Tuesday, November 17, 2004 

            Last night I had one of the most incredible opportunities of my young life.  For my final project in Understanding Mass Media, I went to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer studios to interview producers, reporters, and on-air correspondents. 

            It's still mind-blowing to think that the first people I have ever interviewed in my fledgling journalism career are world-renowned, well-respected people, many who have been in the business for a very long time.  Kristen always used to quote to me the famous saying, "Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you will land among the stars."

            I was so worked up with nerves and excitement in the days leading up to Monday and could barely contain myself entering the building.  I'd never interviewed anyone before; what if I choked?  I had prepared a long list of questions on the inner-workings and philosophy of The News Hour and Washington Week and was armed with the bit of advice my journalism teacher gave me and my years of watching the News Hour talent do it night after night. 

            I did my homework as much as possible but for me there wasn’t much to do.  Growing up with these two shows, I knew the people and I knew the shows so I could get right in to how they did their work and what they thought of it all.

            When we arrived, we found ourselves in a small hallway.  The walls were white and nearly bare, save for a strand of green chili pepper lights hanging over the doorway.  A young reported who was expecting us asked us to wait and offered us a bathroom break or something to drink.  I was a little jumpy and just kept grinning and enthusiastically hello-ing everyone that walked in the door we had entered. 

            Soon Samara Thery, the media reporter under Terence Smith, came to greet us.  She graduated from AU in 1997 and was the one who helped me orchestrate the visit.  She had seemed a little dull on the phone but would turn out to be one of the neatest people I've ever met. 

            I was struck early on by the youth of the entire operation.  We were first taken to a small conference room where I met a PR agent, an assistant PR agent, and an associate producer for Washington Week in Review.  All of them were very young and enthusiastic.  Apparently, visits like mine are not uncommon and they are always happy to help and accommodate.  The PR woman even gave my two compatriots and I News Hour notepads and pens.  I greatly appreciated the fact that I never felt as though I was infringing or being eyed as an oddity around the office.

            I got to speak with the easygoing associate producer for at least a half hour.  It always felt a little awkward starting each interview, but she quickly relaxed me and we were able to shift into a more conversational interview very easily. 

            I realized early on that I am terrible at taking notes during an interview – I didn't know how!  At the end of the evening, I ended up writing nothing down.  Fortunately, Sara was taping each interview on camera and I had my little voice recorder to save my lost soul. 

            After speaking with the Washington Week producer, we wandered back down the narrow hallway to Terry Smith's warmly-lit office.  He seemed genuinely delighted to see us all.  He looked very relaxed even as the three of us plus Samara, the News Hour media unit producer, the PR lady, and one other person crammed into his little office.  We were able to speak with him for about a half hour as well.  We had to stop twice so Terry could take phone calls from the producer.  Surprisingly, he was kind enough to explain the conversations once he finished, showing us the pre-interviews he was reading and speaking about over the phone.  The media unit producer also answered some of our questions as this scene, too, lapsed quickly into more conversational style. 

            The entire time Terry was talking, I was simultaneously trying to focus on his words, and keep my mind turning as I tried to catch things and come up with my next question or find the opening to one of the next questions on my list.  It was difficult, but because Terry was so kind and warm, and because he answered all of my questions in depth with many examples, the intimidation wore off eventually. 

            We were torn away only when they told us we had to get over to the studio to speak with Ray Suarez.  The media unit is in a separate building sort of across the street from the rest of the units and from the taping and production studios.  The assistant PR woman was talking about how to get us over to the other studio.  She was more than willing to drive us before Samara returned and said she would take us over there so we didn't have to walk in the cold.  She had to go over there anyway, but it was a kind gesture to stuff us all in her car. 

            We arrived at the production studio and went into a white "green" room to wait for Ray.  As I sat nervously, White House correspondent David Sanger popped his head in as he was doing up his tie, said hello to Samara, acknowledged us, and disappeared again.  Terry walked through a few times before Ray suddenly came in the door.

