I was sitting in a New York airport last Saturday waiting for my plane to board. Like most people in the terminal, I was reading. A giant flat screen above was blaring CNN, but few were playing attention.
Then the anchor said the magic words of the day. "Tiger Woods."
Every head snapped to attention. People walking by the gate stopped to watch. When the story ended, the heads went back down, the people who were walking by continued on their journey.
Right now we've got a raging health care debate, two wars overseas, an economic crisis... and yet a philandering golfer captures our attention.
Sports stars cheating on their wives is nothing new. (Neither are politicians for that matter.) If A-Rod had cheated on his wife we would have just shrugged.
But this was different. When someone this squeaky clean does something so out of character, the fall from grace can seem like one from Mount Everest.
L'affaire Woods probably gave newspapers a nice infusion of capital and sent TV ratings up for a few weeks. (All across America, News Directors are saying, "He couldn't have run over the hydrant during sweeps?")
Why was this story so compelling during a time when we have so many important stories going on? Because it was such a surprise, and so different from the everyday stuff we see. (And, let's face it, America loves good celebrity dirt.)
If you want to find a watercooler story, you must surprise the viewer. Dig up something that will make heads look up and people stop in their tracks. It doesn't have to be anything sensational like the Tiger Woods stuff, but just something that stands out. It has to be different than what we're broadcasting every day.
Surprise the viewer and you'll surprise a News Director when looking for a job.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Best and worst of the decade: Top 10 positive things in broadcasting
While there wasn't much good to say about the business in the last ten years, a few things have managed to creep through the dark clouds and provide a ray of hope. Now, if the empty suits and beancounters can stay out of the way, maybe some real journalists can save the business.
Here goes:
1. Skype
A favorite with beancounters, this system of doing live shots will probably be the death knell of microwave and satellite trucks. And in the process, hopefully save a bunch of jobs. Let's say a ND needs a new truck. He can spend six figures, or buy a bunch of laptops. With the savings he can hopefully hire (or not fire) a bunch of newspeople. As the technology gets better, more and more stations will go in this direction.
2. The DVR
Never has taping a local newscast been so easy. The DVR is becoming more commonplace in households, and makes time shifting a breeze. It's easier to watch stuff via the DVR than on the Internet. The downside is that you can also breeze through the commercials incredibly fast. Look for more "product placement" and ads that actually appear during newscasts (sponsored crawls, weather maps, etc.)
3. More opportunities for young people in big markets
Experience is wonderful, but let's face it, it doesn't take ten years to learn how to knock out a terrific package. Some young people are naturals and whip smart. Nice to see those who are truly special make it up the ladder a lot quicker than my generation.
4. Downsizing of newscasts
By this I mean cutting newscasts that really had no business taking up air time. When a small market has a newscast at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it just dilutes the product. Fortunately some stations have realized this and stopped thinning out their stories.
5. Consultants are fading away
The easiest way for a News Director to cut the budget is by eliminating the consulting services. While some consultants are very good, and a few even taught me a lot, by and large they simply tell you what you already know and cost a lot of money that can be better spent on newsroom personnel. They're melting like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz.
6. Young people are becoming more sarcastic at an early age
It used to take years for people new to the business to get jaded and disillusioned. Now, bada bing, six months and you realize you're a hamster on a corporate wheel. Kids can see the puppet strings in a short time. Welcome to the party, pal.
7. A few stations ditch the one man band
It absolutely makes my day when I hear about a station smart enough to realize this is a bad idea.
8. Networks are more careful when calling elections
After that fiasco in 2000, the battle to be first rather than right got reversed on election nights.
9. Some stations starting ditching contracts for everyone
A Southerner once told me, "You ride a horse longer with loose reins" and this little bit of wisdom filtered down to a few newsrooms that realized putting 22 year old people under three year contracts is a ridiculous idea. Putting them under any contract is just plain silly, as kids spend too much time worrying about contracts ending and timing a new job. Managers finally realized contracts can work both ways... you can get stuck with a bad person for several years. Until you know someone's track record, contracts are a bad idea. And they often chase away talented people.
