Background:
- The Press Association is a leading national news agency
- They had started to broaden their offering, with branded online bulletins for media clients and major newspapers, e.g. The Sun allowing publications to offer breaking news stories on their websites
- Because of tight budgets, their own journalists were used to deliver stories to camera as well as simultaneously writing up copy for their main wires service - an efficient proposition
- Journalists were mostly working on their own, delivering rapid story turnaround to screen
- Having been "thrown into the fire", it was felt these multi-skilled journalists - relatively unfamiliar with the TV medium - could do better in terms of their on-screen delivery and impact; with the short attention spans of online viewers, excellent journalism counted for nothing if delivery wasn't compelling enough to keep them watching
- We were recommended to management and they asked for help
Solution:
- Six journalists coached over two days in two-hour, 1 to 1 sessions
- Held at Press Association HQ, in the studio used to deliver their broadcasts
- Technical advice was also given with regards to lighting, positioning, script-writing for screen and more efficient turnaround of stories
Results:
- The sessions were a big success and received with great gratitude from the news presenters
- In a note from management, they said there had been "a definite improvement in the bulletins" and that the journalists remarked that we'd made them feel "ten feet tall"
- As a result of the improvements, the service picked up more clients and continued to go from strength to strength
- The downside - for the PA at least - was that some of the journalists took to on-screen reporting so well that a number of them later moved on to work in mainstream broadcasting including one for BBC London, another for Sky News, another for ITN News and another became the showbiz reporter for PA News from their Hollywood, USA bureau!
Feedback:
"Definite improvement in the bulletins"
Thank you so much for delivering the training to the team. They have all said how useful they found it and that it made them feel about ten feet tall. There is a definite improvement in the bulletins and they are all working hard to put into practice what you taught them.
w8200
