Friday's
fatal crash of two news helicopters in Phoenix got me thinking about my own pursuit, as a news director, of the risks and rewards of this form of newsgathering.
Oh, how I wanted that chopper. I could see it in the sky, improving everyone’s view of the news. I saw a helicopter extending the reach of our coverage: to fast-breaking news, to those hard-to-reach-on-deadline spots, to the state capitol, and to the viewers who said, "You come to our town only when the news is bad."
We could go anywhere and see just about everything. And everyone would see us coming. People would turn to us to share our bird's eye views. That was my news director dream -- back in the early 1980s.
I researched and wrote a dandy business plan that went all the way to corporate. I got my wish: a beautiful state-of-the-art news helicopter. Another station in town had the same idea. The local paper called it "chopper wars." Eventually, three stations in my city would have them.
In the years we had the helicopter, I learned a few things:
- Helicopters are very expensive reporting platforms. (I believe my Poynter colleague and former news director Scott Libin referred to his as an "airborne money shredder.")
- Helicopter costs must be managed (read that: rationed).
- Helicopters demand constant attention to safety.
I also learned that once multiple helicopters are in the sky, the pictures are pretty much the same on everyone’s air. The only competitive advantage a station might enjoy typically emerges only when the competition’s chopper is out of service for maintenance or fueling.
Now, as I send condolences to the families and friends of four men who died because their stations had them chasing a chase, I have to ask:
Isn’t it time stations re-think their helicopter strategies? And after stations search their souls about this tragedy, I hope they keep searching.
I hope they think about whether they ought to consider a truce in their own local chopper wars.
I’m talking about pooling.
Yes. Pooling a chopper among several news organizations.
Hear me out.
The cost of maintaining choppers and crews takes a big chunk out of a newsroom’s operating budget. Ask any news director about managing the flight hours, sometimes grounding the machine to bank the time for the next rating period or breaking news story. When that happens, it can’t fly to the distant and less-dramatic news, the kind that doesn’t immediately grab eyeballs but feeds the brain or the soul.
More importantly, the potential for disaster is high as multi-tasking pilots swarm police chases and other unpredictable events.
Let me anticipate some other arguments against my pool proposal:
Q. What about traffic? Our morning show is all about traffic and weather.
A. Not all stations use helicopters for traffic. In huge, gridlocked cities, there may indeed be a good service provided by helicopter traffic reporting. Then do it -- pooled or otherwise. But traffic is also reported by road sensors, fixed highway cameras, creative graphics, good reporters and helpful viewers.
Q. What about accuracy and independence? Isn’t it better to have more eyes in the sky rather than fewer?
A. Pooling is a tradition borne of limited access -- not of any desire by journalists to have one media outlet do the work for everyone. The helicopter would provide pool video. It would be up to the individual news outlets to do the reporting that goes with the video. They do it now anyway, since staff in the helicopter are often busy just documenting what is in front of their eyes -- not the complete scope of the story.
Q. Won’t viewers be disappointed?
A. Will they? If they still have aerial views of important events and if the cost savings are plowed back into the newsroom for better, substantive daily reporting, they might even be pleased.
I’m not opposed to helicopter news coverage, not trying to discourage the good reporting that comes from healthy competition among principled news people, and get my hackles up whenever the government tries to force pooled coverage without good reason.
What I’m for is a smarter, safer approach to aerial newsgathering -- one that could result in a stronger ground force and better service to viewers.
Hear hear!! Bravo Jill for speaking out so honestly and...