10. Finally, people began to appreciate the fact that photogs are the most important people in any news operation
And a lot of people didn't know that until they were gone.
Here goes:
1. Skype
A favorite with beancounters, this system of doing live shots will probably be the death knell of microwave and satellite trucks. And in the process, hopefully save a bunch of jobs. Let's say a ND needs a new truck. He can spend six figures, or buy a bunch of laptops. With the savings he can hopefully hire (or not fire) a bunch of newspeople. As the technology gets better, more and more stations will go in this direction.
2. The DVR
Never has taping a local newscast been so easy. The DVR is becoming more commonplace in households, and makes time shifting a breeze. It's easier to watch stuff via the DVR than on the Internet. The downside is that you can also breeze through the commercials incredibly fast. Look for more "product placement" and ads that actually appear during newscasts (sponsored crawls, weather maps, etc.)
3. More opportunities for young people in big markets
Experience is wonderful, but let's face it, it doesn't take ten years to learn how to knock out a terrific package. Some young people are naturals and whip smart. Nice to see those who are truly special make it up the ladder a lot quicker than my generation.
4. Downsizing of newscasts
By this I mean cutting newscasts that really had no business taking up air time. When a small market has a newscast at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it just dilutes the product. Fortunately some stations have realized this and stopped thinning out their stories.
5. Consultants are fading away
The easiest way for a News Director to cut the budget is by eliminating the consulting services. While some consultants are very good, and a few even taught me a lot, by and large they simply tell you what you already know and cost a lot of money that can be better spent on newsroom personnel. They're melting like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz.
6. Young people are becoming more sarcastic at an early age
It used to take years for people new to the business to get jaded and disillusioned. Now, bada bing, six months and you realize you're a hamster on a corporate wheel. Kids can see the puppet strings in a short time. Welcome to the party, pal.
7. A few stations ditch the one man band
It absolutely makes my day when I hear about a station smart enough to realize this is a bad idea.
8. Networks are more careful when calling elections
After that fiasco in 2000, the battle to be first rather than right got reversed on election nights.
9. Some stations starting ditching contracts for everyone
A Southerner once told me, "You ride a horse longer with loose reins" and this little bit of wisdom filtered down to a few newsrooms that realized putting 22 year old people under three year contracts is a ridiculous idea. Putting them under any contract is just plain silly, as kids spend too much time worrying about contracts ending and timing a new job. Managers finally realized contracts can work both ways... you can get stuck with a bad person for several years. Until you know someone's track record, contracts are a bad idea. And they often chase away talented people.
10. Finally, people began to appreciate the fact that photogs are the most important people in any news operation
And a lot of people didn't know that until they were gone.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Best and worst of the decade: Top 10 bonehead broadcasting decisions and trends of the oughts
The oughts. That seems to be what everyone is calling the decade that's about to end.
Highly appropriate, as the past ten years have pretty much been a zero as far as the broadcasting industry is concerned.
We've seen the biggest changes in the history of the business, bigger than when we went from film to video, from tape-to-tape to non-linear. TV News will never be the same, and if anyone is trying to predict what it will look like in the next ten years, well, fuhgeddaboudit.
Meanwhile, time to look back at the decade, and we're going to start with the worst decisions of the past ten years.
1. Embrace the Internet
Yes, you may love the Internet, but it is the main reason the business has taken such a hit. This big bonehead decision surfaced around 2000, and has been more damaging than Y2K. (Remember that?) Back when we first heard this directive from beancounters and corporate empty suits, the most common reaction was, "So let me get this straight... you want us to tell viewers to turn off their TV sets and turn on their computers?" Well, yeah. Problem was, the stuff on the computers was free. Had those in charge made TV viewing on a computer a subscription based operation from the beginning, appointment television would still exist. People would still tune in for the free 6 o'clock news rather than spend a buck to watch it later on a computer. But the horse is out of the barn, and it isn't going to be coaxed back in.