            I was struck instantly by two things: one, he looked exhausted and two, he's very short!  I would put him at only an inch or three (at most) taller than I.  His hair was also grayer than on TV and his right eye isn't open as much as the other.  Little things, but I was trying to take him in.

            For a few seconds I felt powerless as intimidation and awe and admiration hit me hard.  We sat face to face, not across a table.  He said he had only about 5 minutes because he had to go to makeup – he was anchoring that night.  With a little smile from Ray, I swallowed my feeling very small and dove in headfirst.        

            I ended up getting almost ten minutes out of him before he had to race off to makeup.  I was slightly agitated (and frankly, a little embarrassed) when Daniel, a huge fan of network news who, despite my pleadings has obviously never seen The News Hour, asked a stupid question about getting all the news in during such a short amount of time.  I suppose he didn't notice that The News Hour is the only hour-long news program and has an average of two and half times the length of any other news program.  At least Ray laughed it off and gave some insight into what they do with that hour.

            Ray's answers were not as detailed and in-depth as Terry's, so I had to think much faster as to how I was going to chose and ask the next question.  I also felt the time crunch bearing down on me and knew that I had to pick the best questions so I didn't waste time nor lose the chance to get what I wanted from him.  I didn't write anything down.  I admit to being very self-conscious about what I was doing, how I was conducting myself and choosing my questions only inches from one of the best and most respected in the business.  I just had to push it out of my mind.  That alone could have eaten me alive but there was no time to doubt myself.

            After Ray walked out of the door, I realized I had a raging stress headache but I was more than happy to have it.  Samara, with whom by that time I had become friendly and relaxed with, laughed a little when I noticeably calmed down after my interview with Ray.  We still had about twenty minutes until air time so she offered up herself for questioning.  I had no questions prepared for her, which I think turned out to be the best.  I pulled out my recorder and started pulling things off the top of my head that I was curious about.  I was able to ask her more of the daily grind questions and have her walk me through a typical day.  Samara turned out to be a great interview, especially since it was an informal conversation. 

            Finally 6 p.m. was upon us and we were led to the control room.  Only one of us could stand inside at a time and I quickly offered myself up to be first.  The other two stood outside and looked in through a big window so they wouldn’t miss anything.  

            There were rows of TV screens in the front of the small room and about ten people seated at various consoles in the very quiet, relaxed but intense atmosphere. Up on the TV screens I saw the teleprompter, the main image that viewers were seeing, the view of each camera, the people to be interviewed who were in other locations, tapes to be cued up later, graphics to be brought in between segments, the News Hour intro logo and various other camera shots. 

            Front and center was seated the head director, wearing a headset with a microphone so that he could talk to the graphics people and the four cameramen.  During the opening, he called all of the changes in the background picture by Ray's head on screen.  During the interviews, he was constantly calling a camera to the ready then calling it to roll.  Every time the shot changed during an interview, it was because he sat there and called it out off the top of his head.  For the entire 12 minute interview Terry conducted, it was a constant rapid-fire from the director to get everything timed and switched just right.  The woman next to him kept an eye on timing of interviews and taped reports.  Terry went over his interview, so she had to find places to regain that lost time.

            Samara was whispering as much as she could tell me the entire time.  After a while I stepped outside to give the others a chance.  We were able to talk about what was going on a little more freely out there.  Unfortunately, we couldn't have any of our stuff with us so I had neither notepad nor my voice recorder.  I asked her what she would normally be doing at the time of a taping.  She would be on her way home, which was alll the more reason for me to appreciate her being there giving us the royal treatment.

            Samara pointed out that the questions are not on the teleprompter, only on paper in front of them.  She also mentioned that Terry never looks down at his notes.  She also mentioned that everyone appreciates their weekends.  She said even when a huge story comes us and network news calls in their people to work through the weekend for Monday, The News Hour staff stays home; work begins Monday morning.

