Team 4 Rundown Rationale

by: Lauren Fabrizi (NCC News)

Oct. 17, 2010, 2:56 p.m.

Our two-person team consisted of myself, Lauren Fabrizi, as producer and Marquise Francis as anchor. We used reporter wraps from Tim Killian and Andrew Kanell.
Music & Heads:

I teased a local (A2), national/international (A7), and state (A9) story to cover multiple aspects of the newscast.

A2 Syracuse Budget:

Our first story was about the Syracuse school district budget. I chose to lead with this live wrap from Andrew because it was a local story, and very newsworthy as the projected $50 million budget gap for next year is a record high. Andrew got a nice sound bite from the vice president of the Syracuse School Board.

A3 SU Transfers:

Our next story was an anchor actuality on an Onondaga Community College and Syracuse University program that will allow OCC students to easily transfer to SU after two years. A similar program was also established between SU and Georgia Perimeter College. I used this story after the school district budget story because the 'school theme' flowed nicely. Marquise obtained a good sound bite from a Georgia Perimeter College admissions officer.

A4 Laundry:

Keeping with local news, the following story was a reader on a Syracuse Housing authority accountant who stole $176,000 in laundry machine token money over the course of 17 years. I used a reader here to keep the pace going well.

A5 Honeywell:

Another local story covered Honeywell International and how it plans to clean up hundreds of acres of polluted wastebeds near Onondaga Lake in Camillus and Geddes. The story was a recorded wrap done by Tim. I decided to use this story next because it kept with our 'local' flow. Tim obtained a good sound bite from the public affairs director for the Department of Environmental Conservation.

A6 Catskills:

Moving from local news to state news, our next story was about a casino in the Catskills. To keep up with good pacing, I used a reader to cover this story. It discussed how New York Gov. Paterson is working to approve the construction of an Indian-owned casino in the Catskills.

A7 Cholera Outbreak:

Transitioning from state news to national/international news, Marquise's anchor actuality on the cholera outbreak in Haiti was next. This was a newsworthy story as the cholera outbreak is a timely occurrence, and also, because it has killed over 1,000 Haitians, with over 17,000 hospitalized. Marquise used a sound bite from an International Relations spokesman, found on ABC newscall.

A8 Four Loko:

The next story went from international news to national news. A reader was used to cover the alcoholic beverage Four Loko, and that its manufacturers will be removing caffeine and two other ingredients from its content. This was a newsworthy story in that Four Loko has been in the news recently.

A9 Empire State Games:

Our last story before the break returned to state news. Another reader was used to cover the cancellation of the Empire State Games because of New York's $9 billion budget gap.

A10 Tease:

I teased a story on the engagement ring that Prince William gave his fiance along with the weather.

B1 Royal Wedding Ring:

A reader was used for the kicker, which described how a jewelry store in Manhattan is making replicas of the engagement ring that Prince William gave to his fiance, Kate Middleton. I used this story for the kicker because it is timely as Prince William has recently proposed to Middleton, and because it is a light-hearted human interest piece.

B2 Weather:

The weather covered today, tonight, tomorrow, and weekend weather. But in order to end the show on time, only the current weather condition was needed.

B3 Music & Close:

After reading the current weather, Marquise finished his close just as the music came up, finishing the show very close to on time.

Z1-Z3 Floaters:

Three floaters about cigarette sales in Caygua County, a Buffalo school cafeteria manager, and an amateur golfer were not needed.

Overall, the show ran very smoothly. We printed our scripts before the deadline, and made it to the control room with over 5 minutes to spare. Because A5-A7 ran longer than estimated, I dropped the A8 reader on Four Loko, and Marquise read only the current weather condition to get us out on time.

Team 1 Rundown Rationale

by: Lauren Fabrizi (NCC News)

Nov. 3, 2010, 7:22 p.m.

Our team consisted of myself, Lauren Fabrizi, as producer, Marquise Francis as anchor, and Callan Gray and Dan Grossman as our two reporters.

Although ENPS was down for quite some time, our team was able to pull everything together and have the show run very smoothly!

A1: Headlines

We teased a national story (A3), local story (A6), and state/local story (A9) in our headlines as a way to briefly introduce multiple aspects of the 2010 midterm elections.

A2: Maffei Buerkle

As of this morning, the winner of the 25th Congressional District in New York was still undecided, so I wanted to lead with this story as the Maffei/Buerkle race has been very popular in local news for a while. Originally, Dan was going to do a recorded wrap on the race. However, he could not obtain a source, so for time purposes he changed his story, and a reader was done instead.

