Friday, February 20, 2009

The telephone: an untapped source of story ideas

It seems that half the time I call a newsroom no one answers. It rings, and rings, rings and I give up. Trying to call a newsroom on evenings or weekends is even worse.

In my last few management jobs, I noticed there seemed to be a trend among young people. The basis for this was, "Someone else will answer the phone." Lots of times it ended up being a veteran or a manager. In many cases, young people don't pick up the phone in the newsroom unless it specifically rings at their desk. (Maybe with the text messaging obsession, people have forgotten how to do it.)

Working the phones is a lost art. The best example is in the movie All the President's Men in which Robert Redford makes a string of calls to follow leads.

But you have to pick up the phone to start.

Years ago phones in newsrooms rarely rang more than once. Reporters jumped for the receivers when the phone rang, because you never knew if the person on the line was going to give you a great story. Now, the attitude seems to be that it's just another viewer calling to complain.

If you're one of those people who has problems finding ideas, you need to jump when the phone rings. About half the people that call television stations call to complain, and the other half call because they have a story to tell.

One other point: people who try to call a station and don't get a pick-up will get disgusted and call another station... then that great story you could have had, the one that might be first on your resume tape, will go to someone else.

So when the phone rings, jump. It might be nothing, but lots of times there's a great story on the other end, just waiting to be grabbed.

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