The Time Saving Phoner

This is one of my best time saving tips and will help you get a handle on deadlines. You may find this tip useful for news gathering, public relations, producing office or church newsletters, or any vocation that requires working with people and gathering information.

When I went from a weekly paper to a daily I learned like never before how precious time was and how fierce deadlines can be. Each reporter at this daily were required to turn in two “packages” a day, which were two stories, completed, edited and ready to go on the page with photographs and cut lines, filed before 4 p.m. every day. Also, because I had sports writing and shooting experience I had to turn in at least one completed sports package a day to the sports editor. Completing three packages a day required working ahead on several stories at a time and tracking progress on each to establish a consistent flow of making contacts, conducting interviewing, taking pictures, processing pictures (picking three great pictures and adjusting them to print), writing, editing, proofing and turning in. I also had multiple stories in various stages of completion so that when a story collapsed that I was counting on for that day, I had another to grab and finish before deadline. It was hard and I dug the challenge.

I did a phoner before meeting with a high

school art student for a story about a 9-11

memorial at the school. The phoner helped

the interview go smoothly and allowed

more time for pictures.

When I went to a group of weekly papers in Johnson County a couple years later I continued that discipline and was able to more easily meet deadlines than my fellow reporters and editors in my office.

A valuable tool is the phoner, which is a phone interview. I did a phoner with a digital recorder and a note pad for every story even though I was going to interview the subject face-to-face.  The phoner saves a tremendous amount of time because you collect much of the basic information before you meet and interviews go faster over the phone than in person. The phoner also improves the in-person interview because when you do meet the subject you have already established a relationship, and the face-to-face goes smoother and faster.

When I was at the desk setting up an interview with a subject I would ask, “Do you have time to answer a few quick questions right now?” If not, I would ask if I could call back at another time. Later when we met I would get a deeper feel for the story, gather a little more information, take pictures and then head back to the office to write my story.

Phoners not only helped me meet deadlines, they improved my writing because gathering much of the basic information ahead of time allowed me to be more casual with a subject in-person and not just grill them with questions. It also allowed me to concentrate on the emotions, mannerisms and surroundings of the subject to include with the story. Including little bits of that candy into the story to help put the reader right there with the subject.

 

 

Look Past The Obvious

DQ Down in Flames

Don't let the action distract you from getting the real story or the real picture.

A big lesson came from a blunder I made covering a Dairy Queen that burned. Everyone made it out safely after a griddle fire got out of control, so this was just basic coverage of a business going down in flames. I arrived on the scene quickly and as my nature is, begun immediately popping off a few pictures of firefighters and smoke. Tip: When you arrive on scene of anything, be it a fire or a retirement party, you want to shoot the first few good things you can in case the situation or mood changes and there is nothing good to photograph two minutes later. You can get better pictures later. By the way, I always use a long lens when shooting accident, fires and incidents – remember the Ninja ability of invisibility?

Continuing, after taking my initial shots I snuggled next to two women in the parking lot wearing Dairy Queen uniforms and chatted with them about what happened. Note: Always identify yourself in a friendly way when you approach people to get information. It is bad practice to gather information from people when they don’t know you are a reporter and what they say may appear in print. I jotted down the information from the women about the griddle and shot a couple more pictures of the firefighters going in and out of the smoke. While I shot, one of the women with her hand to her mouth remarked mournfully “What are we going to do, Deb? Where are going to work?”

I wished them luck and hurried back to the office to work on my pictures and story.

It wasn’t until the paper was printed and I read my story that I thought, “What a dumbass I am!” I did not see though walls like a Ninja. I covered the obvious and I let the action distract me from the real story. What I should have featured in my report was standing right next to me and I missed it. I needed to tell the story about the two women. What was it like working at that DQ? How important to them was that job? What are they feeling watching their livelihood go up in smoke? Had I done that, the story would have really rocked the reader and might have even helped those two women get new employment, but I blew it by letting the action keep me from seeing the real story. Fail.

The same is true with a sport event. Sure, you get the picture of the football player crossing the goal line and all that obvious stuff, but don’t forget to look around for the real story – the excitement, the conflict and the passion.

When shooting sports I often capture the action and immediately turn to my note book to record jersey numbers, scores and details, but I noticed in doing so I sometimes missed the chance to get a picture of the drama, excitement and intensity of the game. One time I made a determined effort not to quit when the action stopped and it played off big time.

