We decided to go to 7News when my “Media Relations and Publicity” professor asked us to take a poll of which news outlets we wanted to visit. Of course 7NEWS was on the list. So on February 28th, we took the journey to 7 Bulfinch Place.

Objects in mirror may appear close than they seem. Well, in a figurative sense anyways. The newsroom is actually smaller than what you thought it would be in real life. With crammed quarters and a broken mirror to do your own hair and make-up, we get our initial sense of 7NEWS. Greeted by a cheerful yet sleep deprived Dylan Dreyer, meteorologist of 7NEWS, we get the weather first hand, even though it was obvious by the amount of water dripping off us.

We continued our tour with a view of 7NEWS at the core of the operation. It’s heart. This particular vascular muscle of the operation consists of 15 desks, four in each group, stuffed with people, folders and lots of coffee. Constantly typing away and screaming across the room, the heart is pumping feverishly. We are like kids in a candy store. We cannot stop touching everything, and looking around in bewilderment like it’s Christmas morning.

And we’re walking. We’re looking. We’re touching. Stop. There is a single man who seems to take control of the entire functionality of 7 Bulfinch Place. Computers, televisions and monitors galore, he surrounds himself with every type of equipment that makes 7News, well, 7News. He is the man behind the curtain. Not quite the Chief of Staff, but definitely not a Colonel, you begin to understand the tactics of a mastermind. When something goes wrong, he’s the man to fix it. There are more computers in this tiny room, than there are in the whole entire station house.

As our tour guide continued to bring us around the small yet fully packed newsroom, I was surprised at the abundance of friendly smiles and gentle nods the class got. It was like they have done this before (for a much younger demographic, I’m sure) and although everyone was rather busy, it didn’t stop them from saying “Hello,” and “How are you?” It wasn’t long before TV news anchor Adam Williamson came over and introduced himself. He was curious as to if anyone had any questions, and like a 4th grader who had just been stung by a bee, I raised my hand. “What’s your favorite part about being a news anchor?” He replied, “To understand new trends, people and the world.” A valid answer, I must agree. It goes to show how public relations and the news media go hand in hand. Public relations professionals are constantly looking for new trends to follow and update their clients with, and to connect with how other people can accomplish tasks in their own brand.

The bee stung again. “Are you ever nervous that the teleprompter will go too fast, or you’ll forget what you’re talking about? His response, “All the time. It’s my biggest fear, minus the fact that maybe one day the camera will catch me doing something I’m not supposed to be doing.”  I didn’t quite understand how he’d get caught doing something he shouldn’t be till we watched the live taping of him and his co-anchor Anne Allred, perform the 7News at noon.

Once they were rolling, you could clearly see what Adam was talking about. Camera angles. They are in a constant circular motion. You only know when the camera is on you when the cue girl gives you the signal. Now I know how Batman felt. You would also only ever know that it’s not on someone, unless you were actually in the studio. There was a brief moment, after Anne delivered her part of the news, fifty seconds to be exact, that she whipped out her handheld mirror and lip gloss and fixed herself up a bit. Who would have known that she had the downtime to be able to “touch-up.” It’s behind the scenes where you get the most coverage.

It’s interesting to be able to go behind the scenes, to understand the correlation between news media and public relations. Without the news, and a constant update of what is happening around us, public relations wouldn’t have a place in the world. We, as public relations professionals are constantly trying to build up someone’s reputation by different media outlets, and the news plays a very big part in that. Without coverage, who would notify the public about recent updates and changes in different companies and their prospective?  We rely on the news as much as it relies on us. Two peas in a pod.

The newsroom is a whole other world, and until you walk through the very short corridor, you cannot possibly understand what type of deadline they have. Wake up at 3 am, to be in the station by 4, to deliver the news at 12. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

 

– JB, CGPR intern