The art and carnage of a news scrum
One of the toughest things about my job is a news scrum. For those of you who don’t know what a scrum is, it’s when a pack of journalists swarm an individual of interest shoving their mics and cameras in that persons face. You tend to see them when police are updating the media on the latest homicide, when lawyers praise or bash a judge’s decision, or when the mayor is talking about city council plans.
A scrum is a lot tougher than you think. Reporters do not cordially approach the person we need to interrogate, especially not when we are in large crowds. The bigger the scrum, the bigger the story, and the tougher it is to get tape. It can be an all out shoving match at times, not unlike a small mosh pit.
The whole point of a scrum is to get the best audio/video tape, while throwing as many questions at the person of interest as possible before they walk away or their handlers step in. If your microphone is too far away, your story can be ruined with bad tape or you may not record anything or even hear what this person said. It’s everyone for themselves, with the main goal to get the story and get it right, or face the wrath of the News Director (my boss).
Many scrums are easy and small with little problems but the others can be vicious. The worst scrum I have been in was at the PC leadership convention in Edmonton, when Tories chose the replacement for former premier Ralph Klein. There were journalists from not only across the province, but the whole nation. There were at least 20 different reporters scrambling to get their mics in each scrum around the likes of Ted Morton, Jim Dinning and of course Ed Stelmach. People were shoving each other, stretching out their arms while practically diving over others, cameramen were poking people and getting upset with reporters who got in the way of their shot, and some even taped their mics to cut off hockey sticks and held them over the heads of the other journalists just to get their tape.
It wasn’t pretty. Many people up front had to plant their feet and hold back others who were trying to squeeze through, those in the middle were having trouble breathing because they were squished from all sides, and some at the back of the bunch were giving up and walking away because there was no chance they could get their audio … let alone hear what was going on.
A scrum is all about position; the closer you are the easier you have it. So needless to say when a reporter has a good spot, they hold their ground. Not every scrum is as tough as the PC leadership race, but most seem to have the same problems with a little bit less shoving.
A news scrum is a necessity of my job. Reporters who can’t handle it lose out, and no station wants a journalist who can’t get the tape they need for a story. It’s a tough reality of “the biz” but it’s one you have to deal with and learn how to get your mic in there no mater what.
Some may call it desperation at its finest, with others calling it a sport, but I call it an art form with a lot of carnage left in its wake.