News Coach: So you want to be an anchor?
By Joanne Stevens
I know I know - you want to be an anchor - or the very best anchor!
Please read below for a reality check.
- If you’re in the beginning third of your career and you’ve been
invited for an interview at a television station, saying your goal is to
be an anchor could be the kiss of death. Read on please.
- If you haven’t already done tons of live shots - hence proving your
live capabilities for at least ten seconds a pop - move this goal down on
your ‘want list.’
- No, anchoring is not really about reading a prompter. It’s about
your journalism acumen, reporting capabilities, interviewing skills,
interpersonal skills, flexibility, ability to punt, and your ability to
report live for four or more hours at a clip when breaking news hits.
Any news anchor must be ready to toss the scripts and their anticipated
use of the teleprompter. Please note I did not use the phrase
‘dependency on’ here.
- Breaking News! Bye-bye prompter. Are you familiar enough with your
station’s geographic reach to ad-lib a little to your population? Are
you familiar enough with local and wider-reaching news to have an
intellectual perspective on this story? Are you facile using your IFB to
receive information and direction from your producers and assistant news
director (among others)? How are your interviewing skills? Are you ready
for live phoners or on-set interviews?
Here’s the most common trajectory to anchoring, if you really have the
itch:
- Accomplishment as a strong, savvy reporter
- Facility with standups
- Facility with live hits from the field
- Introducing your package in the studio using a teleprompter
- Adding some Q&A with the anchors afterwards
- OMG! I’ve been asked if I can fill in for Lee (picking a unisex name
here) this Saturday night!
Or, as has happened with some of my clients, management may approach you
‘out of the blue’ to consider becoming the [weekend] anchor. Why? Because
they trust you.
So let’s rid your minds of a few very popular misconceptions and dive
into the reality of this TV journalism contribution. And yes, if you
succeed, you may keep a bit dryer on inclement days.
Stay tuned for part two in the coming days.
Joanne Stevens
News consultant Joanne Stevens has written extensively about broadcast
writing, reporting and anchoring, including columns in the former print version
of RTDNA's Communicator Magazine, and earlier versions of the RTDNA website. She
has taught at Columbia and New York University and serves as a news award judge
for the New York Press Club. She has returned to RTDNA.org to offer a new series
of News Coach columns with tips, best practices and more. - Click on
the RTDNA logo below to learn more.
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