A3: Republicans

Another major headliner this morning was that many Republicans were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, so we made the transition from local news to a national story. Marquise did a nice anchor-actuality on the topic, and obtained his sound bite from ABC newscall.

A4: Cuomo

Going from national news to state news, we covered our next story, the race for New York governor, with a reader. Not only was Democrat Andrew Cuomo elected, but Cuomo's father held the position of govenor in the 1980s and 90s. So this story also had a 'human interest' effect.

A5: Schumer Gillibrand

Continuing with state news, our next story was another reader on the Schumer/Gillibrand race for New York Senate. The story briefly discussed that Schumer and Gillibrand were elected for the NY Senate term.

A6: Marcellus High

To change up the pace, an anchor-actuality was done on the voters present at Marcellus High School Tuesday night. Marquise obtained an excellent sound bite from a Marcellus resident about her reason for voting Republican. This story also marked a transition from state news to local news.

A7: Sheriff

Keeping with local news, a reader was used to cover the Onondaga County sheriff race. Kevin Walsh was elected to his 4th fifth-year term. The story was newsworthy because Walsh's victory will enable him to become the county's longest-serving sheriff. However, after the completion of A6, we were slightly behind on time, so I dropped it.

A8: Marijuana

Although it was a stretch, our newscast went back to national news with a voicer to spice up the pace. Dan went through multiple story topics trying to obtain a source. Although Dan was unable to speak with someone, he did a very good job on his voicer on Propisition 19, a law that if passed, would permit California residents to legally possess and grow the drug. The vote for Proposition 19 was Tuesday night, along with all the midterm elections, so it fit into the 'election' theme.

A9: Valesky Russo

Transitioning from national news to local news, Callan did an excellent live wrap on the victory of Onondaga County's senate incumbents David Veleskey and John DeFrancisco. She obtained her sound bite from Valesky's opponent, Andrew Russo.

A10: Roberts

Keeping with local news, a reader covered the 119th Assembly District. The story discussed how Democrat Sam Roberts easily defeated his opponent, Republican John Sharon. But with A8 and A9 going a little longer than estimated, it was cut, just to be safe.

A11: Tease

A story on a local family's diabetic daughter, along with the weather, was teased.

B1: Diabetes (Kicker)

Although our entire A-block covered the midterm elections, I wanted to change direction altogether for the kicker. So I used a reader to cover the story of a Camillus couple and their diabetic daughter. It was definitely a good human interest piece because it discussed how the couple wanted to buy a service dog that would be able to monitor their daughter's blood sugar levels.

B2: Weather

After Marquise read the kicker story, we were right on time. No filler-weather was needed, so Marquise read today and tonight's weather at a perfect speed and ended with the current temperature.

B3: Music and Close

After the weather, Marquise hit the close at exactly the right moment, and ended the show on time.

Although no floaters were in the Z-block, we had some lined up (Green Party Recognition and Oneida County Sheriff Race), but with time constraints due to ENPS being down and being the first group to go, I was unable to transcribe them into the rundown.

However, we had a total of 9 stories in the A-block, and with some stories going over the estimated duration in the "actual" column, I anticipated that we would most likely have to drop 1 or 2 readers, which is what happened.

Dropping both A7 and A9 before the break was a good move, because by doing so, Marquise did not have to cut anything from the kicker or rush through the weather. Despite the obstacles of the day, our team worked well together and came through in the end for a great newscast.

Team 1 Rundown Rationale

By Ethan Kwassman (NCC News)

October 20, 2010, 12:25 pm

Our team consisted of Lauren as the anchor, Marquise as the live reporter, and Callan did the recorded wrap. The rundown and scripts were completed in a timely manner and the local and national stories flowed from one to another. We were in studio with some time for Lauren to review the script and to go over preliminary newscast essentiels. We were well prepared for the newscast, but we had to drop two national/international stories (Midwest Storms and Indonesia Disasters) because the actual time of one of our anchor-actualities was longer than its estimated duration. However, we were able to go into the break before the tease with an national anchor-actuality story. We ended the show slightly close to being on time. Our rundown consisted of:

Headlines:

I felt that the most newsworthy stories to tease in the headlines were National Grid's proposed rate hike, an Oswego school board's decision to not remove a member, and the Cicero Police Department on the verge of being abolished. Out of all the stories in the rundown, I felt that these were the "top" stories.

