The ATVN shots farthest away from campus in this time frame were from reporters covering the NFL Combine in Indiana and the Iowa Caucuses.
While most people are likely familiar with seeing live reporters on TV, the origins of live reporting are in radio. According to the FCC, the very first commercial radio broadcast in November 2, 1920 aired the live results of that year’s presidential election, when Warren Harding beat out James Cox.
As live reports developed, they came to include everything from sporting play-by-plays to the latest current events. USC Journalism professor Joe Saltzman explained how being able to hear live audio helped people connect with what was happening thousands of miles away.
“People were listening to their radio and hearing astounding things, like the Hindenburg crash,” Saltzman said. “They could hear this wonderful newscaster describing exactly what was going on with all of his emotions intact. So he was saying, ‘Oh my God…it's going up in smoke!’”
During World War II, live radio correspondents like Edward R. Murrow were able to capture the sounds of war from Europe to broadcast to American audiences at home.
“During the Blitz in World War II, [he was] standing on top of a building while German planes were bombing London. That was amazing. Millions of Americans listened in,” Saltzman said. “As he was talking you could hear the bombs, and he would occasionally hold the microphone up and shut up.”
While radio reporting was impactful, technology did not stop there. Once cameras were light enough to be sent into the field, the recognizable images of reporters standing on the scene of a story began to emerge.
“The mentality was, the viewer wants the news. Viewer wants to see the reporter in action,” Saltzman said. “The more we believe what they're saying, the more we understand the story.”
According to Saltzman, a pivotal moment in cementing the importance of live television was the death of Kathy Fiscus in 1949. The 3-year-old girl from San Marino, California fell down an abandoned well shaft, and KTLA news crews broadcasted attempts to rescue her across the nation.
“There weren't many TV sets then, but everybody was glued to whatever they were. I remember people standing in front of the department store looking at a screen,” Saltzman said. “Unfortunately, the little girl didn't make it, and the whole country groaned.”
The ability for live broadcasts to bring people together has persisted even as technology and reporting techniques have advanced. Michael Gribbon, a producer-in-residence at KGW-TV and former ATVN executive producer, still remembers the effect that live coverage of Black Lives Matter protests had in 2020.
“News organizations covering those live across the country were [doing] some of the most impactful journalism that's happened for years because they were there,” Gribbon said. “They were there in the moment. They were witnessing things happen.”
Like other ATVN producers, Gribbon put effort into selecting the most relevant live shots possible for his shows. He felt the most important part was showing reporters actually in communities and speaking with people instead of staying in the newsroom.
“When you're actively at an event or at a situation, that's when people's adrenaline and emotions are the highest, and that often gives the best answers, the best responses [and] the best interviews,” Gribbon said.
Since graduating from Annenberg and working at a professional news station, Gribbon noticed the factors that influenced whether or not a live shot was possible had changed. He shared that not being able to predict what someone would say on air, or if they would swear, is a larger issue at a station.
“There's a lot more stakes when it comes to live ‘on-the-air’ TV, because there's so many rules,” Gribbon said. “[Live interviews] are more fun, more engaging, more playful…rather than more serious things, because there's just more stakes at play.”
Despite the challenges that come with being live, for Malcolm Caminero, an ATVN reporter and junior journalism student at USC, the unpredictability is a highlight of the job.
“Even with the amount of live shots I've done so far, I still get this rush right as the producer, whoever it may be for the day, is counting down, ‘3-2-1, you're on,’” Caminero said. “Every single time, without fail.”
While what happens in a live shot might be spontaneous, they are only made possible through extensive planning. Multiple producers, writers and editors have worked on a story by the time a live reporter goes out. Even then, reporters and TVU operators, who set up the camera and lighting, need to arrive early to resolve technical issues.
Because of this, live teams usually have time to get familiar with their script, story, location and potential interviews before they are live on air. However, that is not always possible when it comes to breaking news.
On April 24, students organized a pro-Palestinian encampment at USC’s Alumni Park. Hundreds gathered as protesters, DPS and LAPD filled the middle of campus. Caminero was one of the anchors scheduled for that day’s broadcast.
“It's kind of ingrained in my memory…having a few minutes to get down a quick timeline, and they're like, ‘We're gonna go live. We don't know for how long, just start talking…and report on what you see,’” Caminero said.
With USC being the latest in a series of encampments and protests taking place on college campuses across the country at the time, Annenberg Media was not alone in reporting on the story. Local and national stations, complete with trucks and crews, were on the scene too.
“I recall being next to proper ABC reporters and KTLA folks and some ABC-7 folks for the flagship L.A. station, and they were shoulder-to-shoulder with me. And I'm like… I just got out of math lab 10 minutes ago. I can't believe I'm doing the same thing,” Caminero said.
Being student reporters who were allowed to be on campus when entrances were closed off meant Annenberg Media had more access to the protests as the situation evolved.
“We were one of the only people, the only news organizations, that could be on campus live during the first few [days] when everything shut down, and that gives such a unique lens, a unique perspective,” Gribbon said.
USC reporters would continue their live coverage of encampments through early May, broadcasting through Instagram Live to ensure coverage would continue through the early hours of the night.
Even while using tools as accessible as a phone and an Instagram account, which have made it easier for people everywhere to be a part of covering their own communities, live coverage is still not easy.
“What makes a good live reporter is somebody who can look at all of the things happening around them, and sum it up in clear, precise terms, which are accurate and fair,” said Saltzman. “That's a real skill…I don't care how good a journalist you are, that's really hard.”
No matter the platform they are on, the technology they are using, or the topic they are covering, teams doing live reporting all have fundamentally the same goal. It has been the same since back when there was just radio: to show the public what is happening, as it happens.
