Thursday April 19, 2007
Joe Stevens was waiting for a call from CNN to uplink video of West Virginia flooding until a bigger story developed.
Stevens, who runs Charleston-based public relations firm The Media Center, called CNN around lunchtime Monday and told them he had another assignment to tackle -- the Virginia Tech massacre.
CBS had called The Media Center and asked the company to drive to Blacksburg, Va. and provide video and audio content from the Virginia Tech campus to be used on the station's national newscasts.
Stevens, his partner Dan Shreve and freelancer Steve Schmidt hopped in ‘Bubba,' The Media Center's 15-ton satellite uplink truck, and arrived on campus within a few hours.
Stevens said their truck was the sixth or seventh on site Monday afternoon. "When driving down there, I could not fathom being directly involved in this situation," Stevens said about the shooting spree that left 32 people dead. "I could not fathom was what going on in people's minds."
Media from all over the globe began to swarm in on the campus, where more than 29,000 students are enrolled. At one point, Stevens counted 136 satellite uplink trucks and couldn't even estimate how many reporters were there.
On the day of the killings, The Media Center provided CBS with what is called a "beauty shot," which was a brief filming of Virginia Tech with Virginia and American flags flying at half-staff mere hours after the slayings.
The shot led into Katie Couric's newscast on CBS Evening News.
Major networks often contract with outside companies for satellite uplink feeds during a breaking news event.
Stevens said that right after the shootings occurred Monday morning, he expected a phone call from one of the networks. ABC and CNN also called Stevens' firm, but CBS had beaten them to the punch.
CBS provided its own reporters and producers to accompany any footage or live feed The Medic Center got.
The Media Center also captured a prayer vigil Monday night that was used on broadcasts throughout the evening and into the following day.
On Tuesday, Stevens and his crew filmed an interview with Virginia Tech freshman Andrew Wagner of Fayetteville.
The men returned to Charleston late Wednesday, but not before capturing film of students leaving campus for the week.
The three-man team split up their duties. Stevens served as truck operator and producer, handling all satellite uplinks and feeds; Shreve was videographer and Schmidt handled audio.
It was the first major breaking news story handled by The Media Center, which was established a year ago. The company had provided coverage of the Sago Mine hearings for various news outfits.
But for Stevens and his crew, the incident in Blacksburg wasn't just a business opportunity. They couldn't help but feel the grief and sorrow shared by members of that community.
"It's very surreal," said Stevens, 50. "Knowing you've got a job to do in filming a tragedy, of course, your thoughts are with the affected families and students.
"Through interviewing, I learned that talking to a lot of students seemed to serve as a relief valve for them," he said.
Stevens also said he was somewhat surprised by the level of respect shown by reporters who came from all over the globe to cover the story.
"It renewed my confidence in the media community," he said. "They respected their privacy. If a student said he didn't want to be interviewed, there was no pushing them into doing the interview."
Both Stevens and Shreve have been involved in media for many years. Shreve, 48, was once in charge of production at Motion Masters, where he produced hundreds of videos and broadcast documentaries. Shreve said he'd never covered an event of this magnitude.
"It was frantic when we got here," he said. "Satellite trucks were scrambling to get set up. Cables were getting pulled. Meanwhile, producers are running around gathering information and looking for people to interview."
Shreve said a portable cell phone tower had to be brought in because existing towers in the area had been overloaded.
Shreve commends the Virginia Tech community for how it handled the situation.
"They never seemed to get flustered," he said. The crew said the crowds in Blacksburg dwindled quickly over the two days The Media Center spent there.
"It feels ghost-townish," Shreve said Wednesday. "Students are leaving and are, ‘Wow. What has happened here?' They'll come back this weekend and I can't even imagine what Monday will be like when they're back in class."
Contact writer Jake Stump at 348-4842
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