Ranendra Kumar Dhar

PROJECT REPORT WRITING SETTING UP OF A NEWS CHANNEL The owner / C.E.0 In terms of employment, channel ownership may not affect entry-level position job seekers. However, as with any company, a channel’s resources (financial, technological, etc.) and structure will have an impact on the various positions at the television channel functioning – from what positions are available to the job responsibilities of each position. Thus, it is important to know and understand the differences in the channel ownership. Most commercial television channels are owned by large media conglomerates. Smaller, family-held channels are the exception rather than the rule today as mergers and acquisitions have brought many channels under one large corporate umbrella. Network-owned and operated television stations ( by network , we mean the region in our case the “ the states ” ) carry network programs, have a good deal of local autonomy and ultimately report to their channel group management. Network affiliates also enjoy local autonomy and to supply them with local programming. THE ADMINISTRATIVE FORCE The Managing Editor ( ME ) / General Manager ( GM ) A channel’s general manager (GM), who often holds the additional title of president or vice president in larger channels (and may also be the owner in a small cluster), is the chief operating officer at the channel. All departments typically report directly to the general manager. The general manager sets the work ethic, tone and pace of the channel. TV general managers predict market trends; set budgets and performance expectations; and have overall responsibility for maintaining a channel’s reputation and market image. TV general managers have final say on overall channel directives. They create a clear vision for the channel and the blueprints for success that every staffer is expected to follow. The bottom line stops with the GM, who is charged with growing the channel’s profitability.. Advertising revenue is crucial to a television channel’s financial security and, as a result, relationship-building with advertisers and potential advertisers is a significant area of the GM’s responsibilities. The GM is heavily involved in the channel’s sales efforts and find creative ways to profit and succeed despite obstacles. Every television channel cultivates its own public image, based on its local market and community needs. As a result, general managers are committed to involving the channel in community events and public affairs. Television channels are visible leaders in their 1 markets, and a many choose to deliver on-air editorials to voice opinions about community issues at large. Human resources The HR functions will fall to the general manager, who at larger channels will have a human resource staffer. Years ago, channels often had a senior human resources professional in this role, but this senior position is now often found at the corporate level, leaving more junior people at the individual channels within a group. THE SALES AND MARKETING DEPARTMENT Director of Sales ( DOS) The term general sales manager (GSM) is sometimes substituted for director of sales (DOS). Along with the news director / executive director and business manager, the director of sales is part of the general manager’s “inner circle.”This is an extremely demanding position and requires exemplary management skills. A DOS has daily contact with the general manager, and works with other sales managers to ensure the channel is maximizing all available traditional revenue opportunities in the market – from both local and national ad agencies– while developing new business opportunities from both. Directors of sales ( DOS ) do budget forecasts; issue sales projections; coordinate projects with other department heads; motivate the team; and inspire everyone to give cent percent results on the return of investments ( ROI). Local Sales Manager Local sales managers (LSM) closely supervise the frontline sales staff consisting of account executives or account managers – whatever term that channel prefers. If a channel does not have a general sales manager, the local sales managers acquire the duties of this position. Account Executive Account executives (AE), who also may be called account managers, comprise the local sales team that generate advertising revenue by calling on established agencies, calling new prospects and convincing potential clients of the merits of television advertisements. Account executives often have irregular hours andwork evenings and weekends meeting with clients. 2 An innate sales ability and a positive attitude are essential in this position. Most account executives receive a commission based on their sales volumes, and thus earnings will fluctuate depending on sales performance. This isn’t necessarily a job for those persons who want a consistent monthly paycheck. But for successful account executives, the potentially outstanding financial rewards make this an attractive position. THE SCHEDULING DEPARTMENT Operations Manager Operations managers head the scheduling department, whose responsibility is to set the advertising schedule that is crucial to maximizing a channel’s revenue and keeping commercials on the air. Logical thinking and good task juggling abilities are critical in this position. An operations manager’s job is highly stressful; his or her performance could mean the difference between the sales department achieving its budget or not. Operations managers ensure the scheduling department keeps an accurate channel’s log – the master listing of all scheduled programs and commercials expected to air throughout each