Debate Brings Out News Contingents
BOCA RATON (CBS4) - The presidential debate at Lynn University brought out more than 3,500 journalists to Boca Raton, including a large contingent from CBS4 News.
The CBS4 News team turned a tent into a newsroom and it was filled with plenty of staffers from our Doral newsroom.
"We have everything here," explained CBS4 Executive Producer of Special Projects Cari Hernandez, "ranging from technical, operations managers, our it person, we have our studio production people, our producers, we have field producers, make-up and our anchors, obviously our talent."
And how do we get it on the air?? We had two trucks that were feeding out video, getting it from Boca Raton to your living room. That means miles and miles of cable is strewn all over the place. We also have a large remote studio, set up on the back of an expanded flatbed truck. It has nearly every comfort of home.
"This is pretty much what we have in our studio in Doral," explained CBS4 anchor Eliott Rodriguez. "We've got three cameras, with telepromoter, we've got lighting like in our studio and our staff has done a great job putting together this set."
We're not alone with a great studio on the road. Our neighbor at Lynn University was CBS News with Scott Pelley, where he will anchor the debate coverage tonight. CBS4 caught up with him and he said all the technical preparation is great, but you have to be prepared journalistically to pull it all off.
"We do a lot of research before something like this," explains Pelley. "We have our correspondents who have been with the candidates for months, know everything there is to know about them."
It's a lot of work for everyone covering this and a lot of chaos, but it's something we wouldn't trade for a second.
"This is super exciting," said Hernandez. "I mean these are the kind of moments that we as journalists live for."
