APSE CONVENTION
Reporting, writing part of the plan
By JAY LEE
Houston Chronicle
If you were covering the 2002 World Cup for The Washington Post and found yourself in Japan surrounded by people and suffering from a runny nose, you had two options.
1. Blow your nose. Bad idea — it's considered extremely rude to do that in public in Japan.
2. Keep sniffing until you found somewhere private, which you knew to do after reading your 2002 World Cup Media Guide, which was compiled by the Post.
Keeping a reporter from embarrassing himself in another country is just one of the benefits of good planning when you're preparing to cover a big event. Washington Post assistant managing editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz says you should "plan to the point where your writers feel they have no questions other than how to cover the event."
That's one of the many tips that were passed on during an APSE convention session led by Garcia-Ruiz titled, "The Daily Budget: Getting Ahead of the News." And the only way to stay ahead of the news, according to Garcia-Ruiz, is "planning, planning, planning."
How do you do it? Here's some more advice that came out of the session that can help with the big event and the daily section:
Be organized. "You can't organize your section until you organize yourself," Garcia-Ruiz said. "If you're not organized, your staff's not going to know, and they're going to feed off of you." He uses a Palm Pilot, which comes with a calendar program. The device can be brought home and its contents downloaded onto a home computer. But it doesn't have to be an electronic device. Some people use binders. The key is finding a personal system that works.
Hold planning meetings. The Orlando Sentinel meets every few months to plan the next 90 days. Garcia-Ruiz suggested having at least a weekly planning meeting. "Sports goes by a calendar. Everyone in the department should know when big events are coming up." If you don't know what's coming up, you may have a big centerpiece ready and then realize there's an important game that day.
Identify "small days." If you don't have anything big on the horizon, you can do enterprise. And if you're well-planned, you can deal with slow stretches weeks and months in advance.
Do detail work. When dealing with big events, you need to think of everything in advance, from what the logo will look like to which reporter will cover the title game. If you don't, there will be inconsistencies in coverage. "Once you lay the foundation of events, then you have time to have fun," Garcia-Ruiz said. He also pointed out that you'll have time to deal with breaking news and it will be a lot easier to adjust.
Have a contingency plan. You may have to assign stories that may not make the paper. Plan for the worst-case scenario in case there are two overtimes, extra innings, etc. And anticipate the "what ifs." What if the team you're covering advances to the next round of a tournament and you don't know if it's playing on Thursday or Friday?
Save money. Garcia-Ruiz says if you buy a plane ticket in advance, you can often save money. And you can't buy the plane ticket early if you haven't planned well ahead of the event.
Be morbid. Try to anticipate deaths. Have obituaries written, and have a page ready for the big ones.
Don't forget the Internet. For big events, assign someone to file for the Web. And invite someone from the online staff to the planning meetings.
Share the information. Give everyone a budget for the event, from the reporters and desk to the photo department and any other department that's involved. Put reporters' cell-phone numbers on the budget.
In the end, it's all about the planning.
"Get it (daily planning) out of the way to take your coverage to the next level," Garcia-Ruiz said. "Planning gives you greater flexibility, not less."
It's definitely not advice to sneeze at.