broadcast day. One of the television channel’s major goals is to ensure every spot (i.e. television commercial) is sold for the highest amount while the perishable inventory – or available time to run commercials – is maximized. An operations manager knows how to manipulate the schedule to meet both the client’s and channel’s needs. THE MARKETING RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Market Research Director A market research director interprets a channel’s ratings and supporting research to cast the channel most favorably against its competitors, and assists in the creation of sales materials. Sometimes he or she participates in sales presentations to existing and potential clients. A channel’s market research director may supervise a staff or the position may not exist at all, with the corporate office providing the local channels the necessary ratings and research data. The credentials and number of years in the field vary as well for this position. To streamline in the area of market research, but also happens in human resources and programming areas. THE NEWS DEPARTMENT 3 Executive Editor / News Director A news director sets newsroom journalistic standards that govern who, what, where, when and why a particular news event is covered – or not covered. News directors make certain the journalistic integrity of the channel remains uncompromised, map out coverage strategies and plan assignments that showcase the talent in ways compatible with the station’s image goals. News directors identify future scheduled events and plan coverage around them that allows the channel to take ownership of the event and shine brighter than the competition. The event could be an elite sporting event, political debate, huge charity spectacular or other special function like celebrity events. News directors must also plan for the unexpected and are expected to react well in a crisis, keeping the news staff focused and committed to performing under extreme tension and stress. News directors understand that while their foremost focus is on journalistic excellence, television is also a business of revenue and ratings. Staff within the sales department will often ask news directors to cover client-generated topics or events, and it is up to the news director, sometimes in consultation with the general manager, to determine potential conflicts of interest in these situations. Assistant News Director The assistant news director is often next in line to become the channel’s news director and has a solid news background and management skills. The assistant news director is responsible for implementing the news director’s vision and questioning the content, accuracy and fairness of stories to maintain balance and channel’s credibility. Executive Producer Executive producers (EP) have overall responsibility for their individual news program or show. An executive producer directs the shots, approve show content and make sure their program or show is on track. Those in this post think in 30-second intervals and are prepared to immediately switch gears in a crisis, such as a lost feed, no-show guest or any other unforeseeable event. Executive producers must be creative thinkers and able to create a newscast with a defined personality that stands out and connects with viewers. Senior Producer Each news program or show in the larger markets has a senior producer who creatively shares with the executive producer the responsibility for determining the composition and flow of the newscast. Senior producers work closely with the news management, anchors, 4 reporters, editors and the technical crews; they research news story lines, write, selects video and set interviews for news stories. Producer and Assistant Producer Producers help write for the shows and perform the detail-oriented tasks that, when properly done, can mean the difference between a great show and a mediocre one, or convince a source to talk on air. Assistant or associate producers work to make the lives of producers easier by handling any and every task assigned – whether it is confirming a guest, driving across town for an essential prop or doing background research. Assignment Desk Chief A seasoned veteran, the assignment desk chief works with others in news management to plan well-rounded news coverage that fits with the “personality” of the channel. Assignment desk chiefs maintain extensive working files of possible story ideas, including crucial background information, and have superb contacts. They also oversee the scheduling and assignment of news coverage, order satellite time as needed, and take active roles in planning in-depth series and special coverage. Assignment desk chiefs may also function as writers and producers as needed. News Assignment Desk The news assignment desk is one of the most important posts in the newsroom. In smaller channels, the staff in this area may be entry-level (typically the smaller the channel, the younger the faces in this department).Staffers here could work days, nights or weekends. They man the news tip phone lines; listen to police dispatches; read newswires, emails and press releases; stay in contact with key sources; and assist with assigning stories, scheduling reporters and camerapersons / stringers. They often are the “first in the know,” and must exercise considerable news judgment to separate fact from fiction. News Assistant News assistants serve as the right-hands of the news director, fielding phone calls, interfacing with other departments to get essential intradepartmental information and more. News Anchors News anchors are the foundation upon which the news