Finding
and Keeping Good Assignment Editors
by Chris Gabettas
About six months
ago Steve Johnson was working the assignment desk at KFOR-TV in Oklahoma
City. A call came over the scanner. "It was a plane coming into the
airport with possible engine trouble," recalls Johnson, KFOR's managing
editor(He's been there 3 more months than the other assignment guy.)
in charge of assignments. Within minutes,Johnson was able to confirm
the plane belonged to Oklahoma governor Frank Keating and immediately
dispatched crews to the airport.
It
wasn't easy news to gather. Scanner traffic had given no names, but
a source told Johnson the plane may be the governor's. Using sources
within the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, Johnson was able to
match the distressed plane's tail number to that on the plane owned
by the governor.
Johnson's crews
were at the airport to record the plane's safe landing as other news
organizations were struggling to confirm what KFOR had already reported.
"I like the adrenaline rush of breaking news," says Johnson. But this
is also an example of a good assignment editor in action.
"Show me a good assignment desk, and I'll show you a winning newsroom,"
says Joseph Coscia, former news director at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and
once an assignment editor at New York's WABC-TV. So where do you find
good assignment editors and how do you keep them?
Hire
smart, say news directors. Check local radio stations and newspapers
for journalists who know the area and who want to work in television
news. Hire entry-level people, who aspire to be good desk editors and
"want to be behind-the-scenes' reporters. After all, that's what they
are," says Coscia.
Don't show young recruits an intimidating environment, says assignment
manager Mickey McCanham of WXYZ-TV in Detroit. "You have to talk up
the vital role the job (assignment editor) plays, and the fact you'll
give them the tools to fulfill that vital role," he adds.
And don't ignore the weekend desk, where many aspiring desk editors
begin, says Olin Richey, weekend assignment editor at KESQ-TV in Palm
Springs, CA. His biggest frustration is reporters and producers who
don't leave contacts and phone numbers for weekend stories.
Give
your assignment people "beat days," much like newsrooms give reporters,
recommends Jerome Parra, news director at KNAZ-TV in Flagstaff, AZ.
Editors can use that time to work sources and develop stories away from
ringing phones and constant interruptions. If a station can't spare
a full day, shoot for a few hours.
Ease the day-to-day pressure by freeing an assignment editor to write
or research a special news project or accompany a field crew on assignment.
And most important, create a newsroom culture that values and respects
the assignment desk. "It's up to the news director to set the tone,"
says Carmelyn Daley, news director at WISC-TV in Madison, WI.
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