Big News: Planning Required

Michael Hedges August 1, 2005

Covering news events can be like a military operation: Broadcasters rush to deploy reporters and crews, deliver supplies, to the right locations at the right times. And then, everything changes as the event unfolds.

Major national and international broadcasting organizations with a high commitment to news event coverage – the BBC, Radio France and Reuters, for example – have contingency plans in place for almost any possibility. Access to resources, perhaps to be used only once, is a challenge for broadcasters of lesser scope.

The first two weeks of April this year were one such period when news directors and their teams had little time for thinking. Within 30 days Pope John Paul II died, Prince Rainier of Monaco died, Britain’s Prince Charles wed and a new Pope elected and installed. Planning was in place. And plans changed.

It had become acceptable in recent years to openly discuss with the Vatican the inevitable news coverage of the Pope’s final days and hours. During Pope John Paul’s 27 year reign over the estimated 1 billion of the world’s Roman Catholics, the Vatican had become as media and technically savvy as any large organized body. And that included Vatican Radio.

Advance and on-site logistics for major news events – in Europe and elsewhere – regularly fall to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). “The operation started about one year ago,” said EBU head of radio news and sports Javier Tola. And the first step was to find reliable broadcast locations for EBU member organizations – Europe’s public service broadcasters – and associate members from farther afield. Broadcasters were questioned at that time about their projected needs in the event of Pope John Paul’s death.

The reality, said Tola, was “double the foreseen scope. From April 1st until April 27th the EBU radio news and sports unit staged its biggest news operation ever.”

“Events got ahead of us,” said US public radio network National Public Radio’s (NPR) director of NPR Worldwide Jeff Rosenberg. “We had a small survey team slated to go to Rome in mid-April to try to make arrangements.

“There had been much discussion with our colleagues at EBU Radio in Geneva about what sort of facilities Vatican Radio would be able to provide for EBU member radio operations when the need arose.  These discussions had dragged on for some months with no resolution, and the feeling was that Vatican Radio was having a difficult time locking down the real estate required to house the EBU members and meet their technical needs.  

“Without a site, of course, lines could not be ordered, and without that advance precaution, there would be little hope of getting our needs met when the crisis actually arrived.  Italian telcoms would simply be too hard pressed to provide us on short notice anything in the way of ISDN, landlines or ADSL.”

Pope John Paul’s medical condition significantly worsened on March 31st. NPR made the decision to immediately send a team of reporters and producers, including Renee Montagne, co-host of NPR’s top rated Morning Edition program. An orientation meeting was planned for Monday, April 4th.

“I was sent in with the earliest team to handle arrangements and to augment the work of Rome correspondent Sylvia Poggioli,” said Rosenberg, who arrived on April 1st. “It looked like the end would come swiftly.”

Vatican Radio secured workspace for NPR and other EBU members at the Aula Paulo VI, the Vatican conference center. EBU’s Tola arrived the morning of Saturday, April 2nd. Equipment arrived by truck from EBU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland the day before. By Saturday afternoon, radio facilities were operational.

“Later that day (Saturday, April 2nd),” said Rosenberg, “we were able to bring in equipment and hook up to the ISDN and phone lines provided. This turned out to be not a moment too soon, as Pope John Paul passed away just before 2200, local Rome time.

Vatican Radio and the EBU provided broadcasters 100 fully outfitted individual workspaces. An extra 10 portable studios were made available on an as-needed basis. All were equipped with ISDN and analogue lines, raw sound and the continuous coverage from Vatican Radio and TV monitors. Vatican Radio’s feed included all official ceremonies and press briefings.

“The space was far better located and much more spacious than we had dreamed possible,” said Rosenberg. “An extra benefit was the pre-existing WiFi broadband internet access throughout the building, with made it unnecessary to hook laptops up to a phone line to stay in touch with home base.  We could use the limited landline phones for actual voice communication.”

Two hundred fifty staff members from 45 radio broadcasters used the EBU/Vatican Radio facilities. Pope John Paul’s funeral and the April 24th inaugration Mass for Pope Benedict were broadcast live, distributed over the EBU/Euroradio satellite network, the first non-music event broadcast over Euroradio.

From the seven Spanish radio broadcasting organizations – the most from any one country – to the tiny Swiss Radio Rumantsch – likely the smallest – broadcasters scrambled to provide as much coverage as possible. Only three were able to broadcast live the report of Pope John Paul’s death, NPR and Spain’s Cadena SER and Cadena COPE.

Interest in Pope John Paul was always understandably high in his native Poland. Commercial radio broadcaster Radio ZET curtailed normal programming, dropped advertising and offered non-stop news and information from Saturday, after the Pope’s death was announced. Coverage was augmented with reports from three correspondents in Rome. Radio ZET, according to spokesperson Magda Kramska, also produced and broadcast a special history of the Pope’s life.  

All broadcasters involved in covering the events in Rome heaped praise on both Vatican Radio and the EBU. “The EBU team met each arrival, from both NPR and the dozens of other ration operations working at the same location, at the nearby gates, and worked credentials magic to make certain the Swiss Guards protecting our filing space would let us inside,” praised Rosenberg. “They were present all day and into the night every night to ensure that the EBU member broadcasters had everything they needed.

“We owe Vatican Radio and the EBU a tremendous vote of thanks for their assistance and their hard work in setting up the facility and providing us with a pleasant and efficient workspace throughout the weeks of coverage.”

“The unprecedented overlapping of three big events,” said Javier Tola, “was a real challenge.”

The EBU truck returned to Geneva April 27th.

Previously published in Radio World International July, 2005 in a slightly different form.

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