News

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By 11 a.m., the day is taking shape on an assignment board that sits squarely in the center of the newsroom. The board shows who's working on a story and the story's status. Camera crews are shooting the W-1W carolers and a few feel-good stories about hurricane victims and student food drives. A police scanner is assignment-desk editor Baldridge's soundtrack, and the phone is a permanent part of his ear as he scrambles to keep on top of the day's hubbub.

Among other things, Baldridge must ensure that cameras are in the right place at the right time. "In our media," he says, "if you don't have a picture, the story doesn't fly." Speed is of equal priority to everything else in TV news. "I need to get people there, get things right and get it on the air as fast as I can," says Baldridge. "You can't prioritize it -- one, two, three."

As an example, he cites KSDK's coverage of a 1997 Bi-State bus accident at the University of Missouri-St. Louis South MetroLink stop. "The accident happened at 8:45 a.m.," Baldridge recalls, "and we had a report on before 9:30 a.m. and two more updates before 10 a.m."

Today's scramble is to get a camera to the site of what may be an explosive device in South St. Louis. Baldridge sends a crew immediately, then monitors the situation on the scanner. Dynamite on the South Side may be today's local breaking-news story.

Jeff Fowler tells Baldridge that the Lambert-expansion story is a no-go. "W-1W's not happening," Fowler says. Not that he's moving far from the airport in switching assignments: He will now chase down local congressmen as they fly to Washington for the impeachment debate.

Asked why the W-1W story using carolers as a hook for an update didn't pan out, Fowler says the story has shifted now that the expansion has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. He's looking at the pace of the buyouts and the impact of expansion on those whose properties aren't bought out.

"Them caroling makes no difference now," Fowler argues. "It'll be a voice-over, and they'll run it that way." His time today, he says, will be better spent pitching in on the runaway impeachment story. "I've got to focus on what's happening now," Fowler says. "They need me to have something on the air today."

Tim Larson attempts to explain the niche that each of his newscasts should fill. "I like to think of the 5 p.m. newscast as a snapshot of the day," he explains. "It should have a mix of national and international news with the local news. The 6 p.m. newscast is the newscast of record. At 10 p.m., I like to give viewers a wrap-up of the day, but I also want something that people are going to talk about at the water cooler the next day."

The time slot in which he decides to run a story, Larson adds, is also influenced by obvious competitive factors. "We're one of the few markets where TV breaks just as many stories as the newspaper," he argues. "If I run an (exclusive) story at 6, the paper will have it. If I hold it until 10, then I'm taking a chance someone else will have it."

Other factors also influence when a story runs, says 5 p.m. producer Sonya Potter as she prepares for a meeting to divvy up available stories between her newscast and Kelly Hatmaker's 6 o'clock segment. "It's a lot about who watches a newscast," says Potter. "Since I'm coming directly after Oprah, my show is predominantly women viewers." Stories such as Kay Quinn's health segment on fibroid tumors, Potter notes, are precisely the thing for her audience.

Potter and Hatmaker meet at the assignment board just before noon with Ava Ehrlich to choose stories. Speaking earlier in the day, Larson had said that this meeting yields what he calls "an occasional tug-of-war. Should we hold something until 6 or give it at 5?"

A polite but insistent disagreement develops immediately between Potter and Hatmaker. With a newscast led by NBC's nightly news, Hatmaker lobbies to snag impeachment and possible Iraq bombing features. Potter wants those stories for her newscast. Randy Jackson's prescient fighter-squadron story and Jeff Fowler's localized impeachment package are up for grabs. Ehrlich takes a black pen and starts scribbling on the assignment board as the producers slug it out.

Hatmaker seems satisfied at the end. He's got substantial pieces on all the main issues of the day. Potter complains to Ehrlich about the draw: "I have nothing that's exclusive to my show," she says.

By 1:30 p.m., the newsroom is buzzing. The dynamite scare appears to be a bust, though David Baldridge still hasn't heard from the crew he dispatched. The police "aren't letting them use cell phones," he explains. "So I'm sending a second crew down to see what the first one found out and then get to a pay phone." Baldridge is dubious, however. "Whatever it is," he says, "(the police) aren't worried about it."

Assignment-desk editor Ed Rich arrives to take over for Baldridge, who's manned the desk since 6 a.m. Baldridge gives Rich a quick rundown, then decides not to have a cameraman retrieve aerial footage of Weldon Spring. "Just pass on picking up that tape and come on in," Baldridge says to a cameraman who's on the phone with him.

Kelly Hatmaker briefs anchor Dan Gray on what he's planned for the 6 p.m. newscast, while Sonya Potter hammers away at a lead for the 5 o'clock newscast. "It's going to be an umbrella lead now," Potter says as NBC anchor Tom Brokaw comes on the tiny screen on her desk and explicitly links the now almost certain bombing of Iraq with politics. "Impeachment and Iraq."

The newscasts take shape on screens in front of Potter and Hatmaker. KSDK producers have software that allows them to check wires and slot various stories, effects and allotted time into a template. They divide the stories neatly between anchors for consistency and flow. "It's important," Potter quips, "not to give too many to one anchor."

Running down the newscast with the anchors who will read it is one of the more crucial processes. When Potter runs down her newscast with Gray and Karen Foss peering over her shoulder, the anchors offer numerous suggestions and questions.

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