Making the transition from print to video journalism may sound daunting.
But during the session “So, Now You’re a Broadcast Journalist? Tips for Video in B2B” on the first day of the 2022 ASBPE annual conference, held in Cleveland, Ohio, Teresa Anderson, editor-in-chief of Security Management, and vice president for content at ASIS International, and Stephanie Ricca, editorial director of Hotel News Now, offered a few best practices for those starting out in broadcast journalism.
While sharing their own stories about being on camera, Anderson and Ricca, ASBPE’s immediate past president and secretary, respectively, outlined three guiding principles. The first is to prepare for your interview to the best of your ability, such as by getting acclimated to the studio setup, warming up, preparing “high-value questions” and making sure the content will fit your platform.
Next, was to conduct “high-quality interviews” in order to avoid massive edits, they said. However, they acknowledged that mistakes are inevitable and to just keep going if that happens. They also stressed the importance of active listening in order to ask engaging follow up-questions.
As she often tells her team, “Sophisticated reporting” is “when you can listen on video, in real-time and be able to follow up intelligently with that next question,” said Ricca. This is “the stuff we all know how to do as journalists; that we just have to remember we can do.”
Lastly, Anderson and Ricca said to apply these skills for the rest of your career and remember to be present, “time is currency,” and remember you know more than you think.
They noted that even if you don’t think you’ll become specifically a broadcast journalist, now with the mass expansion of telework, everyone can apply these skills to Zoom or other types of video interviews.
Anderson cited a recent survey by Vyopta, a software company, that “92% of executives at medium to large firms think workers who turn cameras off during meetings don’t have long-term futures at the company,” as Axios reported in April.
“So, you don’t think it matters, but it really does,” said Anderson.
To read more tips for virtual or video reporting and interviewing shared during the session, check out Presentation Tips For Online Events from presenter Stephanie Ricca.
ASBPE plans to feature more great educational sessions at its 2023 National Conference, which will take place May 11-12, 2023. The location is to be announced. Stay tuned to ASBPE.org and ASBPE’s social channels to keep up to date.