Weathering the Storm
TV news operations face enormous obstacles in delivering critical news
By Allison Romano
Broadcasting & Cable
9/5/2005
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6253842.html?display=Feature&referral=SUPP
In this story:
The roughest situation ever seen
As anchors at WLOX, the ABC affiliate in Biloxi, Miss., delivered the news
live on Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, they felt the power of the storm like
few others in the media: Winds suddenly ripped the roof off parts of the
building.
A foot of rain washed into the hole in the section of roof covering the
newsroom. Staffers fled to the second floor and a small studio. Running on
generator power, the station managed to continue live coverage, while its
Internet access and phone service were cut off. One satellite phone
connected the station to the outside.
It became a struggle between them and the hurricane, says Jim Keelor,
president of WLOX parent Liberty Corp. It won for a while, but were
starting to win now.
Amid one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history, with several
hundred estimated dead in four states and more than 2 million people
without electricity, food or water, getting the news out to viewers last
week was critical. It was also harder than ever.
Three of the four New Orleans news stations were unable to broadcast, while
one Mobile, Ala., outlet was temporarily knocked off the air. Cox Cable and
Charter Communications, the regions major cable systems, lost service to
hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Network news crews were frustrated
trying to navigate an unfamiliar region with spotty communications. And
already the storm has altered Nielsen ratings in at least four markets for
the foreseeable future.
In Biloxi, WLOX will need to rebuild its facility and replace two regional
bureaus that were wiped out. For the rest of the area, the cost of the
cleanup and relocation of storm refugees is impossible to pinpoint, but
local media companies are certain to spend tens of millions of dollars
digging out (see Money Talks, page 10). Aside from such costs, the storm
leaves sobering lessons for stations and cable operators across the U.S.
about planning for such events as natural disaster or terrorism.
As the disaster continues to unfold, the Internet (and radio) are proving
to be crucial sources of information. Bloggers are trading images and
updates to info-starved surfers. But what has become quickly apparent is
that only the graphic images of television can convey the scope and
devastation of such a catastrophe.
No one has told the stories better than local TV reporters, many of whom
lost their homes and brought their hometown expertise to the hurricane
coverage. In New Orleans in particular, reporters have been bracing for
years for such a catastrophic storm to overwhelm the levee system, which
eventually broke and flooded the city. The national media didnt
understand the gravity of it, says David Bernard, former meteorologist for
WWL New Orleans and now at WFOR Miami, who raced back to report from his
former hometown. We knew what the consequences would be.
Stations on the Gulf Coast have been tested by damaging storms recently,
notably Hurricane Ivan last year and Dennis in July. In those cases, local
outlets lost power but still managed to broadcast days of wall-to-wall
coverage. Despite the best preparations, Hurricane Katrina proved
devastating. New Orleans stations were forced to evacuate to sister
stations. A few that stayed behind narrowly escaped being trapped.
Helicopters plucked several WDSU employees off a hotel roof, and KTLA Los
Angeles technology reporter Kurt Knutsson, in town working on another
story, also evacuated. A skeleton crew at WWL was forced out as water
started seeping into the building.
Based on experience, local media found ways to keep going. WWL, the
top-rated local news station, resorted to broadcasting from student TV
studios at Louisiana State University in nearby Baton Rouge and from a
small emergency outfit at its transmitter site. Remarkably, even as
135-mile-per-hour winds lashed the Big Easy, WWL never lost its signal.
Three years ago, when the station built a new tower, it selected a higher
point in New Orleans, in part to keep its equipment safe in case of such a
disaster. There is no telling when the station will be able to get back
into its French Quarter headquarters.
This one is going to be longer, harder and tougher than what anyone
anticipated, says Jack Sander, president of media operations for WWL
parent Belo.
WWL is Belos only station in the area, but other broadcast groups were
harder hit. Liberty Corp., Hearst-Argyle, Emmis and Tribune own two
stations each in the region. Their New Orleans affiliates suffered severe
damage: Hearst-Argyle-owned NBC affiliate WDSU, Emmis Fox station WVUE,
and Tribunes ABC outlet WGNO and WB affiliate WNOL were all knocked off
the air and their staffers were evacuated.
Several parent companies, including Media General and Tribune Broadcasting,
are using RVs to house crews in the field. Even the best preparations were
sometimes futile. In Mobile, WPMI fired up its generator when the power
failed but was knocked off the air when lightning struck the generator. For
a day, the Clear Channel-owned station reported via its sister radio
stations until a new generator arrived and TV broadcasts were resumed.
The roughest situation ever seen
Those companiesand the national networkshave ferried in extra producers,
satellite trucks and supplies, in several cases by charter plane. In the
hardest hit locations, crews have only satellite phones and sporadic
Blackberry service for communicating, and limited food, water and fuel.