A2: National Grid

Callan did an excellent job covering this story. Syracuse National Grid customers are condemning the power company's first proposed rate hike in over a decade. Callan got very good crowd national sound as well as good soundcuts from people on both sides of the issue. This story served as a solid lead story because the public hearings were last night, it's a local story, and many people in the area care about this story. This story is also timely because the rate hike debates are ongoing.

A3: New Process Gear

The next story flowed nicely because it also concerned economic troubles in the Onondaga County area. We followed up the National Grid outrage story with New Process Gear, a DeWitt auto parts plant, laying off 220 workers in January. We stayed local and continued with another hard news story. This story is timely because it's another one of those economy being down stories and the plant recently informed the New York State Department of Labor about the job cuts.

A4: Oswego School Board

To keep it local, we followed with Lauren's anchor actuality about the Oswego School Board voting not to remove one of its board members. It was a smooth transition from the economy to a school vote story. It is a timely story because the vote was Tuesday night. It also would attract listeners since it involves controversy regarding the school board member violating board policy. Lauren was able to get a good soundcut from a school board member who voted to remove the member in question.

A5: Cicero Police Department

Next, we followed up one of our headline stories with another one. Marquise did a solid job on the live wrap about the Cicero Police Department on the verge of being abolished. The Cicero Town Supervisor is leaving the fate of the Police Department in the hands of voters. So, it's another voting story, which follows nicely from the Oswego School Board story. It also has good proximity because Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney told town officials that Cicero should avoid the additional cost of a police department and rely on the county sheriff's office and state police. Marquise got great soundcuts from the Cicero Chief of Police. This story was newsworthy and timely because these decisions are taking place now, and it's another hard news story.

A6: Former County Deputy

Keeping with local police related matters, we did a reader on an Onondaga County sheriff deputy, who resigned last month, being charged with sex crimes involving a 14-year-old boy. The locality of this story made it fit in the newscast.

A7: Bullying Study

Next, we jumped to a national news story, but it flowed nicely because it involved ethical issues like the previous story. Lauren did an excellent anchor-actuality on a national survey conducted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, which found that 43 percent of students interviewed have been physically abused, taunted, or harassed. She got a good soundcut from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who reached out to bullied students across the nation. This story is timely because of all the recent suicides related to bullying, and because the survey results were recently released. It's also newsworthy because it is certainly a human interest story.

A8: Midwest Storms

The next two national/international stories on the Midwest Storms, and the Indonesia Disasters, respectively, were nice readers written by Callan. However, we had to cut both of them because we ran out of time due to a longer-than-estimated anchor actuality early on. The Midwest Storms story flowed nicely from the Bullying Survey one because it's another national story. It was timely and definitely a top national story due to the amount of impact it's creating in a number of midwestern states.

A9: Indonesia Disasters

This international story had to be cut as well because of aforementioned timing issues. However, in the rundown, it flowed nicely from the Midwest Storm story because it's a storm-related story. The Indonesia Disaster is such an newsworthy story because of the timeliness of three disasters (earthquake, tsunami, and volcano eruption) occurring at roughly the same time. The impact is obviously a factor as well with 272 people having been reported dead and over 500 missing.

A10: TEASE B

Next, we teased the kicker and weather forecast.

B1 (Kicker): Michael Jackson

Our kicker was a story on pop legend Michael Jackson making $275 million in the past year, thus, earning him the title of Forbes' Richest Deceased Celebrity. It was soft news and interesting to the public because Jackson never held a spot on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list when he was alive. Also, many listeners are sure to perk up and listen when it's a story about Michael Jackson.

B2: Weather

Lauren read today and tonight's weather before getting to current weather. She started to read some of the filler for the weather forecast and that's maybe why we didn't end the newscast right on time. However, she was able to fit in the close.

Overall, the newscast was a success. Our team was well prepared and everybody made a significant contribution. Despite cutting two major national/international stories due to timing issues, we still got in one newsworthy national story (an anchor-actuality), and a good core of hard local news stories to round out the newscast. Our group was satisfied with how the broadcast turned out.

END OF SHOW

Floaters:

Syracuse Fire

We had to cut two stories anyway to end close to being on time, but we used a Syracuse fire story as a floater. Because there weren't many details on this story other than it being an early-morning fire at a two-family home in Syracuse's West End, it wasn't very newsworthy. Property damage was only outcome of the fire, but this story was good to have as an additional local story since it was timely.

