Newscast #1- Issac Zivkovic- Fall 2017

| Sunday, September 24, 2017

When I ruminate on the first newscast of the semester I find myself irresistibly drawn to memories of the first scene of “Bambi.” I recall from an early age watching that little deer try to walk, knees together, wobbly and spinning sideways in what was more of a controlled fall than anything. This first newscast was not dissimilar – while we did not lose our footing we also weren’t the most graceful and frankly, I’m happy about that. If there were no room for improvement there would be little point to continuing down this path.

When pitches came in I was satisfied by the variety of stories, the team’s awareness of what was newsworthy and the overall sense of priority. I am not broadcast so I have only worked next to a few members of the current WVU News team, I knew little or nothing about the abilities of most of my peers. Happily, those worries were laid to rest in the first day and we could then jump into building packages.

I was very pleased to get some camera time last week and help Kendall Lewis gather footage for the Sunnyside Up story. The most difficult part for me was keeping up on the technical side once the interviews started. Kendall wasted no time diving into questions and creating candid moments that I was obliged to capture. I was equally impressed by the rest of the team out creating their packages and, most importantly, communicating. My poor beleaguered phone was overwrought with notifications on GroupMe, Twitter and SMS as reporters requested and offered help. That was a real testament to the work ethic of our team and I could not have been more proud.

Thursday writing conferences were held and that evening Professor Dahlia, James Mason and I reviewed packages as they came in and critiqued each in turn. We decided the order of stories that made show for the script and Best of the Rest and I prepared announcements for the following day with the exception of Noelle who would be filming at Studio B. Studio B was the first inkling of what the full newscast would be like without the overwhelming sense of urgency.

I was also facing my greatest hurdle at this point, making the script. I confess I underestimated the challenge to some degree. I created a draft and began tweaking, and hated it. I continued this cycle of self-deprecation over the course of several hours until (I felt) I had something presentable. While I am not the most talented journalist, I am generally good at most things and I admit I’ve grown accustomed to praise. Such was not the case this time. Professor Dahlia made clear the error of my ways, and thanks to her own considerable contributions the only thing that suffered was my ego. Like so many elements of this first newscast I consider it a lesson well-learned.

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After no small amount of polishing, editing and reshoots the packages were complete, rehearsal was upon us and, in short order, show day. For my part on Wednesday I spoke to the talent via their IFB’s and did my best version of Casey Kasem to provide a calming heads-up for upcoming shots and positions on set. A unique challenge amid the storm of yelling and technical chaos from the booth, some of which came from Director Kevin Pierson (pictured below to my right) who I believe may have been channeling former Steelers Coach Bill Cower in both tone and presence.

The talent on-set and Professor Dahlia’s guidance ultimately made a challenging role much easier to process. My fellow producers, directors and staff fell into their roles quickly with little training. Although there were a number of hiccups I was pleased with the outcome and the promise it holds for future newscasts.