Team 1 Rundown Rationale

By Callan Gray (NCC News)

November 17, 2010 8:00 pm

Headlines:

These headlines were chosen for the newsworthiness of each story. The Syracuse School District budget plans was one of our top stories that has good proximity and discusses many of the influential people in the school system in Syracuse. The story about Honeywell cleaning up the Camillus waterbeds was teased because it is an interesting and informative story as well as very local. The blood pressure story was teased because a significant amount of Americans suffer from high blood pressure, making it relevant to a wide audience.

A2- OCC SU

This story was about a new program making it easier for Onondaga Community College students to transfer to Syracuse University after two years. The story lead the newscast because it is a breaking story and relevant to a good portion of the Syracuse academic community. The program was actually announced at 10 a.m. the morning of our cast, so only about an hour before we went on air. The story was both informative about the new program and similar programs SU has been involved in. This is important for the community to know so that community members can determine how the new action will affect them.

A3- Consumer Prices

Segueing out of the OCC SU story we used a story about the state of inflation in the United States. The original flow was to go from the OCC story to one on the budget deficit in the Syracuse School District and then go into this story. But with that flow I ended up with 3 readers in a row, which would cause me to lose the listener. I therefore put this one above the Syracuse School District story, breaking the flow from education to the economy. Instead the flow because the OCC story and then stories on the economy. This story was a reader about the current state of inflation in America. It is timely since the results were just released and it has relevance because many Central New Yorkers are affected by the poor economy in the state and nation. It also gives listeners an idea of the trend the economy is taking.

A4- School Budget

This story segued out of the Consumer Prices story nicely since it talks about how the poor economy is affecting the Syracuse School District, which has a budget deficit of $50 million dollars. The angle on the story was about how the cause of the deficit is New York State’s financial problems. This story is timely since the report was released Tuesday by Superintendant Lowengard at a day long meeting, if you weren’t at the meeting you wouldn’t have heard of the shortfall yet. It also has good proximity and affects all of the people within the Syracuse School District.

A5- Casino

This story continues the theme of the economy by discussing a plan Governor Paterson has to create jobs and bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the state. While the other stories discussed the problems with the economy, this one offers a solution adding a different perspective to the newscast. The story is about a casino Paterson would like to build that would be run by the Mohican tribe. It is not the most local story, which is why it is further down in the newscast. But it is still relevant to the area because if the casino were built, it would mean more money for the state, which could help Central New Yorkers in the long run. This is also a story that guarantees a follow up over the next few months when a decision is made.

A6- Cigarettes

This story flowed out of the Casino story well because it also has to do with an Indian Nation, the Cayugans. The story was about Cayuga County returning cigarettes it confiscated from the Cayuga Nation. The story is towards the end of the newscast because it broke yesterday but because it broke during the afternoon, it is still timely enough to include in the cast. This story is also timely because of the debates over the last few months about whether or not cigarettes should be sold on Indian reservations. The story is most relevant to smokers and those people who live in the Cayuga Nation. But this could be interesting to the citizens of Cayuga county in the sense that it could cause them to pay more attention to what county officials do.

A7-Honeywell

This story is about Honeywell International cleaning up polluted areas in Geddes and Camillus. This story is relevant because it is timely, since it was just announced; it is relevant because of the environmental impact it will have; and it affects a lot of people since it is taking place over two towns. The story was placed here because it acts as a transition between the Indian reservation stories and the next two stories based on health. It really did not flow with the rest of the class so it acted as a good break to recapture the listeners attention who may have gotten bored with the cast- its an attention grabber.

A8- Four Loko

This story was about how the FDA was making a decision on the health effects of Four Loko. The story was timely because the verdict was being made later the day and it was relevant because in previous casts we had covered the health risks of Four Loko. This story acted as a follow up to those stories. It was also relevant because the drink is so widely used on college campuses and Syracuse has a strong student base. The story was placed at the end of the cast because it is not a breaking story and is more of a public interest story. It also began the health block, which included this story and the next.

A9- Blood Pressure

This story was about a new procedure that would permanently reduce high blood pressure for those people on which medication has no effect. It was a human-interest story that flowed nicely from the Four Loko Health story. Many people throughout the United States suffer from high blood pressure so it was definitely relevant to put in the cast even though it did not have a direct local tie. It was also timely since the results of the trial run of the procedure were released the day of the cast.

Tease- We teased the Empire State Games being cancelled and the weather forecast.

B1- Empire State Games

This story was about the New York State Empire State Games being cancelled. This story was sports related so it worked well as the kicker. It was timely because it the decision to cancel the games was just made. It also affects all of the athletes in the state, including those in Central New York, so it had a wide audience. It would also appeal to the greater community, outside of athletes because the cancellation is a cost saving measure for the state.

Weather

We prepared extra weather with the weekend forecast but that was not read. The rest of the weather was read however and we still got out on time.

End of Show

Floaters

Z1-Hunter

We just had one floater since we only had 29 seconds of back time; I calculated this one 20 second floater would be enough even if we had extra time. The floater was about a hunter from Syracuse who’s body was found after he disappeared. The story was not used in the cast because the body had been found a few days prior. It was still local however and was an ongoing investigation so it was still relevant. Audiences would be interested in this story because of its human interest.