Outside of the daily newsroom grind, another meeting of reporters’ minds occurred Tuesday at Little Rock's NBC affiliate — this one devoted solely to tying up loose ends for coverage of the Summer Olympic Games among Nexstar stations.
For the four Nexstar-affiliated reporters, including KARK 4 Today co-anchor Aaron Nolan, preparing to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the meeting at KARK-TV was the last formal gathering planned ahead of the games and solidified as much as possible the production schedule for live segments and taped programming.
“We can plan all we want, and it will fly out the window when we get there,” said Lisa Brence, assistant news director at northwest Arkansas NBC affiliate KNWA-TV. “It’s like any normal breaking news. It’s just breaking news happening all day, every day in a foreign country.”
Concerns over the Zika mosquito-borne virus and security as well as how to report on such issues while in South America were also central to the conversation.
Brence, who will be overseeing Nexstar's Olympics coverage remotely in the U.S., said the team has been in frequent communication with NBC's corporate officials over the necessity of bug spray and mosquito nets at Rio hotels.
Still, the probability of travelers contracting the virus while in Rio is low, according to a report Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Next month’s Summer Olympic Games come during Brazil’s winter season, when cooler and drier weather reduces the number of mosquitos and in turn the spread of Zika, according to officials.
One of the out-of-state reporters initially set to cover the Olympics with the Nexstar team backed out the day before NBC credentials were due after learning that she was pregnant, according to KARK News Director Austin Kellerman.
"We all supported that decision entirely," he said, referencing data that show pregnant women face the greatest risk for complications if they contract the Zika virus.
Nolan, who will provide on-location Olympics coverage for the Little Rock station as well as its affiliates, said Zika hasn't been on his mind, though security has been a concern. The three-and-a-half-week trip marks his first time covering the international spectacle.
"I don't know what it's going to be like there. I do know that once I am there in the confines of the Olympic village, I'm going to be as safe as I possibly can be," said Nolan, who is married to KARK weekday evening co-anchor Ashley Ketz. "With two small children, my responsibility is a little different than when I was a young reporter."
Other reporters set to cover the Olympics for Nexstar stations are Andrew Marden of KSEE-TV in Fresno, Calif.; Jacque Jovic of KTAL-TV in Shreveport, La.; and Jasmine Brooks of WBRE-TV in Wilkes-Barre, Penn.
More than 400 live segments — 100 for each reporter and around 50 planned to air in the Little Rock market — will be broadcast at certain points of the day across the Nexstar stations starting Aug. 4.
The Summer Olympic Games begin Aug. 5 and will continue through Aug. 21, airing exclusively on NBC affiliates across the U.S.