Covering Fires

Smoke escapes and flames ignite as scared faces watch a burning building. It's always interesting to see how stations cover fires. I looked at WMBF News in Myrtle Beach at a recent fire it covered. I think its reporters did a fine job covering this fire.

There were also two photos on the web of the fire. One photo showed the smoke building up from the apartments on fire. The other was just a shot of the fire truck. I didn't think it was very stimulating.

Photo Courtesy: wmbfnews.com

The reporter should have put a photo of the fire more close-up. It's a 'duh' moment showing a fire truck. We all know they're going to have a fire truck at the scene of fire.                                    


It's extremely important to show viewers where a fire is located.
WMBF News' story is a great example of how to do this.

Photo Courtesy: wmbfnews.com    
              
They go from the anchor to boxes with a map and zoom in to show the exact location of the fire. Then, the story uses photos sent in by viewers of the fire scene. This is a phenomenal way to use social media and citizen journalism to your advantage.                                                    

You can use what you don't have when your crew wasn't on the scene. I love how journalism has grown to use things kinds of opportunities.

They had a live reporter on the phone. I'm assuming that they simply couldn't get their live truck on the scene for some reason. This is another good way to get a reporter's perspective live when you don't have all of your tools. They used a picture of the reporter so you see who was talking on the phone. This is a tool many stations use that I think is a smart move. People want to see what they hear. Since they can't see the reporter, a photo is the next best thing. The producers rolled the fire photos while the reporter was talking about the fire. This is another way to put pictures to what you're hearing.

The reporter talks about the status of the fire, what neighbors are saying, how many apartments were affected by the fire and what fire investigators are looking into. These are the fine details you want to talk about to inform your viewers.

Here's Kyle Grainger's story: Fire