What's in it for the viewers?

"What's in it for the viewers?"
That's the question you need to have answered before you leave the station to shoot the story. What's not going to work? A press release saying that a public hearing will be held somewhere about something at sometime. The "about" factor needs to be very clear. That's what's going to decide if a story is worth pursuing or not.

I was assigned to cover a public hearing about the weatherization program, a program which helps to reduce low-income families energy bills by making their homes more energy-efficient. The press release? lengthy. But basically it tells nothing but the topic of the hearing. So I was supposed to go to the hearing and find some information from it to get some B-roll. So I drove about half an hour to Jefferson City, the venue is nearby the Capitol. To my surprise, the theme of the day is to evaluate new budget plans.
Different parties get the chance to talk to address their concern about the budget plans, most of them are administrative matters.

It was very confusing to figure out what they were talking about at the beginning, but after I talked to some people, I managed to find the gist of it.

But also, after I talked to some people, I realize zero chances of getting B-roll. First of all, these people aren't exactly located in our viewing area although I finally found someone who's local. So I got the contact for our local community service agency only to find out that they wouldn't release any third party information without the approval of their director, which wasn't in at that day. I ended up calling about 10 different construction companies asking them if they're currently involved in any weatherization projects. Nada.

Somewhere in the middle of this cataclysmic chronology, I called my producer a few times just to let her know about my situation. But hey, producers are pretty persistent people. So at the end she turned my story into a VO/SOT instead of a package due to the non-existence of B-roll beside the one taken in the public hearing.

The moral of the story? Make sure ahead that the story has something in it for the viewers. Double check before leaving the station for the newsworthiness of the story.