The News Desk
Hello all! I'm Mark Liu and I'm an Assignment Editor for KCBS 2 / KCAL 9. Assignment Editors are the folks in the newsroom that hunt for breaking news and dispatch our reporters and photographers to stories as they happen. We also surf the internet and drink a LOT of coffee. This blog should (hopefully) provide a little insight into the inner workings of a major metropolitan TV news assignment desk, and maybe give everyone out there a better idea of *how* and *why* we do the stories that we do. Email me at mliu@cbs.com
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Back In The Saddle
Things have been moving along here at the assignment desk tonight. There's a fairly large (15,000 acre) fire burning in the Big Bear wilderness and there are mandatory evacuations in the Fawnskin area. About 600 cabins and small structures are threatened by this fire, but the evacuations aren't displacing as many people as you might expect. That's one of the main reasons why this fire isn't getting an enormous amount of coverage. If people's lives are threatened, we'll be over it. If it just continues to burn pine trees, we won't fly our chopper. We did sent reporter Greg Phillips and photog Kevin Hufnagel up to the area to "babysit" the blaze just in case it exploded into something huge. I can't imagine it's what Kevin expected when he got up this morning. (Wake up, get loaded into your news van, drive 2 hours into the mountains then sit and watch and smell the smoke for the rest of your shift. Then go home.) The other problem with covering fires in the Big Bear area is that since we launch our news choppers from Whitman Airport in Sylmar, we end up burning a half a tank of fuel just getting to the scene of the fire. Then we only have about another hour on scene before we have to leave and fuel up in San Bernardino. It's like a giant set of musical chairs with a news helicopter.
O.J. Simpson. What the...? Talk about spicing up the weekend with some juicy/strange news! What was that man thinking? Of all the human beings on the planet during any time in history, O.J. Simpson qualifies as the "Man-That-Should-Strive-To-Stay-Out-Of-Trouble" more than anyone else. For someone that has *literally* used his get out of jail free card once in his life, you'd think he'd have more brains than running around leading a group of guys in an (alleged) armed robbery. Because the story is in Vegas, I got the pleasure tonight of working with one of my old co-workers in that town, KLAS-TV assignment editor Steve Jackson. Steve is an old buddy of mine that I worked with when we were both at KTNV (the ABC affiliate in Vegas.) I was the assignment manager and Steve was one of the best photojournalists in town. I could send him out to a news story armed with only a vague location and a "guess" as to what's going on out there, and Steve would find out the details of the story on his own and radio them back to me. To an assignment editor, a photog like that is worth his weight in coffee (i.e. assignment editor gold. Ha!) because he gave me the tools to make a decision if the story was "worth" sending a reporter. Now Steve is continuing his excellent in journalism by running the nightside assignment desk at KLAS, the CBS affiliate in Vegas. From what I gather from his co-workers, he is succeeding at assignment editing as greatly as he did at photography. It's always nice to be able to work with an assignment desk out of town and know that you're not going to get shafted by someone that has no idea what they're doing.
Here's my favorite story this week that's *not* being picked up by the mainstream media. In a nutshell: a notoriously sneaky anti-piracy company called MediaDefender that targets illegal peer-to-peer filesharers has had over 700 megabytes of their private company e-mails hacked and released to the general public. MediaDefender works with companies like the RIAA and the MPAA to find people who pirate movies and music and then turn over their personal information to RIAA/MPAA lawyers to sue them. For a long time, bloggers and internet "enthusiasts" have speculated that MediaDefender has engaged in some deceptive tactics to try to trap people into sharing dubious content over bittorrent. Well, an examination of their hacked and released e-mails reveals some amazing things about MediaDefender's business model, including a "sting" website they set up to try and trick people into uploading pirated movies. Read more at ArsTechnica.com
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Experimental Webcasts
There will be no webcasts this week. We're working on changing the format a little and I've been using my time in the web department to think up new ways to produce them. I'd be interested in any ideas any of you had for a good TV news / Internet news webcast. Basically, I want to bring viewers something they're not going to see on TV *and* something they don't already see on our website. Since we already cover everything between TV and the web, I'm left with only a few choices in terms of content to produce. I'm looking at possibly doing more of a commentary-based webcast, but my problem with that is that I need to formulate my commentary in a more eloquent and respectful form. Right now it sits somewhere between "internet rage" and "flame war". I need to get it to something closer to "Edward R. Murrow." Since I'm no Edward R. Murrow, I have a lot of practicing to do. I'm trying to avoid ending up with a commentary show that sits somewhere between "Bill O'Reilly" and "snot-nosed internet punk."
