Breaking news! It’s all in the planning

Written by Head of STORY Studio Tom Lowe, who has worked in TV newsrooms across London, Scotland and the Midlands for more than 20 years.

Having worked for more than 20 years in television newsrooms, I still love a big breaking news story. 

After news editing and producing at ITN, leading on newsgathering for STV and planning for ITV News, I still can’t help getting engrossed as a story unfolds.  

I loved all my roles. Whether it was out on location at home or abroad, running a busy newsdesk or producing undercover investigative reports – I loved the cut and thrust of on the day news.  But planning was always where I felt most at home. 

It is also the chair I still find myself sitting in mentally whenever a big story breaks. How would I react? How would I follow up the next day, week, month? 

Keeping across developments and making sure we were prepared to respond kept me up at night – in a good way. 

We now have a new PM, a new cabinet and are firmly in those important first days where impressions count.

But for many, many weeks the story of a potential challenge to Starmer’s leadership dominated. Politics can always be relied on for drama. 

Would Wes Streeting fire the starting gun? Who else would step forward? Would Starmer accept his fate or would he fight on? 

To most people, it looks like a story driven entirely by events as they happen. One twist follows another and newsrooms react in real time to the political version of a soap opera. 

But that’s only half the story.

A good planning desk provides a stable platform that allows the day team to react quickly and confidently.

Where will the main players be first thing? Do we need an early morning doorstep as they leave home? Can we cover everyone ourselves or should we organise a pool with other broadcasters? Have the interview requests gone in? Do we have the right contacts? Which political voices, experts and commentators do we need to line up? What events are scheduled for the next day and what does the  PM’s diary look like?

Then there’s the public reaction.

Where do we go to take the temperature of the country? Which constituency tells the story best? Do we need to hear from a struggling local business, a community organisation, someone looking for work, or lifelong Labour voters considering switching allegiance?

Every element has to be thought through, discussed, actioned and handed over clearly with crews booked, briefs written and everyone knowing exactly what success looks like before the day even begins.

Planning teams are judged on the biggest stories and how teams are organised to cover them. But they are also judged on how available other content is when the main story you bank on doesn’t quite provide. 

What pre-planned, edited, ready to go news feature can suddenly be slotted in at the last minute? Is there an alternative lead story with all the elements ready to create something that can lead a running order?

And what resources does the on-the-day news editor have to react to other strong news stories that might break? 

When the coverage is comprehensive, every key moment is captured and the newsroom feels like it’s one step ahead, you know that’s because the planning was right.

It is a planner’s job to provide the structure and organisation that sets up every newsroom for success. 

As they say – and I heard this almost daily –  it’s all in the planning.