Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening discussed COVID-19 and its impact on the nation’s food supply with six broadcast outlets over three hours as part of a special statewide media tour on May 20.
Boening participated in the interviews from his farm in Wilson County via Zoom or Skype.
Reporters and broadcast outlets participating in the media tour were Jack Fink of KTVT-TV (Dallas-Fort Worth), Mike Board of WOAI-AM (San Antonio), Wes Rapaport of KXAN-TV (Austin), Nora Perez of KIII-TV (Corpus Christi), Drake Lawson of KWTX-TV (Waco) and Karina Kling of Spectrum News Capital Tonight (Austin and San Antonio).
Fink coupled the Boening interview with local comments from TFB District 4 State Director John Paul Dineen III of Ellis County, and Lawson complimented the Boeing interview with local comments from TFB District 8 State Director Mickey Edwards of Lampasas County.
Each reporter reserved a 30-minute time slot to ask Boening questions.
It was the first electronic statewide media tour hosted by TFB.
“Media interest in the pandemic’s impact on Texas farmers and ranchers and on the nation’s food supply has been very high. We’re doing our best to respond to all of the media inquiries, as soon as possible,” TFB Director of Communications Gary Joiner said. “The media tour gave President Boening a chance in a single setting to reach several reporters who have interest in these issues and have covered farm and ranch issues in the past, while using the convenience of Zoom or Skype. The two formats have become industry standard for interviews during the pandemic because of limited travel opportunities by news outlets.”
Enhanced audio and video were provided to stations to ensure the quality of sound and images was suitable for broadcast. TFB Video Services Manager Ed Wolff managed onsite Zoom, Skype and audio/visual logistics in Wilson County.