Back on the assigment desk side of things, I've been doing my old job again. Alberto, the assignment editor who took over my "running-of-the-crews" job when I transfered to the web department has left for a one month vacation. So they've drafted me into doing that job for half of my shift. It's nice to sit in the old seat and work the scanners and reporters.
Our reporters are very professional. Like any good team, we help each other out when we need to. The trick to being a good assignment editor is taking satisfaction in helping someone take credit for a job well done. Like one of my old news mentors told me once: "Mark, the news business is a great business. If you really work hard...I mean REALLY work hard and put your nose to the grindstone, one day if you're really lucky...you can make one of your superiors very very rich. Doesn't that sound nice?"
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Getting A Job In News
Earlier this month, I got an e-mail from a reader who had a few questions about how to get started with a career in news. He was a college grad but didn't have a journalism background. Here's his e-mail:
"Dear Mr. Liu, I am writing you re: the fact I enjoying reading your blog on your days at CBS2. What I am wondering is, if you might be able to give me some advice. I'm trying to get an editor position at CBS2 in Chicago and don't have a college degree and would like to talk with someone who does this work who could offer me some encouragement. My work background is in finance, but I have always wanted to work on a assignment desk for a long time. I am news hungry 24-7 and know this is what I want to do. I have some good contacts at CBS2 I just need to get an interview. Some insiders tell me to be persistant. Any advice you could offer me would sure be helpful. Michael"
Here's my response to Michael:
"Michael,
Thanks for reading the blog! Here's the situation with getting a job on an assignment desk...
First, don't worry about not having the right "degree" or "background". At KCBS / KCAL here in LA, there are actually very few people that have "Broadcast Journalism" degrees. We have lots of people with backgrounds in accounting, health, politics, education, sales and law enforcement! The great thing about broadcast journalism is that almost anyone can start in an entry level position at almost any time of their lives!
Now, with that being said, I should let you know that starting out in broadcast journalism is ANYTHING but lucrative. Expect to make close to minimum wage for at least the first year of work (or maybe two). Here's the main issue: people with no experience working in a newsroom can't get any meaningful jobs in a newsroom in a big city. I'll explain: I'm sure there's a production assistant job or internship at the CBS station in Chicago for you, but unlike other business models in America, a PA job or internship will NOT lead to a better position later. Weird, I know. Here's how this works:
The normal path of advancement for practically EVERY career in broadcast journalism (producer, writer, on-air "talent", director, assignment editor, photographer, manager) is to first start in what's called a "small market". In the world of broadcasting, the United States has been carved up into 210 television-viewing "markets" that represent TV stations' coverage areas. They are ranked according to size. New York is number 1. Los Angeles is number 2. Chicago is number 3. San Francisco is number 5. Indianapolis is number 25. Las Vegas is number 43. This goes on and on down the line until you get to little ol' market number 210, which is "Glendive, MT." I've never even heard of that place. Anyway, in order to get your career started in broadcast journalism with something better than production assistant work, you need to go to a "small market" to learn the ropes.
If you want to be "on-air", you gotta go REAL small. Most markets in the mid-to-late 100's take reporters with no previous experience. News directors there hire college students fresh out of college. They give them a camera, a microphone, a notepad and tell them to go forth into their community (of Parkersville, WV...market 189) and get to work! First year reporters work 12 hours a day, make 7 bucks an hour, shoot and edit their own work, and often cry themselves to sleep at night because their friends are all richer than they are. However, they have something their friends don't; One of the most exciting jobs in the world that is DIFFERENT EVERY DAY. It's challenging and exciting, and if you stick with it, it can be incredibly rewarding (and lucrative, too!)
You mentioned that maybe you want to be an assignment editor. If you aren't interested in being "on-air" then you don't have to go to a market so small. For instance, my first job as a planning editor was in (then) market 52, Las Vegas. I had just graduated UCLA, had worked as a PA at KABC ch. 7 here in Los Angeles, and had no real assignment desk experience. However, a managing editor at KTNV in Las Vegas, NV saw my resume and offered me a job as the station's only planning editor. The pay was for slightly over the (then) minimum wage, but it was a REAL news job, with REAL decision making and story editing power. I took it. From there I learned the ropes of assignment editing and eventually worked my way to Assignment Manager, and then turned that into a job at a big assignment desk here in Los Angeles. It took almost 7 years, but I finally got here!