team is built – they are the most recognizable channel’s ambassadors to the public. Generally news anchors have worked their way up through the reporting ranks, although some may have started on the production side. Competent journalists, news anchors write and package their own special reports as well as read copy prepared by other team members. With today’s 5 technology, more anchors are stepping out from behind the anchor desks to do “live remotes” and report on the higher profile stories. THE CREATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT Creative Services or Promotions Director Creative services or promotions directors develop and oversee the channel’s image marketing, direct all advertising, promotional and content initiatives of the channel, as well as daily promotion of the news product. They work to properly brand the station in concert with the general manager, who sets the overall station image goals and objectives. Imaginative and visionary, creative services directors have strong artistic backgrounds and are well-versed in copywriting and editing as well as audio, visual and print production. Supervision of the art department is part of their role, along with directing the activities of an outside ad agency for those larger channels with that relationship. Many Creative Service Directors do the media planning and buying and all are responsible for staff hiring, budget projections and management in their supervisory area. Writer/Producer Writers/producers– assigned to news promotion write and produce topics and spots that highlight the news and programming products. They are also involved in creating a channel’s branding campaign. Writers/producers have excellent creative writing and presentation skills as well as great talent for the visual elements. Post-Production Editor Post-production editors take rough cuts (raw footage) and polish them into final, on-air promotional materials. This entails adding music, graphics and other sound and sight elements as necessary to make the finished product even more compelling. Postproduction editors may work on a channel’s commercial, a news package or in programming. THE PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT Public Relations Director A public relations (PR) director for a television channel functions the same as any other PR person, the difference being that the product he or she promotes is the television 6 channel. Skilled in written and oral communications, the public relations director manages public perception of the channel, interacts with the media and serves as an official spokesperson. THE PROGRAMMING DEPARTMENT Programming Director The programming director or programming manager makes certain programming information is fed to traffic, sales and other pertinent departments. Any changes are communicated both in house and externally to the TV listings services and local newspapers. Maintaining programming equilibrium versus negotiating for new product is part of the daily responsibilities. THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT Director of Broadcast Operations and Engineering (BO&E) The staff of the Engineering department keeps the television channel on the air and the channel’s physical property in good shape. Rapidly evolving technology has compressed the workforce in this area, making multi-tasking more essential and some jobs obsolete. Head of this department is the director of broadcast operations and engineering (BO&E), who could also be called chief engineer. General Broadcast Operations and Engineering Positions Although titles may shift channel to channel, the following positions also comprise the BO&E team. The engineering manager supervises such areas as equipment maintenance, installation, repair of anything from the tower to news vans, and the technicians who accomplish these tasks. A broadcast operations manager oversees the scheduling of studio time and some of studio personnel associated with the physical side of on-air performance such as show directors; camera operators; tape room operators who manipulate video tape; master control supervisors or chiefs who oversee the master control operators; the audio board operators and switchers; teleprompter operators and more. 7 It’s the news technical operations manager who schedules shifts for the photographers or videographers and other people involved in the tangible editing of the news product, whether they’re working with video tape, film, high-definition or other digitally formatted mediums. Engineering technicians of all kinds are needed to keep equipment humming, from the phone system and satellite network, to reporter laptops and much more. IT helps in more than many ways to do creditable work, one of which is to maintain servers in proper shape and functioning. INTERNSHIPS Whatever the field of study, get an internship. As one station CEO notes: “Internships are the best way to gain practical, real-world experience and they are the perfect test model for station management to assess the intern’s level of intelligence, enthusiasm and growth progress during their internship stint…If interns impress us, but are just not ready to work here, we’ll guide them to work at other channels also. Theory is fine. Familiarity with industry terminology is great. But there is no substitute for the real experience and sometimes the most practical aspects of getting hired are never covered in class. SUMMING UP This is broadly, the setup of a News Channel. Other details regards finances, technical hardware, collaborations etc; are taken up at various stages for which different project reports are submitted. 8