2. Promote the other network
Huh? Why would we do this? Well, turns out your network or local station probably does it all the time. Are you something other than a Fox affiliate yet watch your anchors talk endlessly about American Idol? Oh, now you get it. Years ago this stuff would get an anchor fired, but now it seems fine to basically promote another station that might be airing a watercooler show. The boneheads in this case are the NDs who allow this to go on.
3. The Chicken Little weather philosophy
This country got seriously whacked by a ton of hurricanes this past decade, and it set in motion the trend of trying to one-up the competition. Years ago if Mother Nature was brewing up something bad, you'd get a non-intrusive weather crawl. Now entertainment programming is filled with endless squeezebacks, ear splitting sounders preceding crawls, and break-ins for weather watches instead of warnings. Personally, I love the stations that carry "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and run their crawls or radar over the answers. (Apparently it would take someone from NASA to put the crawl over the top of the screen.) As one ND put it, "it makes entertainment programming unwatchable." The desire to get on first with hurricane stuff is out of control, with break-ins now preceding storms by five days. And wall to wall coverage has deteriorated into calls from yahoo viewers talking about the wind blowing as the hurricane fades away.
4. The one man band comes to big markets
Call it backpack journalism, multi-media journalism, or any other euphemism, it's still beancounter news designed to cut costs while throwing quality out the door.
5. Filling the newscast with Internet video
It's bad enough to cover non-stories, but stations are now taking whatever is the hot video of the day off the Internet and broadcasting it as a story. For some reason it is usually someone robbing a convenience store. Yes, there's funny and interesting stuff on places like YouTube, but putting it in a newscast is just lame and shows the world your staff can't dig up real stories.
6. Bias becomes acceptable
A friend of mine who has worked in the business for a long time calls 2008, "The year journalism died." Never before has bias, which ran both left and right, been so acceptable. If you want to know why the general public trusts journalists about as much as Congress, look no further.
7. Live shots take precedence over everything
Wonder why your package looks so lame? Maybe if you didn't have to do live shots all day with teases thrown in you'd actually have time to put together a decent story. Live shots haven't fooled the public for a long time, especially when you do them in your late newscast from the location of a story that ended several hours ago. Not really a new trend, but it got much worse this decade.
8. Including part of a newscast from a central location.
Ever see one of those out of market segments in which the anchor or weatherperson mispronounces just about every local town or name incorrectly? That's what you get when you outsource part of your news to a central location. This doesn't fool viewers either.
9. The death of the kicker
These days every newscast closes with yet another weather forecast, even though the viewer has just seen one ten minutes ago. Kickers used to be a significant part of a newscast, the thing that kept viewers sticking around till the end. For those of you who can check your ratings in 15 minute segments, check the last half of your newscast and you'll see your viewers bailing in droves.
10. The death of local sports
Not totally dead yet but headed in that direction. Blame the consultants for this bonehead decision, as they'll tell you sports fans get their sports from ESPN. Well, I'm a huge sports fan and I don't as I can't stand a smart comment every single sentence. Local people may follow national teams, but they want local sports.
11. The graveside vulture interview
(Yeah, I know the article calls for the top 10 decisions, but I had to get this one in.) The practice of shoving a microphone in someone's face at a funeral is just another tasteless line that was crossed with more frequency this past decade. I keep waiting for a reporter to get a punch in the mouth from a grieving widow. And the reporter would deserve it. May the NDs who allow this be buried under a circus tent.
Next up, the best things of the decade. (And I'll be hard pressed to find 10.)
Highly appropriate, as the past ten years have pretty much been a zero as far as the broadcasting industry is concerned.
We've seen the biggest changes in the history of the business, bigger than when we went from film to video, from tape-to-tape to non-linear. TV News will never be the same, and if anyone is trying to predict what it will look like in the next ten years, well, fuhgeddaboudit.
Meanwhile, time to look back at the decade, and we're going to start with the worst decisions of the past ten years.
