Setting up a Media Village on the National Mall

By Dean’s Intern Sophia Myszkowski at CBS Evening News

Sophia (left) sitting in for Charlie Rose on the National Mall in the CBS News Studio

The second week of my internship the 45th President of the United States was inaugurated. The Evening News, CBS This Morning and CBSN (CBS News’ online streaming service), all normally broadcasted from New York, would set up shop throughout DC for the week leading up to Saturday. After a whirlwind first week at the Evening News I agreed to help out as a ‘runner’ for CBSN’ live broadcasts out of the media village on the National Mall.

Throughout the week I assisted producers in preparing the studio for anchors and guests. The most surreal experience I had that week was on Friday as producers

for CBS This Morning did a “look-see” for the next day’s live broadcast of the inauguration. CTM and CBSN shared a studio space in the media village where their neighbors — CNN, FOX and NBC — all built studios into a temporary, two-story tent at the end of the National Mall. A “look-see” is where on-set directors and producers broadcast camera angles and lighting for their counterparts in New York to see and approve in preparation for a live show. I was a stand-in for Charlie Rose as directors figured out where the CTM anchor should sit and rehearsed their camera movements.