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Headline News

In the hot seat

By Eve Kofsky
CNN Headline News

CNN Headline News directors
CNN Headline News directors

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(CNN) -- Pressure packed moments, confusion, 17 cameras, incoming routers, breaking news, lost live shots, missing scripts, jammed printers, hundreds of monitors, producers on the edge, the clock ticking.

Welcome to another day in the life of a CNN Headline News director. Each show is only 30 minutes long, but you never can be sure what will happen. It can be exhilarating and rewarding, it can also be an exercise in frustration, followed by endless second-guessing.

Decisions must be made in an instant. You use your years of experience and you react. If you guess wrong -- it's off the satellite, it's done. Redemption can come in the next show, the next time -- but in live television news, there are no second chances.

In TV we live in a world of deadlines, time cues and constant pressure. Some of us thrive on these conditions and welcome the challenge. We try to prepare for anything that can happen, but who can prepare for the Challenger exploding shortly after takeoff? How can you be prepared for 9/11? You cannot, and at those times we rely on our instincts and the team working with us to come together and make good television.

For me to direct the shows, I must rely on my technical team in the control room, the anchors, as well as the editorial staff. If anyone screws up, or if equipment fails -- we resort to damage control. How can we work around the situation? How can we get the best possible product on the air? We strive to put the news on the air correctly, to make it look pretty and to do this in a timely fashion.

Ultimately, I have to answer for the good, the bad and the ugly. As a director, I must quickly filter through all the information available and make the call based on what the producers want, what I know, and what I think I can pull off in the time frame available -- there is rarely time to talk about it.

As directors, we are used to the pressure. It is a normal part of our day. Fortunately, not all shows contain breaking news and not all shows become juggling acts.

Mixed with the insanity of live television, we can often rely on (and enjoy) the routine of a show that hits air exactly as it is scripted, with no surprises, no glitches, no errors and no regrets. We just try not to ever allow those shows to lull us into a false sense of security!

The only thing we can be sure of is that in the control room, when we are live, we can never relax and be too sure of anything!


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