            As we watched, Jeffrey Brown passed us.  I didn’t get to introduce myself, but at least I saw him in person!  Unfortunately, Jim Lehrer was on a PBS cruise, Margaret Warner had taper her interview early and gone home and Gwen Ifill wasn't there. 

            When the taping was over, Terence Smith approached us on his way out to talk to us a little more.  I asked him about conducing interviews, bringing up the fact that he never looks down at his notes.  He shook his head gravely and said no, never do that.  I asked how he did that, especially since he only gets his questions an hour before going on air.  Terry said that you just go over them and get them in your mind and then you think about them and never, ever, read straight from your question sheet.

            He was kind enough to wait and make sure we had no more questions for him before heading home.  He seemed like a genuinely good man.  On top of my own observations, Samara raved about how much she enjoys working with him and everyone else, for that matter.

            Ray also passed us on his way out and gave us his blue sheets with the teleprompter notes and his interview questions.  Having seen his tired face earlier, I wasn't surprised that he just wanted to head home.

            Samara then took us on a brief tour to see the Washington Week studio and next door, The News Hour studio.  The Washington Week studio appeared very bare without the bright background set up.  I was shocked by the number of lights hanging from the rafters high above the little round table in the center of the vast, otherwise empty room.  The News Hour studio was, of course, much smaller than I expected.  The two interview tables are wedged tightly in corners behind the background of the main table set.  Space seemed at an incredible premium. 

            As we walked back to the little holding room to gather our things, the head director emerged from the control room and asked in a very jolly voice with a wide smile, "Who do we have here?"  He was inquiring about us, and our meeting turned into yet another half hour, impromptu interview.

            I asked him how he did his job – everything seemed to rapid and intense.  He laughed and replied that if you do something long enough, it becomes like second nature.  He's been with The News Hour in some role for all of the nearly 30 years it has been in production.  What surprised me most was his candor about the financial crisis of PBS.  According to him, Washington Week in Review has had no funding since January and is siphoning money from various other places.  The News Hour is a hand-to-foot, day-to-day operation.  He said that in recent years, he's been fired seven times.  He'd be fired on a Friday when they couldn't afford him anymore, then re-hired the following Sunday when more money was obtained and asked to return to work as usual Monday morning.  He called The News Hour a "client" of WETA productions and the day WETA can't afford to turn on the lights in the building will be the end of The News Hour.  Money from "viewers like you" is going to support the 3-4 hundred public broadcasting stations around the country.  Since there is no PBS Corporation that sits on top of the programs and independent operations, there is no money center. 

            I asked about Ray, Gwen, and Terry joining The News Hour all in 1998.  Apparently, it's unusual for people to leave en mass.  He said that turnover is incredibly small – people who come to The News Hour stay.  Many consider it the pinnacle of their careers where they'll have more freedom to do in-depth, honest news coverage and analysis.  He scoffed when recalling a former News Hour anchor leaving to get her own show on network television news.

            After speaking with the director, we gathered our things and headed upstairs to see the offices of the correspondents and the big room with all of the computers the reporters work on.  It’s a fairly small operation, understandable considering their financial situation.

            At the end of it all, Samara drove us back to the bus stop.  Her advice to us was to make connections and keep up with them.  When there are lectures, she advised we go to them, ask questions, and get business cards.  As I got out of the car, she said, "Tell people The News Hour is cool!"        

            My overall impression is that everyone at The News Hour loves their job and believes in it passionately.  There aren't many of them, but they all work together and are constantly learning from their work and from each other.  They are idealistic and honestly believe they are doing a public service to better equip citizens.  None of them consider themselves in competition with network news.  I wouldn’t say there is an elitist air about them, but they do know they are doing something special, something unique, and something that is needed in today's society.  And not to forget: each and every one of them was happy to go out of their way to be accommodating, welcoming, and kind to my little entourage.  For all of that I will be eternally grateful and in awe of these people.  I now want to be a journalist, especially in that style, more than ever.