Channel Grab

摘要

During the Iowa Caucuses, Howard Dean wasn't the only one living a nightmare. As the one-time Democratic frontrunner's presidential hopes flamed out on Jan. 19, Dave Busiek, news director of KCCI-TV Des Moines, was having a bad time, too. His news crews, dispatched to the five candidates' headquarters and to the local party office, had to fight to get reports on the air. The problem was as much technical as journalistic. That's because KCCI and five other TV stations in Des Moines share special channels reserved for news crews that need to beam on-the-scene live reports back to their stations. Although it's little known by the public, each U.S. market has seven of these special channels―dubbed electronic newsgathering (ENG) channels.