Ithaca College Quarterly

The Electronic Newsroom

When Edward Bailey gunned down coworker Robert Bergman at a Dryden car dealership last September, there began a legal process that ICTV’s news department followed from jury selection to sentencing. The students’ journalism and production efforts were aided by a Windows-based software system, AP NewsCenter, installed in ICTV’s workroom in January. Developed by Associated Press for its member stations, AP NewsCenter runs on new networked PCs purchased through a grant from the Park Foundation. The BBC and ABC News are among the hundreds of AP NewsCenter sites worldwide, but ICTV is one of the first student television organizations to employ this state-of-the-art tool.

Covering an ongoing story like the Bailey trial would formerly have been logistically difficult for the ICTV news team. AP NewsCenter streamlines operations by providing a shared information database integrating program rundowns, scripts, the Internet, AP news wires, a calendar-based planning module, and messaging. Using AP NewsCenter, a nightly producer reviewing the trial progress may search by key word, bringing up a list of the 20 newscasts that mentioned the case. With a double clicking on any entry, the full script appears.

Three ICTV reporters covered the court activity, with each able to access the others’ scripts and identify video packages. News director Gary LaPlante ’98 estimates that there are 50 percent more video packages in spring semester because it is now easier to track assignments. "AP NewsCenter has made it more like a realistic, professional newsroom. By helping the news director and news producers be in better control of content, it gives you more time to think about important aspects instead of worrying about paper-work details."

"AP NewsCenter is not just like what’s being used in this industry, it is what’s used in the industry," comments television-radio professor John Rosenbaum. Reporter Carter Evans ’98 concurs. "It’s the industry standard. It makes ICTV closer to the real thing, which is why I came to Ithaca."

The software changes the way newscasts are created by permitting student collaboration on program decision making, including news writing and story order. Networking is key. Producers discuss writing style, transition, and story order with the journalism staff, making changes right up to and during the telecasts. News anchor/reporter Gina Ciolino ’98 notes that "producers and anchors have a lot more contact via computer. The anchor can write the stories designated by the producer, who can later modify them."

AP NewsCenter has uses beyond the news operation. Professor Mead Loop ’88 has assigned his television journalism students several exercises requiring the system. All of ICTV’s series can use it for planning, manifesting, scripting, and teleprompting. Mason Diedrich ’98 is producer of the movie review series The Screening Room. "I can come in during the day to do the rundown and print individual lists for the crews. And now it is so much easier to time the show," he says, referring to the software feature that automatically times program elements. When a program is ready for air, one keystroke sends the annotated script, with director commands, to the studio teleprompters.

The system’s design for shared intelligence encourages participation in newscast content. Any news crew member can enter information into the planning module. Videographer Matt Tomlin ’99 uses the planner to note upcoming community events for newscast video and as a tickler file for news follow-ups. So when a jury convicted Edward Bailey of second-degree manslaughter in February, his date for sentencing was duly entered into the planner, and Tomlin and reporter Carrie Czarnecki ’97 were at the courtroom April 4.

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