ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF A TELEVISION NEWS CHANNEL
The organizational structure of television channel can broadly be divided into the following three main areas.
–Editorial
–Production
–Technical
Besides these areas there are the other departments which like any other organization exists viz. accounts, administration, marketing, sales, HR etc. However, the above are the three main operational departments.
The position nomenclatures in news channels are not standardized. For instance the job role played by a Producer in one organization may be undertaken by a Director in another and vice-versa.
EDITORIAL
The editorial department consists of Reporters, Researchers, People on the desk, Coordinators, News Editors, News Producers and Anchors.
–Researchers: This is the starting job in the editorial department. Nowadays not many organizations have News Researchers as they expect the Reporter to do his own research. The job involves researching a particular subject so that the Reporter has the background information available when he goes for the coverage.
–Reporters: This is the most popular role in the editorial department. The Reporter covers stories on location. He does the interviews and is the on location director. Once back he scripts the story and gets it edited.
–Desk: The people on the desk have a varied set of roles. One is to keep themselves abreast about what is happening all over the world the other is to check scripts of Reporters for grammatical and factual errors. Also they ensure that no important story is left out.
–News Coordinator: Another crucial area in a newsroom is that of the News Coordinator. He not only keeps himself abreast of what is happening all over the country but is also in touch with all his correspondents and stringers on the field. At any point of time he knows what his correspondents are doing.
–Editors: There are mainly two kinds of Editors; Input and Output editors. The input ones decide what news items or stories are to be followed whereas the output ones decide which stories are to be carried in the bulletin ( amongst the stories being covered). In some organizations the desk consists of just input editors, output editors and producers.
–News Producers: These people help the output editor in executing his decisions. Sometimes the output editor and producer is the same person. The main role of the editorial producer is to command the bulletin’s run-order. The run-order is the order in which stories are to be carried in the bulletin. It also gives information about the news story format and its readiness. Today newsroom automation software are available which make the process easy.
–Anchors: Also called presenters or hosts. These are people who come in front of the camera and introduce a news item. Earlier these people were called News Readers but this nomenclature has changed with the roles of anchors changing over the years. Nowadays all anchors are expected to be journalists and not just read news. Hence they are also expected to interview and cross question guests in the studio.
PRODUCTION
– Director / Producer: The production unit is headed by the Director. He decides the look and feel of the programme and eventually executes what has been finalized on paper by the News Producer. In some channel this person is called the producer of the show. He also has the task of controlling the Production Control Room (or PCR) when the news is being compiled.
–Graphics: The graphics department makes all the graphics and fires them at the right time under the guidance of the director.
–Lighting Directors: They light the studio based on the Director’s instructions.
–Assistant Producers: These people assist the director in his work. The work could range from compiling the story sent by a stringer, news agency or keep stories ready for telecast or run the Autocue machine. Autocue machines are computers with a see through screen at one side. The camera can see through and focus on the anchor whereas the anchor can see a computer screen and read the news.
–Production Assistants: Junior assistant producers are called Production Assistants.
TECHNICAL
–Cameramen: They operate the camera both on location and in studios.
–Sound Recordists: They record and control sound levels on location and in studios.
–Video Editors: These people edit the footage available as per a script.
–Lightmen: They are junior level staff who actually light up a place.
–Vision Mixers: They are online editors who cut from one camera to another Or from a camera to a Video Recorder based on the Director’s instructions. They work with a series of monitors which are available with him on location. The Vision Mixing Console is a machine which makes this possible for the Vision Mixer.
–CCU Operators: Camera Control Unit Operators match the various cameras in a studio. Unmatched cameras will make a programme look unprofessional with different cameras showing different colour and light balance.
–Maintenance Engineers: They maintain all the equipment
–MCR / VSAT operators: Master Control Room or MCR sends the completed programme signals to the earth station from which they are sent to the satellite. They also control the signals coming from other studios and OB Vans (Outside Broadcast Vans)
–Computer Engineers: Nowadays the entire operations in a newsroom are automated hence computer engineers are a part and parcel of any news team.