Hancock International

We used another short reader as a floater in Hancock International Airport being awarded a $500,000 grant to create incentives to lure low-cost airlines. This story was timely and newsworthy for the Syracuse area. However, we pushed it to a floater story because we had planned to use it as an anchor-actuality but were unable to get a hold of anyone for a soundcut, and already had all of other stories mapped out. So, we didn't want to place this in the rundown because it may have ruined the flow of the newscast. It certainly could have been used if we needed time to fill, though.

Team 1 Rundown Rationale

By Chet Davis (NCC News)

October 13, 2010, 11:30 p.m.

For our team, Ethan was the anchor, Lauren was the live reporter and Marquise was the recorded wrap. Everything was done efficiently and we were in studio ready to go on time. The show went smoothly, with no stories having to be dropped and ending the show close to on time. Here’s the rundown we used:

Teases

I teased the first three stories of the newscast which were Remembrance Week, the 25^th Congressional District race and the New York governor race. These stories were the most newsworthy in our rundown which is why I teased them

A2: Remembrance Week

Marquise covered this story and did a solid job. Syracuse University is remembering the 35 students who died on the Pan Am Flight 103 over two decades ago. The remembrance started last night on the quad and events take place throughout the week. I chose to lead with this story because it was local and is big deal to this area. The event has just started and is still going on, so the story is timely as well.

A3: 25^th Congressional District race

Next, we followed with the 25^th congressional race that made financial history with the most expensive congressional election in Syracuse area history. We used this story next because we wanted to keep it local. Also, the elections are coming up soon and campaigns are still going on so the story has timeliness. Lastly, the story is surprising with the economy being down that Dan Maffei and Marie Buerkle still came up with so much money for campaigning.

A4: Governor Race

To keep the flow going, we next covered the governor race to stay with politics. The Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo has refused to schedule any more debates before the elections which are still a month away. The story is local and after a debate with Republican Carl Paladino last night the story is timely.

A5: Jamesville-Dewitt school project

Next, Lauren did her live wrap on the Jamesville-DeWitt approval of an $11.5 million school project for renovations. The story is kind of a jump from politics but still is local and is slightly political since it is dealing with the school’s budget. The story is newsworthy because again the economy is down, but Jamesville-DeWitt is still going forward with a pricy project, that isn’t even geared to education. Community members should be interested in the story with where the money is coming from and how it is being used.

A6: Parents concerned with Dr. Weeks Elementary School

Staying with Syracuse school districts, Ethan did an anchor actuality on the Dr. Weeks Elementary School’s plan to relocate students during a 28 million dollar renovation. Parents showed up at a meeting yesterday with serious concerns, giving the story conflict. Also, the obvious locality made the story a good fit.

A7: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

Next we made a jump to the military and the removal of “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. The military is trying to fight the ruling, therefore the story has conflict. Also, the story talked about a New York man who was discharged from the military after admitting he was gay. Now, Dan Choi is re-enlisting into the army. The story is timely, somewhat local and also national and is a human interest story for a man being able to serve his country again.

A8: Hillary Clinton

To keep the flow going, Hillary Clinton made statements yesterday supporting gays in the State Department. The story was more national but kept good flow with “don’t ask don’t tell” and was timely with all the events surrounding gay rights.

Kicker: Halloween man

For our kicker, we did a story on an Auburn man who made a 35 foot long haunted pirate ship in his backyard. The story is light-hearted and humorous, but then the story talks about how the ship was made for charity because admission into the ship is canned food. Last year the man and his wife donated 1800 canned goods. The story is timely since Halloween is approaching, local and a human interest story.

Weather

Ethan read today and tonight’s weather before getting to the current weather. He had to cut tomorrow and the weekend weather. He went a few seconds over but, could have cut out tonight’s weather and been on time. However, the show was an overall success and we were all satisfied with our performances.

END OF SHOW

Floaters:

Syracuse Fire

We didn’t have time to actually write the story, but we originally had a Syracuse fire story as a floater. The fire didn’t injure anyone and was only in a small house therefore, the story didn’t have enough newsworthiness for the broadcast but would have been nice to have just in case.

Firefighter Discrimination

We did write this story and it was a 20 second reader that would have been easy to use if we needed it after the “don’t ask don’t tell policy” stories. The story would have flowed well since it was about discrimination in a New York City fire department. The story was a little far away and didn’t pack enough newsworthiness to be used.