News Director's Playbook: What does your ND do all day?

We hammer News Directors pretty good on this blog, and Lord knows many of them deserve it. But there are lots of good ones out there.

And a lot of good ones who have left the business. The main reason? Depending on the company, the job might not have anything to do with news.

Several years ago I came to work and found the ND with a big smile on his face. "Ratings come in?" I asked. "Nope," he said. "The GM is out of town all week. I can work on news!"

That might sound like a bizarre comment until you've spent a day in the ND's chair. Years ago News Directors were in the newsroom a lot. My first one taught me to edit with nat sound, and even had a camera in his car. Most were hands on.

Until bean counters, consultants, and corporate people who never worked a day in the news business took over. Now the job can be an endless parade of meetings, memos, and putting out fires.

So let me give you an idea of why you might not see your ND so much...

The day begins like every many episodes of the Sopranos... walking down the driveway to pick up the newspaper. But in this case you can get whacked in a different way. A News Director can't relax and read the sports page with a cup of coffee. Noooo. You gently unfold the paper and cringe, hoping some screaming headline doesn't tell you that you missed a big story.

After that lovely wake up call has given you agita, (that's Italian for heartburn) you arrive at the station and are followed into your office by either the secretary, the assignment editor, or a disgruntled employee who must, right this moment before you even take your jacket off, tell you about the brush fires that have erupted in the newsroom overnight.

Then after 30 minutes or so of putting out fires, its time for the morning meeting. That might be the only news related thing you do all day. After that, any and all of the following can eat up time like you wouldn't believe.

-Meetings. By far the worst offender. There's usually a department head meeting once each week. But there might also be a promotions meeting, sales meeting, one with some charity that needs help, you name it. Nothing actually gets accomplished during most of these meetings, but they do serve to schedule more meetings.

-Amateur psychiatry. Years ago you actually shuddered if you had to go into a NDs office with a complaint. Because you'd usually hear something like, "Deal with it or I'll find someone who will." Now there's a revolving door which admits all sorts of complaints and office politics issues. You have to do everything from break up fights to soothe egos of those who didn't get to anchor.

-Phone calls from people looking for jobs. You know how I'm always telling you guys not to call NDs? Many of you don't listen.

-Phone calls from angry viewers. Half the time they didn't actually see your newscast, or their complaint concerns a story from a different station.

-The Sales Department. In all my years I only worked with one sales guy who actually brought story ideas to the news department. (Probably because he was a former news guy.) But generally when you see these people in the newsroom, they want something. "Can you, uh... do a story about this subject? And if you need someone to interview, I have a new client." (wink, wink.) If you ever wonder why you've been assigned a story that is a blatant commercial, well, chances are it didn't come from the ND.

-Conference calls with other NDs in the group. Another "meeting" in which little is accomplished. A few of the NDs like to suck up to corporate and do all the talking. The others put the phone on mute and play spider solitaire on their computers.

-The drop-what-you're-doing-because-corporate-called interruptions. You wouldn't believe some of this stuff. Once, a corporate person called a station, was put on hold, and didn't like the music or the message. The ND had to drop what he was doing, write a script, then pick "appropriate music", then get an anchor to record the message, then get the Chief Engineer to install it in the phone system. During the middle of sweeps. On another occasion a manager had to research the activities of news cars because someone in corporate thought "photogs were joy riding through toll booths." (Yeah, I know lots of shooters who get a cheap thrill doing this.) So he had to match the toll booth charges with the stories. Another ND would get a phone bill dropped on his desk every month and was instructed to go through it and find charges that might be personal calls.

-Stuff that has nothing to do with news. Once, some staffers wanted to play football on their break in the parking lot. No problem. But they didn't have a football so they used a heavy key ring. "Director goes back to pass... he's going long... and the key ring goes through a news car windshield!" Guess who gets the call about that stuff?

-Hiring people. Not as easy as it used to be with all sorts of regulations, which include federal, state, and corporate. Watching tapes takes time, then you have to show them to the GM and you might have to send them to corporate. Wanna fly someone in? You'll have to book the plane tickets and hotels yourself.

-Budgets. This is like doing your taxes to the tenth power. And then when things like gas prices go through the roof, your budget can explode in your face.

-The disappearing newsroom secretary. These people used to handle tons of work that freed up the ND to work on news. Sadly, this position is disappearing.

-Lunch. After all this, you've gotta get out of the office.