super bowl

Tom Brady, Super Bowl LV, and the stories we could’ve done but didn’t before the pandemic

Remember the days when we used to scoff at a Skype interview?

They really weren’t too long ago. Less than a year, if we’re being specific. And we can be specific, because any video storyteller knows exactly when the rules changed and dictated new ways we’d all be required to do our jobs.

These days, when I turn on my station’s evening newscasts, the majority of interviews are done over Zoom. When I watch some of the most innovative storytellers at stations across the country, I often see a new definition of a two-camera interview. One camera focuses on the reporter facing a computer monitor. The other isn’t even a camera; it’s a screen recorder.

In most cases, these look like limits. I have refused to stow away my camera during the COVID-19 pandemic, preferring to shoot stories and interviews whenever possible, but I recognize the difficulties in doing so. I can’t put a lavaliere mic on my interview subjects, and I can’t get within six feet of another human being. I’m not allowed to shoot stories indoors, which means I’m especially grateful to work where winter temperatures rarely dip below freezing. But rain and wind can hinder a shoot, and I can’t control it.

Yes, there’s plenty we still can’t do.

But I’m constantly reminded, including during Super Bowl coverage this past week, of what we can do – and what we could have done before the pandemic but never did.

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Covering the Super Bowl means staying focused amidst the circus

I landed last night from the Twin Cities wondering how I would answer a frequently asked question:

“What’s it like covering the Super Bowl?”

I never know how to answer, because a week at the Super Bowl brings experiences that seem so detached from each other.

Covering the Super Bowl means arriving in Minneapolis, stopping at the hotel, and driving immediately to the Mall of America. As a tourist I had never felt compelled to visit this seven-stadium-sized monstrosity. On this trip it hosted the main media workspace, so it became a hub of press conferences, interviews, and live shots. I ate six meals there in eight days.

Covering the Super Bowl means developing on-the-fly routines to keep track of equipment. At home I lean on muscle memory; on the road I quickly formed mental checklists so I didn’t lose any of the cameras, microphones, and accessories that filled two checked bags and a carry-on. (I did lose a pair of a headphones, but I have made peace with that.)

Covering the Super Bowl means using public spaces for critical business. I sought shelter at a nearby Starbucks between sub-zero live shots outside US Bank Stadium. I interviewed a major Atlanta official in the lobby of a Doubletree in Minneapolis. Two days later I used the dining room of a Doubletree in St. Paul. And I wrote and edited several stories from the comfort of my hotel bed.

Covering the Super Bowl means having in-the-room access to company heads, billionaires, and even the NFL commissioner … and noticing the force field of PR reps and media relations workers surrounding each one.

Covering the Super Bowl means attending the press conference for Justin Timberlake’s halftime show and realizing the loose definition of “press”. One entertainment reporter led the room in singing “Happy Birthday”. An ensuing entertainment reporter regretted she couldn’t top such a performance. Timberlake took ten questions, none of which posed controversy and all of which seemed pre-screened to prevent it.

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