Tuesday, September 20, 2005
A Bureau? Office With Reporters? Let The Parsing Begin
Philadelphia Inquirer's Gail Shister writes,"When is a news bureau a news bureau? When a network says it is.
NBC and CNN's announcements last week that they had set up bureaus in post-Katrina New Orleans have been met with skepticism by their competitors.
"CNN's doing it because NBC did it first," says ABC's Paul Slavin, senior vice president, worldwide newsgathering. "NBC did it because it's a nice PR gesture."
Slavin hesitates to call ABC's presence a bureau, which he defines as "a place we intend to be for many years to come."
"There's no reason we couldn't call what we're doing a bureau if we wanted to, but that would be a little disingenuous. We do make efforts to be sincere and truthful."
What say you, acting NBC News chief Steve Capus?
"I'm entirely sincere and truthful about this," says Capus, a Warminster native and Temple alum. "This is a serious commitment. We've got more demands on this division than the other guys" because of MSNBC and CNBC.
NBC has set up shop within its New Orleans affiliate, WDSU.Frieda Morris is bureau chief, Martin Savidge the first correspondent. Both were based in Atlanta. Investigative ace Lisa Myers will also work out of the bureau.
ABC has been operating out of RVs and hotel rooms in New Orleans. It's looking to rent office space, and Slavin estimates a permanent staff of about 30, the size of the Jerusalem bureau.
As it does in Baghdad, ABC will rotate chiefs and correspondents in and out of New Orleans every six weeks, Slavin says.
CNN has rented office space in downtown New Orleans, and expects a permanent staff of 15 to 20, according to Jack Womack, senior v.p., operations.
To Womack, the litmus test for a bureau is whether you have staffers living in the community, and the size of your capital investment in equipment and facilities.
Resident staffers create "a higher degree of story sensibility. They have a better understanding of the issues in the community."
For CNN, the New Orleans bureau "is the real deal, not a marketing ploy." MORE
NBC and CNN's announcements last week that they had set up bureaus in post-Katrina New Orleans have been met with skepticism by their competitors.
"CNN's doing it because NBC did it first," says ABC's Paul Slavin, senior vice president, worldwide newsgathering. "NBC did it because it's a nice PR gesture."
Slavin hesitates to call ABC's presence a bureau, which he defines as "a place we intend to be for many years to come."
"There's no reason we couldn't call what we're doing a bureau if we wanted to, but that would be a little disingenuous. We do make efforts to be sincere and truthful."
What say you, acting NBC News chief Steve Capus?
"I'm entirely sincere and truthful about this," says Capus, a Warminster native and Temple alum. "This is a serious commitment. We've got more demands on this division than the other guys" because of MSNBC and CNBC.
NBC has set up shop within its New Orleans affiliate, WDSU.Frieda Morris is bureau chief, Martin Savidge the first correspondent. Both were based in Atlanta. Investigative ace Lisa Myers will also work out of the bureau.
ABC has been operating out of RVs and hotel rooms in New Orleans. It's looking to rent office space, and Slavin estimates a permanent staff of about 30, the size of the Jerusalem bureau.
As it does in Baghdad, ABC will rotate chiefs and correspondents in and out of New Orleans every six weeks, Slavin says.
CNN has rented office space in downtown New Orleans, and expects a permanent staff of 15 to 20, according to Jack Womack, senior v.p., operations.
To Womack, the litmus test for a bureau is whether you have staffers living in the community, and the size of your capital investment in equipment and facilities.
Resident staffers create "a higher degree of story sensibility. They have a better understanding of the issues in the community."
For CNN, the New Orleans bureau "is the real deal, not a marketing ploy." MORE
# posted by ATN @ 4:10 PM 
