From John Holcomb: The News On 6 Process For Reporting Breaking News

Things appear to have calmed down quite a bit since the OSU-Mike Gundy situation was resolved.

After a board of regents special meeting and an executive session led to the discussions between Gundy and OSU President Dr. Kayse Shrum, athletic director Chad Weiberg, and the new agreement, Gundy remains the head coach of Cowboy football.

Related: Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Reach Agreement On Restructured Contract

New staff members are now in place and the search for more talent from the transfer portal continues.

It’s worth sharing our (News On 6) process when it comes to breaking news. The race to be first, while always a main goal, shouldn’t be at the expense of being right. 

Just throwing something out there based on speculation and a gut feeling is a recipe for eroding credibility. While some really good and respected journalists in this state were also chasing the story, others jumped out front to be first, and in most cases they were wrong. 

We value our trust and credibility with our viewers over beating our competitors. In our standard operating practices manual one of our values is as follows:

“Our sense of urgency is not to beat our competitors. Our sense of urgency is to serve our viewers and to get truthful information to them as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The ultimate win? Getting the story right AND being first with the information.

Sources play a critical role in helping navigate stories like the one involving OSU.

It takes time to develop relationships with people, there needs to be trust on both sides and clear communication. During the race for the big story, we checked with numerous sources several times, circling back with some when we heard differing information.

Again, our main goal is to get the story right, and the correct information out to viewers, listeners and readers as soon as possible. With the vast amount of social media and digital reporting these days, being RIGHT is more important than ever.

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