays to enlist now that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been repealed. It is a story that continues coverage of the aftermath of the repealed bill and is therefore timely. It is also timely since gay rights are a hot issue right now after the press attention of the gay teen suicides. We ended up having to cut half of the story due to time constrictions but the major points of the story were still broadcast. The portion we cut was a quote from a Pentagon spokesperson. This is a human interest story and is connected to the controversy about whether gays should be able to serve, making the story more intriguing to the listener.

Tease

We teased the 60-mile car chase in Binghamton and promoted the weather forecast.



Kicker- Car Chase

This story was used for the kicker because it is fun and not something you hear about every day. It was an unusual story about a woman who police chased for 60 miles down Interstate 90 Monday night after they caught her shoplifting. It was not the timeliest story but it had human interest and is pretty local since Binghamton is only about an hour away from Syracuse.

Weather

Our weather forecast was cut short because of time constraints so Dan did not read the weekend forecast, which we had prepared just in case we were under on time. Dan made it through the scheduled weather but we ended up going over on time because that was read in its entirety.

End of Show
We went over on time, which I think had to do with our newscast starting three minutes late because of technical difficulties. Once we were started, the director had us begin 30 seconds earlier than our postponed time. This made it difficult to keep track of time by the end of the newscast. The stories were well prepared nevertheless and Dan was a smooth anchor.


Floaters:
FDNY Discrimination
This story was originally in our newscast to help segue between the local fire and the gay rights story. Because of newsworthiness, our rundown was rearranged to put the most breaking stories first and this story ended up being out of place. It is a story about a judge barring New York City from hiring new firefighters after a dispute regarding a lawsuit with the fire department. It is newsworthy because the decision just happened and it has the element of conflict as well which makes it interesting to listeners.

Chrysler Recall
This reader addressed a new recall on certain models of Chrysler vehicles. The story made the second cut of the rundown but was eventually eliminated because it took us to :18 seconds under, which does not leave very much wiggle room. The choice to take it out of the rundown ended up being a smart one since we went over on time at the end. This story is of public interest since many American’s and Central New York residents own Chrysler vehicles. It is timely because the recall was announced today.