Hot Topics 2012: Living With the Heat: How Locals and Tourists Cope

On a Phoenix summer day when the mercury hit 112 degrees, our editor gave us an assignment--videotape how citizens are living with the heat, and do it in less than two minutes.

The three people on our team took roles -- reporter, producer and cameraperson. In pre-production, we thought the best possible way to report was to contrast how wealthy tourists versus working-class Phoenix citizens cope with the raging temperatures. We started production at the Sheraton pool where we interviewed a Romanian mom, Anka, and her son. Also an English dad, Gary, and his son who were on vacation. Anka said she was coping reasonably well but that her son struggled. "Chlorine in the pool that was bothering his eyes," she said.

We took lots of B-roll, mainly of water in various forms, which became a theme for our story since interviewees mentioned hydration as an answer to the heat problem. We then went to the Civic Space Park interviewing working-class local Latinos. One was a loquacious landscaper who described how he and his grandson live with the heat. Armed with three large "Polar Pop" drinks to help keep cool on this torrid day, Santos held court in the shade instructing visiting reporters that many local workers do not wear shorts and t-shirts, but instead cover up with pants and long sleeve shirts that apparently not only keeps them cooler over a long period of time but also helps prevent sunburn.

We concluded the 116-second video with a Hispanic male named Donnie sitting under a tree. He said he was born in Los Angeles but has lived in Phoenix since he was five. "I deal with the heat by drinking lots of water, staying in the shade and talking to my homies," Donnie said.

The two ethical considerations we made were to build in transparency to the process and for each team member to protect our sources. For example, Sarah asked permission to take stills at the bar agreeing to leave the bartender out of the shot. Cody asked permission to videotape Anka's son who was clearly in distress because of chlorine in his eyes. This reporter asked red-eyed Donnie to hide his 24-pack of beer out of the shot because it was probably illegal, even though he insisted brewskis helped keep him "cool." -30-