Melissa Tussing/MNS
Reporters listen to Presidents Barack Obama and Felipe Calderón during their joint press conference in the Rose Garden.
Medill News Service reporters Abby Sewell, Kelsey Snell and I had the privilege of covering the visit of Mexican president Felipe Calderón to the White House last Wednesday. There was an arrival ceremony in the morning and a press conference later that day.
Below is what I learned about covering an event at the White House.
Credentialing:
– Keep an eye out on the White House Press Office listserv: Yes, they send you plenty of e-mails, detailing the president’s activities that day and the pool reports. But once in awhile, they’ll send out an open press alert. When this happens, you need to make sure you send your credentials before the deadline.
– Be patient to hear if you’ve been credentialed: The press office originally said we would find out at noon if we were credentialed for the event, but we received the e-mail around 5 p.m. that day.
Getting there:
– Security: Start off at the northwest gate and announce your name when it’s your turn. Have your driver’s license or passport handy so you can hand it to the security officer quickly, get your press pass and go through the metal detector.
– The essentials: Once you get into the briefing room, you can set your stuff down in a chair and wait until the final gather. Walk away from Robert Gibb’s podium and toward the cameras and you’ll see a hallway where many reporters have their desks. Keep going and you’ll find the bathrooms and vending machines (both very important).
– Don’t know where to go? Start off at the briefing room, and ask someone. Also, White House press officials will give you a five-minute warning before the final gather outside, so make sure you don’t miss it.
Getting set up:
– To bring your bags, or not? Most broadcasters don’t bring their camera and tripod bags out with them to the press riser, but I brought out both bags with me. Just make sure they aren’t in anyone’s way. Sticking the bags underneath the tripod seems to work well.
– Find a spot at the end of a riser, if possible: It gives a great 180-degree access where you can get action shots of the main event and also reaction shots from the crowd. If you’re in another riser spot, other cameras will be in your way unless you take the camera off the tripod. And if a CBS reporter asks you to switch with him so he can be on the end, politely say no (learned that one the hard way).
– Watch out for the guys with the flags: During the arrival of a foreign dignitary, members of the armed forces line up in the front of the press riser with flags that block out the view of one side of the riser. They eventually bring the flags down so you can see, but the flags were blocking my camera when the Mexican president arrived.
– Be nice to your fellow reporters:When said flags blocked my view, a CNN sound technician let me park my camera in front of him to get the shot I needed. And later at the afternoon press conference, my two extension cords couldn’t reach the English-only mult box on the either side of the riser. Another reporter lent me his. He also shared a bear claw pastry with me. Make friends and return the favor if someone is kind to you!
Shooting:
– Mult boxes: For the press conference, there was a Spanish-only mult box, an English-only mult box and a program mult box. The program mult box had the entire conference minus the translations. Make sure you’re plugged into the right mult box so you don’t end up with a Spanish translation when you want Obama in English.
– Using one camera: You need the audio of the speeches, but you also need cutaways. So listen for good sound bites and resist the urge to change a shot mid-sentence. Then, when you have a sound bite you know you can use, you can change your shot. Also take advantage of points when reporters are asking questions to change up your shot. Keep a good wide shot and shots of other cameras and the presidents listening to one another.
– Budget your camera memory space: You have 69 minutes of time on your memory card, so make sure you get the shots you need and enough space to cover any events happening later. If you need to, borrow another memory card.
Other tips:
– Shooting a standup in front of the White House: People will stare at you. They will also take photos of you. It’s because they think you’re really cool and professional because you are wearing a suit jacket and are holding a microphone. Just try to stay focused. Also check to make sure no one is doing something goofy behind you.
– Transcripts: The White House Press Office releases transcripts of the president, which means logging is accelerated. Make sure to check the quote before you put it in your script, but look for quotes in the transcript that you’d like to use and see if you got it on video.
Write your script, track, add broll and you’ve got a full package from a White House event!