Okay...so how do you get started? First, talk to the people you know at CBS in Chicago. See if there are production assistant jobs open. If so, try to get yourself one. It will expose you to all the different jobs in the newsroom and allow you to start making valuable friendships and networking opportunities. On your lunch hour, make friends with the assignment editors and talk to them. Assignment Editing is one of the most thankless jobs in the newsroom, and we love it when someone actually shows interest in what we do. Who knows, you might even get a chance to do some real story set up / radio scanner / moving crews / news judgement -type work that you can use in your first real interview!
Then, after six or so months of assigment editing work, start looking at smaller markets around the Chicago area for assignment desk openings! There are lots of websites like talentdynamics.com that have free job listings segregated by market size. For assignment editor hopefulls with little or no experience, you can probably start looking around the market 50-75 range.
Good luck and if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask!"
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Caught In Phoenix
I worked on an interesting story tonight. Earlier this month, there was a terrible double homicide / arson in Orange County. Someone attacked 53 year old Leela Dhanak in her home in Anaheim Hills, set fire to the place and then took off. Police later found two bodies in Irvine that were identified as the Leela Dhanak's 56 year old husband Jayprakash and their 20 year old daughter Karishma. You can read the whole story here . (There was one daughter who survived any injury. She is an 18 year old student at UC Irvine.)
As of this afternoon, police had no motive and no named suspects. Who would want to brutally attack a family and burn down their house? Around 5pm we got tipped that there was a break in the case. Someone had been arrested in Phoenix...possibly at the airport. The assignment desk went into *red alert* mode. The first call I made was to the Anaheim Police Department. Surprisingly, they knew nothing about it. (I should say...the watch commander knew nothing about it. It's frusterating that sometimes certain parts of a police department aren't aware of what's going on in other parts. Sometimes it can't be helped. Detectives don't always talk to the watch commander about every development in their case.) The next call I made was to our affiliate in Phoenix, KPHO. The assignment desk there was helpful. They contacted the US Marshals office in Phoenix and found out that someone was arrested at Sky Harbor last Friday on a fugitive warrant and was a "person of interest" in a case in Anaheim, CA. That must have been our man. Another call to the Anaheim Police (this one more insistant) yielded some results. Apparently, 22 year old Iftekhar Murtaza was arrested in Arizona last Friday while trying to flee the country. He's someone the cops want to "talk to" in the Dhanak double murder / arson but he hasn't been charged with a homicide(s) yet. The cops sent us a press release detailing the facts and mentioned that any news agencies that manage to find a picture of Murtaza should refrain from airing it because it could hamper their investigation. Very, very rarely (if ever) do we disagree with that request.
Interestingly, I *did* find a picture of this guy on the internet...on a social networking sight. It's a small picture, but it's him. It will come in handy when we finally are allowed to make his picture public.
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I'm Back!
Hello everyone. I'm back at work now. (Actually, I've been back for about two weeks but we've been moving into our brand new Studio City Broadcast Center so I've been kinda pre-occupied.)
Where have I been, you ask? Well, I was out sick for two weeks at the end of March / beginning of April for lower back surgery. Back in November of 06' I was diagnosed with an extruded disk between my L4-L5 vertebrae in my lower back. The pain wasn't so bad and I was taking physical therapy to deal with it. But around the last week of March this year, I started having a strange new symptom. I got a very severe tingling in my left leg, followed by pain and then the same sensations in my pelvic region. I went to see my doctor and he told me that my extruded disk was compressing a nerve in my back and that nerve was becoming inflamed. He said if I didn't have surgery soon, the damage might become irreversible and I could potentially have leg tingling and pain FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. I said, "How soon do I need surgery?" He replied, "Optimally? In 48 hours or less." Yikes! He told me that on a Friday, and on Monday, I was in the operating room having a "micro-discectomy" on my lower back.
