Wednesday morning and we were back in New York again with a fantastically empty week stretching ahead of us. I lazed around Jess and Brian’s Latino neighbourhood of Jackson Heights while C honed her Carrie Bradshaw skills, lunching with Abigail and shopping all afternoon.
On Thursday, we left our generous and long-suffering hosts - thank you so much J&B!! - and decamped to the Hilton in Times Square, in the heart of the midtown buzz, courtesy of C’s airmiles.
Hopping into a yellow taxi cab, we went to Columbus Circle, HQ of the Time Warner empire and the CNN studios. Colleague Yana’s husband, Richard Morris, works there as a producer and had offered to show us around, an irresistible offer for both of us, especially as C’s new job in September might see her in front of TV cameras again.
Richard works for a daily current affairs talk show hosted by Campbell Brown, America’s female answer to Jeremy Paxman. In a very informative tour, Richard talked us through the production cycle for each one-hour show, from brainstorming topics, booking guests, morning editorial calls to live filming. A hot topic was whether the news station should broadcast videos of Iranian election riots, such as mobile phone footage of a woman shot by security forces. Apparently, CNN initially broadcast the clip, but after an urgent debate about verification and the risk of manipulation, decided not to show it again. It was a fascinating glimpse into editorial life in TV, where technology and reach are so different from the print world.
We visited the news studio with its famous touch screen where election results come through, Larry King’s studio (above), an editing booth and the control room. This high-tech bunker – which Richard saved for the end - is where the team of producers and directors edit the show as it goes out, directing and mixing camera shots, adding music and graphics, and counting in ad breaks with scientific precision. It is a dark room with rows of swivel chairs facing a wall made entirely of TV screens. Each seat has a flashing panel of switches, a bit like a flight deck. The room was empty when we went in, but you could still feel the adrenalin.
We emerged into the sunlight – many thanks to Richard for sparing his time – and headed to Greenwich village for my highlight of the week so far, a crawl of NY bars and beers! News of Michael Jackson’s collapse broke as we arrived in the first bar, triggering the first of many unprintable jokes from Jeff (surfer dude we met in Cambodia), Daryl (from Euromoney days, now at Pearson) and Charles. Strangely, I cannot remember too much more after ...
On Thursday, we left our generous and long-suffering hosts - thank you so much J&B!! - and decamped to the Hilton in Times Square, in the heart of the midtown buzz, courtesy of C’s airmiles.
Hopping into a yellow taxi cab, we went to Columbus Circle, HQ of the Time Warner empire and the CNN studios. Colleague Yana’s husband, Richard Morris, works there as a producer and had offered to show us around, an irresistible offer for both of us, especially as C’s new job in September might see her in front of TV cameras again.
Richard works for a daily current affairs talk show hosted by Campbell Brown, America’s female answer to Jeremy Paxman. In a very informative tour, Richard talked us through the production cycle for each one-hour show, from brainstorming topics, booking guests, morning editorial calls to live filming. A hot topic was whether the news station should broadcast videos of Iranian election riots, such as mobile phone footage of a woman shot by security forces. Apparently, CNN initially broadcast the clip, but after an urgent debate about verification and the risk of manipulation, decided not to show it again. It was a fascinating glimpse into editorial life in TV, where technology and reach are so different from the print world.
We visited the news studio with its famous touch screen where election results come through, Larry King’s studio (above), an editing booth and the control room. This high-tech bunker – which Richard saved for the end - is where the team of producers and directors edit the show as it goes out, directing and mixing camera shots, adding music and graphics, and counting in ad breaks with scientific precision. It is a dark room with rows of swivel chairs facing a wall made entirely of TV screens. Each seat has a flashing panel of switches, a bit like a flight deck. The room was empty when we went in, but you could still feel the adrenalin.
We emerged into the sunlight – many thanks to Richard for sparing his time – and headed to Greenwich village for my highlight of the week so far, a crawl of NY bars and beers! News of Michael Jackson’s collapse broke as we arrived in the first bar, triggering the first of many unprintable jokes from Jeff (surfer dude we met in Cambodia), Daryl (from Euromoney days, now at Pearson) and Charles. Strangely, I cannot remember too much more after ...
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