1. Embrace the Internet
Yes, you may love the Internet, but it is the main reason the business has taken such a hit. This big bonehead decision surfaced around 2000, and has been more damaging than Y2K. (Remember that?) Back when we first heard this directive from beancounters and corporate empty suits, the most common reaction was, "So let me get this straight... you want us to tell viewers to turn off their TV sets and turn on their computers?" Well, yeah. Problem was, the stuff on the computers was free. Had those in charge made TV viewing on a computer a subscription based operation from the beginning, appointment television would still exist. People would still tune in for the free 6 o'clock news rather than spend a buck to watch it later on a computer. But the horse is out of the barn, and it isn't going to be coaxed back in.
2. Promote the other network
Huh? Why would we do this? Well, turns out your network or local station probably does it all the time. Are you something other than a Fox affiliate yet watch your anchors talk endlessly about American Idol? Oh, now you get it. Years ago this stuff would get an anchor fired, but now it seems fine to basically promote another station that might be airing a watercooler show. The boneheads in this case are the NDs who allow this to go on.
3. The Chicken Little weather philosophy
This country got seriously whacked by a ton of hurricanes this past decade, and it set in motion the trend of trying to one-up the competition. Years ago if Mother Nature was brewing up something bad, you'd get a non-intrusive weather crawl. Now entertainment programming is filled with endless squeezebacks, ear splitting sounders preceding crawls, and break-ins for weather watches instead of warnings. Personally, I love the stations that carry "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and run their crawls or radar over the answers. (Apparently it would take someone from NASA to put the crawl over the top of the screen.) As one ND put it, "it makes entertainment programming unwatchable." The desire to get on first with hurricane stuff is out of control, with break-ins now preceding storms by five days. And wall to wall coverage has deteriorated into calls from yahoo viewers talking about the wind blowing as the hurricane fades away.
4. The one man band comes to big markets
Call it backpack journalism, multi-media journalism, or any other euphemism, it's still beancounter news designed to cut costs while throwing quality out the door.
5. Filling the newscast with Internet video
It's bad enough to cover non-stories, but stations are now taking whatever is the hot video of the day off the Internet and broadcasting it as a story. For some reason it is usually someone robbing a convenience store. Yes, there's funny and interesting stuff on places like YouTube, but putting it in a newscast is just lame and shows the world your staff can't dig up real stories.
6. Bias becomes acceptable
A friend of mine who has worked in the business for a long time calls 2008, "The year journalism died." Never before has bias, which ran both left and right, been so acceptable. If you want to know why the general public trusts journalists about as much as Congress, look no further.
7. Live shots take precedence over everything
Wonder why your package looks so lame? Maybe if you didn't have to do live shots all day with teases thrown in you'd actually have time to put together a decent story. Live shots haven't fooled the public for a long time, especially when you do them in your late newscast from the location of a story that ended several hours ago. Not really a new trend, but it got much worse this decade.
8. Including part of a newscast from a central location.
Ever see one of those out of market segments in which the anchor or weatherperson mispronounces just about every local town or name incorrectly? That's what you get when you outsource part of your news to a central location. This doesn't fool viewers either.
9. The death of the kicker
These days every newscast closes with yet another weather forecast, even though the viewer has just seen one ten minutes ago. Kickers used to be a significant part of a newscast, the thing that kept viewers sticking around till the end. For those of you who can check your ratings in 15 minute segments, check the last half of your newscast and you'll see your viewers bailing in droves.
10. The death of local sports
Not totally dead yet but headed in that direction. Blame the consultants for this bonehead decision, as they'll tell you sports fans get their sports from ESPN. Well, I'm a huge sports fan and I don't as I can't stand a smart comment every single sentence. Local people may follow national teams, but they want local sports.
11. The graveside vulture interview
(Yeah, I know the article calls for the top 10 decisions, but I had to get this one in.) The practice of shoving a microphone in someone's face at a funeral is just another tasteless line that was crossed with more frequency this past decade. I keep waiting for a reporter to get a punch in the mouth from a grieving widow. And the reporter would deserve it. May the NDs who allow this be buried under a circus tent.
Next up, the best things of the decade. (And I'll be hard pressed to find 10.)
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