It was a women’s softball playoff game and I was shooting from the dugout. After coming from behind and tying the game in the last inning, a batter put down a beautiful bunt to score a runner from third. I anticipated the play and got a great shot of the slide at home with dust flying as she scored the winning run. However, I purposefully kept the camera to my face and stepped out from the shelter of the dugout and literally said to the back of my camera, “Wait for it. Wait for it.” And it came. The girl hopped up from the slide and leaped high with her fist slugging the air and both legs behind her and let out a wide-eye scream. I captured the picture at the perfect moment leaping in the air and the disappointed catcher kneeling in the background. The dugout emptied, “We won! We won!” and I hopped up and down, “I got the shot! I got the shot!”

Handling Coaches

Showing respect to coaches is important in getting and keeping access to a team. Even if I am shooting for a home team and I have shot many games from their dugout, I always ask first for permission each game to shoot from the dugout. That space belongs to the team and the coach will dig you for respecting that. If I need to shoot from an opponent’s dugout to get a different angle, I ask, “Coach, may I slip in back here out of the way and shoot for a minute?” I have never been refused.

Also, keep your distance when a coach is having a post-game meeting with the team. Position yourself between the meeting and the dugout or between the meeting and the field house and be ready to respectfully approach the coach when they break.

Never talk to a coach or player during a game. A coach may chat with you a bit during a game, but that is just to relieve tension, but don’t ask a coach or player a question about the game during the game. When it comes time to get quotes after a game, don’t walk up and start asking questions. My best approach: “Is this a good time to ask a quick question, Coach?” It will help your access to the team and the coach.

Out At Second. I got to a game late, leaned
over the first base side fence and 60 seconds
later I took this picture. A lot of great
photography is just plain luck.

If you need to speak with a coach by phone, that is if you can get a coach on the phone, don’t begin with the questions. Always “Is this a good time to ask a quick question, coach?” and end with “Thank you for your time.”

Bury your ego. Coaches get 100% respect from players, parents, fans and other coaches and you will be an alien from another planet if you are a pesky reporter. Only once in my hundreds of interviews with coaches did I get a flat “no” and a go-to-hell look from a coach after a team suffered a miserable loss. I was flustered and said as he walked away, “Maybe I can give you a call tomorrow if that is OK with you.” I think I sounded like a scared puppy, but my respect paid off and the coach talked with me briefly the following afternoon. Come to think of it, that one time was not a varsity coach. Most head coaches know the routine and are respectful to give you a little time.

Have simple and relevant questions ready. Do not ask shallow questions like “What do you think about the win?,” and don’t be foolish enough to ask, “What do you think about the loss," or you can expect a go-to-hell look. I often take a few side notes during a game to ask a coach later based on key players or key plays. I sometimes open by asking a coach to explain a key play that helped the team, because coaches like to explain their strategy when their strategy goes right. And don't worry if you are not an expert in that sport, because you are a reporter, not a sports analyst.


Always ask permission from a coach to speak with a player. Sometimes that involves catching a player quickly after a game before you lose them. “Hi. My name is Chris from the paper. I want to ask you about that great catch you made, but first, can you come with me while I talk to Coach real quick.” Then you do a quick interview with the coach and end with. “Thanks for your time coach. I’m going to talk with Kim here about his defense if that is OK.”
 

Things usually happen pretty fast and interviews will differ, but be quick, be professional and be polite. I have been asked to wait outside a locker room or field house until a coach is finished taking with the team, but if you can, get your work done right after a game it will save much time.
 

When I was covering a lot of sports I tried to always get a couple of quotes from a coach and one from a player.

 

The Body of a Game Story

My game stories typically opened with an interesting synopsis of the game and final score in one or two paragraphs, like the score and how the win or loss is relevant to the season or something significant about the win like a come-back, high score, key player or winning play. I then normally get right into inside insight of the game and the main quotes. I would end with a brief of the main plays in order and the scoring order, kind of a Readers Digest play-by-play, and I would insert a coach or player quote in relation to a play.  I would often end with a brief about the upcoming game. I put insight and quotes early and play-by-play last because if it is a college or high school story, most people interested were in the stands watching and don’t need to told what they already know. However, the brief play-by-play is important to get a lot of names in the story. This is especially true with college and high school.  Also, if you are covering the same team or teams a lot, make notes during the game of players that make a difference that are not the same two or three stars of a team that get in the paper all the time.

You will figure out what works best for you and you will change it over time. My style used to be to get a quote in a story fast, like paragraph two or three. However, changed that over time and started sliding quotes in later in my stories.

A rocking reporter looks for opportunities to write sports features, but that is going to have to come at another post. Thanks for reading. Don't be stingy - share this blog.