FSN REPORTERS BLOG - NEWS COVERAGE AND ANALYSIS

How To Report The News

This is scarily accurate.

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Obama prepares for first State of the Union

As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address on Wednesday evening, FSN has been filming a series of interviews for Politico with some of the top players in his administration. Click here to watch the series, called "Inside Obama's Washington," including interviews with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.  

FSN will also be providing full coverage of the prime-time speech for our radio and tv clients around the world. He's expected to focus on the economy and job creation, as well as unveil details of a three-year partial spending freeze, aimed at reducing the country's 1.4 trillion dollar budget deficit.

Click here to watch an interview he gave to ABC's Diane Sawyer, in which he offered some insight into what he plans to say, and looks back at his first year in office. He acknowledges making a "mistake" in the process to reform healthcare, and said he'd rather be a "really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president."

Kate Moody, Washington DC

FSN/Newsleader Broadcast Journalism Weekender - Expert training and one to one coaching

Justin Kings of newsleader media consultancy and FSN have just launched 'The Broadcast Journalism Weekender', a chance to gain expert training and one to one coaching in broadcast journalism.

All the details are at the above link, but the weekender, in short, is:

• A chance to learn from award winning international broadcasters.
• Get armed with practical tips from journalists with more than 40 years combined experience.
• Receive one to one coaching and leave with a polished CV and television reporter two-way or radio news bulletin read.
• Based at Feature Story News’ studio in the heart of Soho in London’s west end.

Olly Barratt - UK correspondent

Death, then life in Port-au-Prince

FSN's Nathan King is in Haiti for France 24, while Malcolm Brown is also working with the PBS NewsHour and Ray Suarez.

Nathan emailed me his observations. -- Priscilla Huff in Washington

Dateline: Port-au-Prince Haiti.

The first thing that hits you as you arrive in Port-au-Prince is the sheer scale of the devastation.  Building after building has been flattened as if the air has been taken out them.  The national palace looks like a wedding cake disaster on an epic scale, but as the days wear on, it is the smaller disasters that hit you. The long lines at shuttered supermarkets and the desperate people at money-transfer offices - waiting for checks sent from relatives abroad. 

And then there is the stink of the dead.  Yes, it is the smell of chicken livers and perfume and it is on every street corner, every block and it pulls at your throat and stomach. Some bodies are bloodied and bloated.  The air inside has expanded to create a gross caricature where life once was.  The main cemetery here is also damaged. The ornate mausoleums that rival those of New Orleans or Buenos Aires are reduced the rubble by the quake.  Even the dead have been disturbed.  Skulls line the pathways, coffins are cracked open - not that anyone is coming here. A sign at the gate reads "plein," French for full. 

After the cemetery I felt drained exhausted, mortal. But as the day had started with death, it ended with life. News that just hours after the Haitian authorities called off the rescue effort, a 23-year-old man was found alive in the rubble. He can thank his brother who came to the hotel where he was buried  for 11 days. Bulldozers had already started tearing down the neighborhood, but perseverance prevailed and the French and Greek teams that pulled him out.  Everyone crumpled in tears and hugs after the rescued.  

I know it is only one life. But in this city where death hangs like a gloomy dark cloud in a cloudless sky, the  rescue of Wismonds was a ray of sunshine.  And as I held tight on the back of the motorbike speeding to the hotel where we are editing the story as I write this email to my colleagues back in the US, I knew that when the sun comes up Port-au-Prince will feel a little brighter, at least for a moment.

--Nathan King in Port-au-Prince

WATCH: Earthquake survivor pulled from Haiti rubble after 11 days

FSN currently has two correspondents in Haiti covering the earthquake relief effort for our international broadcast clients.

One of them, Nathan King, spoke live to France 24 as news broke that Wismond Exantus had been pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed hotel, eleven days after Haiti's devastating earthquake.

You can hear Nathan's reporting, and watch video of the rescue, here.

Olly Barratt - UK correspondent

AUDIO: FSN reports on relief efforts in Haiti, Dominican Republic

Rescue teams in Port-au-Prince are winding down their search for survivors of last week's earthquake, and focusing instead on rescue and long-term relief efforts.

The government has announced plans to send 400,000 people to tented cities in the countryside, while many Haitians try to leave the capital on their own.

Many of them are heading across the border to the Dominican Republic, where international aid teams have set up medical facilities. FSN's Malcolm Brown has been visiting the makeshift hospitals in the border town of Jimani...click here to listen as he describes what he's seen so far.

Kate Moody, Washington DC

FSN now in Haiti

Feature Story News now has reporters arriving in Haiti.

One week on, the rescue and recovery efforts seem even more daunting, reports Nathan King, who arrived after an all-night drive from the Dominican Republic.

He spent part of the day outside a bus stop in Port-au-Prince where everyone, from tiny babies to pregnant mothers, were piling onto coaches, trying to leave the city.

Malcolm Brown is travelling with Ray Suarez and the PBS NewsHour. 

Interestingly, Noam Scheiber argues in The New Republic that there are too many reporters in Haiti. And yet, every single person has a compelling story to tell of their experience. Fewer reporters means fewer stories told of this enormous tragedy.

--Priscilla Huff, Washington Bureau.

BBC to hand Met Office weather contract to New Zealand firm Metra?

Following yesterday's reports that the BBC is putting its weather forecasting contract out to tender, and is in talks with New Zealand firm Metra, I filed a radio package on the story for FSN client Radio New Zealand.

You can listen to my piece here.

Olly Barratt - UK correspondent

Newshour report on Haiti relief efforts in the US

FSN reporters have been pivotal in gathering material on Haiti for various clients worldwide. Here is a report from Ray Suarez in New York which uses various elements shot by our correspondents - Steve Mort - US Correspondent

FSN covers reaction to the Haiti disaster

FSN has been covering reaction in the United States to the devastating events in Haiti. Here is my piece for Voice of America:

US Correspondent - Steve Mort