One of the big stories in Los Angeles this week is the horrific weightlifting accident involving a USC football player. Stafon Johnson was bench pressing 275 pounds when the bar slipped and came crashing down on his throat.
Lame b-roll for stories
In monitoring the coverage, I was struck once again by how many reporters and producers feel compelled to rely on useless file tape. In this case, over and over again, usually to cover a live reporter, stations ran footage of USC football games. While talking about how a tracheotomy was performed on Johnson and how four surgeons worked on him to reconstruct his neck and throat, viewers were treated to footage of the USC-Ohio State game a couple weeks ago. Being a football fan, I knew that Johnson wears number 13 and that he was one of the 22 players seen running around the field. But rarely did any reporter or anchor reference the video, pointing out which player was Johnson in the footage. Even if they did, was the video really helping tell the story? I would contend that after a while it became more of a distraction. I would rather have just seen the reporter talking live from the hospital. On one station, the video ran so long, the game footage ended and the tape showed a wall with some awards. What was that? It had nothing to do with Johnson.
Red flag warning
Using file tape should be a red flag to everyone in the newsroom. Be careful! Video that made sense yesterday, or the day before, the week before, months before, or years ago, may not play as well today.
In writing your story the day of the event, you do a good job writing to the pictures and it all makes sense. But three days later, or three weeks later there is an update, and another writer or editor pulls that same video for a quick update on the story. In those cases, the video is rarely referenced and all those specific shots don’t connect with anything the copy says. Once again, it hurts the story more than it helps.
Look at the video
The bottom line is that many writers don’t normally take the time to reference the video in updating stories with file tape, and that can be dangerous. You are likely to confuse the viewer. Be careful with file tape. Don’t just “re-rack” it and throw your new script over it. Go back and look at that video and choose your shots with as much care and thought as the day the story first aired. And maybe the best option is to not use the video at all if it doesn’t help tell the story. Yes, it’s true. Sometimes the best option is just to see the anchor or reporter talking with no cover video at all.
Doug Drew is a morning news specialist with 602 Communications. You can reach him at ddrew@602communications.com.