If you're a broadcast journalist looking to start a computer-assisted reporting program at your station but can't get support from the higher-ups, you're not alone.
"I get an e-mail every day from reporters looking for advice on how to start programs at their stations," says Mike Wendland, author of "Wired Journalist" and CAR reporter at WDIV-TV in Detroit.
Wendland's own experience may benefit those trying to convince news directors of the benefits of computers in the newsroom. Wendland started with equipment he purchased on his own. "If you want to get something going, you just have to make the investment and buy the hardware to start at home. If you wait for someone to allocate the money, you may wait a long time," Wendland says.
Back in 1985 when Wendland started using computers to do stories, it was much harder to convince management to invest in hardware. In recent years, some producers have recognized the benefits of computers and made the top-down push to move number-savvy journalists into the high-tech fray.
Alan Cox at WCCO-TV in Minnesota admits his is an anomaly among broadcast programs. Cox says then news director John Lansing went to a 1993 IRE conference in Raleigh, N.C., and came back convinced computers were going to play a big role in the medium. Cox had done a county-by-county breakdown of state lottery funds in 1990 with Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS and a one-hour Macintosh training course at Kinko's. Lansing sent Cox for training, bought him some hardware, and gave him the luxury of two months free time to play around and learn what he could.
But Cox notes there was a precedent at WCCO. The station had done some of the earlier CAR stories under the direction of Pat Wyland. Cox produced stories right out of the gate and "Computer Center 4" was born. Cox and Wendland offer some specific advice for starting programs: If management is "strongly encouraging" you to embrace CAR, which may mean learn it or leave, Cox recommends getting professional training and as much material as possible. Cox says he came home from conferences with a briefcase full of IRE/NICAR handouts. Both Cox and Wendland agree that if management does not push you onto the dance floor, you need to start moving and shaking on your own. Cox calls it the guerrilla approach: "Do whatever you can to get your hands on the equipment, even if it means going over to accounting and using what they have."
Wendland says a mistake many new CAR reporters make is biting off more than they can chew. He suggests starting small and producing stories to show news directors that investing in computers is in the station's best interest. Cox started out with Internet stories that showed consumers the kinds of services that were available on the 'Net. The hard data stories came later. Wendland and Cox now do complex investigative stories using a variety of databases and software.
Hardware
Despite what many may think, CAR hardware necessary to do most stories can be bought on a reasonable budget. With memory as cheap as it is right now and ultra-fast processors making 486's hard to sell and therefore a potential CAR bargain - a system is definitely within reach. In fact, Cox still uses a 486DX2-66 with 32 mb RAM and two hard drives of a gigabyte each. He says the memory is especially helpful for situations like election night, when he runs a graphics program along with mapping and spreadsheets.
Wendland's shop uses four computers and several laptops for their four-person CAR team. The computers are all Micron units ranging from a Pentium 200 to several 120s. The 200 has two gigs of memory, and Wendland uses a one-gig Iomega Jazz drive and a zip drive for larger jobs. They are all networked to a T-1.
Some hardware purchases are more specialized, such as a nine-track tape machine. However, new operations can get by without it since organizations like NICAR can process nine-track data.
Cox does have his own nine-track machine and some other useful tools, including an SVGA-to-NTSC converter that allows computer video to be put directly on air. Cox also says that after he lost a hard drive and found out how difficult it is to restore backups from nine-track, he got a Travan-style tape unit, which also comes in handy for moving large files from machine to machine.
Cox says his station uses an old 486 outfitted with an extra hard drive on the assignment desk so managers can search the station's databases.
Wendland has seen his CAR program grow to include a reporter, producer, and an associate-producer. Cox says he hopes his program expands with the purchase of some new hardware. Both programs prove that whether your resources are limited or unlimited or whether the initiative comes from you or someone else, you can do quality CAR stories for the broadcast medium.