Helicopters from as far away as San Antonio are on the scene supplying
pictures. WLOX had no way to update its Web site, so producers at the
Liberty station in Louisville, Ky., took over postings. Hearst-Argyles
WESH Orlando, Fla., and WAPT Jackson, Miss., helped WDSU stream live
coverage and update its Web site. We all get credit for helping to
evacuate the market and keep casualties even lower, says Hearst-Argyle
Senior VP of News Fred Young, but this is the roughest situation anyones
ever seen.
Even if viewers in affected areas can eventually watch TV to get news, no
one is monitoring the audience levels. Nielsen Media Research is not
reporting ratings from set-top meters in New Orleans and Birmingham, Ala.,
because of power outages. New Orleans may not be restored for months, the
ratings firm says.
New Orleans ranks as the 43rd-largest U.S. market and accounts for 675,760
TV homes. Combine that with three other affected markets in the region, and
more than 1.1 million TV households have been impacted, which represents
about a full rating point nationally. After last years hurricanes in
Florida, Nielsen had to recruit new participants and will likely face the
same problem in these Gulf Coast markets.
Without a traditional TV audience, news organizations resorted to new and
old technology to get the news out. Radio stations in each market have
simulcast the TV coverage, enabling residents with battery-powered radios
to listen to local TV news. Several stations have been streaming their
broadcasts live online and blogging.
In some cases, local news went far beyond usual boundaries. WJTV, the CBS
affiliate in Jackson, Miss., streamed its coverage live to a global
audience. Weve heard from soldiers in Iraq who are Mississippi reservists
watching our Webcasts and a woman in Peru whose sister lives in Madison,
Miss., says News Director Rick Russell.
Web traffic soared for national and local sites. CNN and MSNBC recorded
about 9 million video plays in one day, records for each. On Aug. 30, WWL
recorded more traffic on its Web site than it averages for an entire month.
In Mobile, WPMI anchor Scott Walker has been blogging the storm and says
his blog recorded more than 2,500 hits, versus his usual 100 daily hits.
Across the region, national TV crews are working under equally trying
conditions.
It looks like a war zone, says Jeff Raineri, a meteorologist for NBCs
local weather service Weather Plus, reporting from Biloxi for NBC News.
Brick homes were blown away, and casinos floating in the water were
carried hundreds of feet inland.
CNNs Anderson Cooper, stationed in Mississippi and Louisiana last week,
says the devastation surpassed any hurricane he had covered: It compares
to the tsunami in Sri Lanka and some of the things I saw in Sarajevo during
the [Balkans] war. It is not a reference point that the U.S. has seen before.
The images out of New Orleans seemed surreal even to jaded TV news
reporters. In New Orleans, gunfire and fights broke out at the Superdome,
where thousands of refugees baked in the heat. Looting and random gunfire
created a lawless environment. Some news crews traveled with armed guards;
others abandoned scenes that got too dangerous.
Apart from 9/11, this is one of the most astounding events ever to hit our
country, said CNNs Jeanne Meserve, who described seeing bodies floating
through the streets and dogs wrapped in electrical cords. NBCs Martin
Savidge tried to convey the desperation in the Superdome: The air has gone
bad, the toilets are overflowing, tensions are rising among rival gang
members inside, he said. Things are so bad, state officials are now
evacuating the evacuees.
Some of the biggest network stars raced to the scene. Brian Williams
anchored The NBC Nightly News from New Orleans. ABC News Elizabeth Vargas
was part of the networks large contingent and anchored World News Tonight
from battered Gulfport, Miss. CBS News dispatched John Roberts and Harry
Smith to the region.
This story is getting bigger and bigger, says Marcy McGinnis, CBS senior
VP of newsgathering. TV news outlets say they are prepared to have crews in
place for weeks, if not months.
Maintaining exhaustive coverage will surely stress budgets at stations and
national media. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina resembles coverage for a
war or after 9/11. News organizations will have to rotate in crews from
bureausand even stations in other statesto pitch in, stressing already
stretched news budgets. Salvaging damaged equipment and buildings will take
time and cost millions of dollars. Affected cable operators face lost
revenue from displaced subscribers.
But viewers are hungry for the information. Ratings for cable coverage and
network news specials have surged. The Weather Channel tripled its usual
audience, averaging more than 1 million viewers in prime on nights after
the storm. CNN, Fox News and MSNBCs audience swelled. For the first time
in a while, CNN came close to matching Fox News ratings in the key 25-54
demographic, according to Nielsen data. Prime time specials on ABC, CBS and
NBC attracted better ratings than a typical edition.
Almost everyone agrees it will be months before life returns to normal.
Some station employees learned that they had lost their homes from aerial
coverage. When Bill Flowers, who owns a traffic-reporting service in
Mobile, went up in his plane the day after the storm, his friend, local Fox
anchor John Edd Thompson, asked Flowers to check out the damage to his
coastal home.
He brought the footage to the station and showed it live. Thompson cried at
the images. Says Flowers, All that was sticking up was a few pilings.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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