Consider these suggestions we collected from assignment managers around the country as you prepare your own coverage plan. And let us know if you have any tips to share.

• Get smart now. Bring in an expert from a local university or think tank to brief your staff about the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East. WBNS-TV in Columbus did just that a week after the Sept. 11 attacks. Consider bringing in a military expert as well, to discuss US capabilities and past actions in the region. Many people in your newsroom may not remember much about the Persian Gulf War, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and other events that are critical to understanding the current crisis.
  
  
• Review your emergency plan. This presumes you have one. If you don't, develop one immediately so everyone knows what to do when news breaks. At WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, the assignment desk initiates the plan by putting out an all page. Everyone not currently working is to come to the station. Those already working are to call in. The call should go out not just to news staff but to others in sales, accounting and other areas, who report to the news desk for assignments, such as answering phones. Do a drill to make sure it actually happens.
  
  
• Create a war guide. Put useful background and contact information in one place, in your computer system and on paper. KCRA-TV's guide includes local experts on terrorism, military affairs, the economy; information on local military bases and units; military terms and weapons; and a pronunciation guide. Also valuable: maps, time zone information, time-line of the crisis, background on Bin Laden and the region, contact info for your political representatives. Consider setting up a "war room" when you can store tape and post information, as WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC, did last year to track election coverage.
  
  
• Build composite tapes, graphics. File video, graphics, maps and other visuals are likely to be essential in covering what we may not be able to see, at least not in the early stages. Put an editor to work building tapes, label them carefully, and create more than one copy to avoid a deadline jam. Have graphic artists start building maps, OTS, segments opens. Create a large, physical map anchors can use in studio to describe events. And don't forget to check your tape stock. You'll be going through it at a great rate.
  
  
• Put staff on notice. WBNS developed a checklist for all employees. Among the items on the list: pack a bag and keep it ready, line up child care, check batteries in phones and pagers, and turn off answering machines at night. Everyone needs to be reachable at all times. Make sure everybody who might need them has updated police passes. In an emergency, "inside" people will sometimes find themselves outside and security will be tight. Consider handing out station identification signs for personal vehicles.
  
  
• Assign beats and responsibilities. Decide who should cover what, and let them know now. Reporters might be asked to concentrate on military operations, government response, community reaction, economic impact, victims or relatives. Giving them guidance now should mean they'll be ready to go immediately when events warrant. Put someone in charge of logging feeds so you're not scrambling for video--a lesson many stations learned as they tried to put together newscasts September 11.
  
  
• Organize contact information. Compile lists of local military families, veterans of the Gulf War, peace activists, others. KCRA planning editor Frank Wolff put local victim and survivor information from September 11 in one central file, with names, numbers, addresses and scripts of stories that have already aired. Anticipating the need to reach them later, Frank expects this file to save hours of time and effort down the road.
  
  
• Prepare to take air. Make sure you have an online computer on set for anchors to use. Talk to your GM about coverage. Outline what you have planned; when you will take the air; if something happens overnight, for example, whether you have the ability to get on the air (include engineering in these discussions); what the rules are for dumping commercials; when you will stay with the network and how much you want to break away for local coverage; and the kind of image your station wants to present.