What really happens in a radio news room?
Radio delivers the news to consumers in short, sharp bursts, even when most people are still sleeping. Mumbrella’s Zoe Samios sits in on a morning on the SCA news desk to understand how the media company compiles and delivers its news, the value of local specialists in breakfast radio and why the news cycle can’t stop – not even for muesli.
I hate my alarm clock, especially when it goes off before 6am. But today at least, it’s slightly easier to get up.
Why? In a slight tweak to my usual morning routine, I’m heading to Southern Cross Austereo’s Sydney offices, for a look into how the newsroom works.
Undoubtedly, advertisers, journalists and even universities are cynical and critical of journalism’s future. To be fair, the rhetoric – and the news about the news – hasn’t been positive.
I am surprised that a radio network is finally investing in journalists when managers, beancounters and sales departments always label them as an unneeded cost. Radio networks need to bring back a local newsroom to every radio station so local news is generated not pap networked out of the metro centres so communities, learn local issues, are invested in their station and local politicians, councils, business and vested interests are kept honest and accountable.
Another interesting story from Zoe. What puzzles me though is the apparent absence of generating news. How many journalists are ringing around their news sources? No mention. How they file stories from the field? No mention. Are there journalists out on the beat? Talking to cops? Attending council meetings? Scrambling through documents from government bodies?
What has long worried me about radio news rooms is that they just pinch stories from other news media. Zoe’s story does nothing to refute that. The ‘news prep system’ looks to me like a list of stories simply monitored by the SCA newsroom . . . did they actually check with the Adelaide police or local court list in regard to Shannon Noll’s arrest? Or talk to his manager? Radio news rooms have a reputation for “rip and read” . . . alas Zoe’s yarn does little to bury that view.