From Out There To On Air: Geo-Caching
When a segment appears on the news about a subject you'd never heard of, featuring people you've never seen, a question that often pops up is: where did they hear about that story? How did they find that guy?
So, we decided that it might be interesting every now and then to find out where those more unique stories come from and how they got from out there … to on- air. Hence the title (catchy, no?)
To begin, we caught an interesting story on the "Evening News" Monday night that we hadn't seen anywhere else. It came from Los Angeles-based correspondent Sandra Hughes and it introduced a new term into our vocabulary: geo-caching.
What, you ask, is geo-caching? You can read about it here, or you can watch the segment on the video player below.
Video: I asked Hughes how she heard about the trend. She told me that a feature in the Los Angeles Times sparked the interest of L.A. producer Barbara Pierce, who discussed it with Hughes and the two pitched it to the "Evening News." "When it's a story we generate ourselves," and not one that's been assigned, Hughes told me, "we pitch it to the fishbowl [the executive producer and senior producers in New York] and they gave this the green light." From there, Hughes and Pierce contacted some of the people mentioned in the L.A. Times article, who led them to more "geo-catchers."
The challenge then became choosing who would end up in the final product, since the limits of a 22-minute newscast meant that not everyone they interviewed could appear in the segment. "We didn't have time to include a wonderful energetic guy who is fourth in the world for the number of caches he has found," said Hughes. "There's also a wonderful retiree who delights in making caches that are nearly impossible to find—for example, items hidden inside acorns that he has designed with screw top caps … items hidden inside hollowed-out logs." Ultimately, said Hughes: "We settled on an enthusiastic mom with young children and a couple in their 80s to show how this appeals to a wide range of ages."
They completed the story "awhile back," said Hughes, "but we pegged it for spring, since it would be nice weather and people would be getting outside." Hughes also liked the idea that it offered an alternative for children to more indoor-oriented activities like the computer or video games. "But it also has that tech component, which makes it exciting," she said. "I have three children and they were riveted. Now they want the GPS and they want to join the club and go hiking."
One other highlight of the story, said Hughes: "Everyone we contacted was delighted to help us and happy to be part of the story about the hobby they love."