After waking up from general anesthesia I got the good news from my orthopedic surgeon: the surgery was a success. He trimmed off my disk and there didn't appear to be any permanent damage. The most surprising aspect of the surgery for me was the ridiculously low level of invasiveness that they practice now. The whole operation was performed within a one inch incision in my back...and the recovery time is only several hours (that is....I was able to go home from the hospital THE SAME DAY of the surgery. However, I spent one night in the hospital for observation.)
So now I'm back at work, almost as good as new. The pain in my lower back is almost completely gone, and the tingling and numbness in my leg and pelvis has disappeared. I have a little itching and pain at the incision site, but that's just from the wound closing up and healing.
Whew.
We are now fully moved into our new broadcast center in Studio City. Last week, Jenn and I did a short preview piece on what the new building has in store for everyone. Over the next couple of days, I'll try and write about some of the neat new toys we have to play with here, and talk about how our new assignment desk works.
Oh ya, and our webcasts should be resuming shortly. They've been off the air because our web set wasn't built yet! D'oh!
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Car Show!
Looking for something to do this Sunday (March 18th)? Why not head up to Glendale and check out the Jewel City Kiwanis Annual Classic Car Show! More than 300 classic and restored cars will be shown, along with great food, music and fun.
Okay that sounded like a commercial. Seriously, the Kiwanis Car Show is an excellent event. It's a huge fundraiser and the most popular car show for that area. Jay Leno is a regular attendee of the show; he usually shows at least one of the bazillion classic cars that he owns.
It's all happening at Verdugo Park, 1621 Canada Blvd, in Glendale. It runs from 10am to 3:30pm. It's absolutely free to the public.
Proceeds from food sales support worthwhile local charities: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, YWCA, Red Cross, Glendale Little League, Glendale Handicapped Workshop, City of Hope, Alzheimer's Assoc., Glendale Rose Float Assoc., VNA Hospice and several local elementary schools.
Try the french fries the Kiwanians cook at this event. They're really, REALLY good. :)
Here's Thursday's webcast .
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New Building
It's been a busy month. I figured I better hurry up and update my blog since it's the PAGE THAT MONDAY'S SECRET WORD IS HIDDEN ON FOR THE HDTV GIVEAWAY.
Ya, no one told me they were going to hide the secret word on my blog until after they already hid it. Oh well.
So let's see...things to update: February sweeps went very well. We did excellently at 5pm and 11pm. A note from our general manager stated that, "Ten of our 13 daily newscasts equaled or exceeded their year-ago averages in adults 25-54." The "25-54" age range is very important for advertisers, because that's the group that spends a lot of *money*. Those are the people you want to advertise to, and if those are the people watching our station...then advertisers will want to buy, buy, buy (commercials on our shows)!
More interesting news: We are planning on leaving this building forever in May. CBS News has built us a brand new, state-of-the-art news center over on the CBS Radford lot in Studio City. It's a three story structure that was custom built for us, with all new electronics, workstations and equipment. We're slated to move the entire KCBS / KCAL news operation over there the last week of April (yes, THIS April) and be live on the air in the new building the first week of May. There is no grace period for moving. One day we will be live in Hollywood, the next day, live in Studio City. That's not to say we won't be training non-stop before switch-over day. Quite the contrary; training is all I've been doing for the last two weeks.
We've purchased a brand new editing system made by a company called Grass Valley. Theoretically, it should allow all employees (not just editors) to ingest, view and edit video tape from any source right at their desks. We will essentially (finally!) be operating in a tapeless newsroom. This is quite a leap into the 21st century, so there's lots of training involved. I'm very excited at the prospect of editing all my own video for the webcast; I can finally stop using pre-edited video from the morning shows.
The new assignment desk looks *fantastic*! I'm proud to say I helped design it when it was still in the planning stages. I wanted it to have the feel of the bridge of a U.S. Navy ship, but still feel fluid and allow everyone to communicate depite the blaringly loud scanner traffic. Another requirement that needed to be met was that the assignment manager's spot on the desk had to be able to have a view of the faces of all the other assignment editors. With six to eight workstations on the desk, it was tough to design anything that didn't look like a big circle. The final design blended several shapes and angles and I think it will work well. The whole desk is also set high up on a dias in the newsroom. People who have seen it have taken to calling it "Pride Rock". Neat!
Here's Monday's webcast . (Yes I did put a Spring Break story in my webcast today.)
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