Better news...pardon the intended pun...this time around.
It was a welcome change watching the NBC affiliate, WITN, Wednesday at 11. Breaking news video of a fire in Onslow County (new at 11), another fire, complete with video and sound bites (I believe it was Greenville)...bites from someone other than dreaded "officials". And, another breaking news, also new at 11, story.
Well-done.
Breaking news is not the only news out there, of course, but it ranks near the top of what an audience...you and me...want to know about. My memory hasn't faded completely, and I know what research shows. At least, research for one market. Market is TV talk for the designated markets, like Wilmington, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Greenville-Washington-New Bern, New York City, L.A.
In the one market, and there's no reason to believe it varies much across the country, Severe Weather is at the top of the list for the majority of viewers. That's what they want to know about more than ANY-thing else. Number two on that list is Crime Prevention/ Safety. News managers will differ on what they interpret that to mean. But, having watched focus groups on a couple occasions, I came away with what I believe viewers want. Since 9-11, it's been pretty much anything that concerns their safety. From fires to murders to traffic accdents. Breaking News. Sort of. The viewers in the focus groups did explain it a bit further. Yes, they want to know about those things. But, they want MORE.
How did that murder happen? What's the untold story behind the headlines? Is my family in danger? What can I do to make sure I'm not a victim?
They want to know the same things about fires or traffic accidents. How can the information they get from TV news be used to safeguard their families, their homes? That's the second step in news coverage. The part that is all too often neglected.
Let's examine a couple stories from last night. Yes, the big woods fire got some attention. Good, colorful video. But, it also contained information about smoke-covered highways, and contained a warning to drivers about hazardous driving conditions.
A fire at a home where the power had been cut off (for whatever reason). The homeowner left to pay the bill, and the utility company restored power. Before the home owner returned home. As (bad) luck would have it, a stove had been left on during the power "interruption", but lit up when power was restored. A story with a messsage, albeit perhaps a bit subtle.
That's good journalism.
Ok, so what's not good about television news? Keeping in mind that weather is king (maybe not in San Diego or Hawaii), it often gets over-played. Take those teases that air between 8 and 11 pm. Pretty much always recorded. Pretty much overly generic or overly specific. My wife hates the tease concept. She feels that the weather guy or gal should "give it up" during that 5-15 second window of opportunity. But, teases are promos. They are meant to encourage us to watch the upcoming newscast. It is, of course, a marketing strategy. Television news ratings do not reflect how many people watch the teases. Those are program ratings. News bragging rights and the amount sales guys can charge for a commercial during a newscast depend on the ratings, i.e. the number of people watching. The more viewers, the higher the rates.
Ok, that explained, back to those weather teases. They're recorded in many, if not most, cases immediately after the 6 pm news. Four hours, or more, before the late news at 11. This is done for logistical reasons in smaller markets. News and Production staffers take dinner breaks after the early news, before they gear up for the late news. Those teases, all too often, run time and time again, the same one, until 10:59. Extremely generic. Some stations record more than one, and rotate them. Some include actual news teases during the evening. Keep in mind that they are recorded.
News teases are ever so important, especially if there are updates or a new story for the late news. Especially if there is breaking news. Even more important when there's no weather. Yes, there are days, as you know, when it's going to be "if you liked it today, you're going to like it tomorrow", when there's absolutely nothing newsy or timely about the weather. If that's the case, and I see no teases to encourage me to stay up for the late news, then I am just as apt to head for the rack.
The weather teases, of course, must do a tad more than "join me tonight at 11 for the latest weather". Yuchh. They must tease but not tell, in their efforts to keep us up for the late news. That's tough, sometmes, especially for meteorologists. Those guys really want to tell us eveything. All the time. Sometimes, too much of everything, as I'm sure you have seen. In general conversation, one day, I asked one of my mets how the heat index numbers were reached. I expected a layman-type of answer, something that I could actually understand. Something along the lines of it has to do with the humidity and the heat and whatever. Instead, the next day, after extensive research, this met brought me a formula that I swear must have been a half page long! And, then...to my horror...he becgan dissecting and explaing that formula.
What I would like, as a viewer, or course, is to get weather and news breaks throughout the evening. That's not really practical for television stations that carry prime time entertainment programming. Local availabilty times are sold at a premium rate. I understand and appreciate that. What would be nice, though, is a tease that promises me a report on upcoming changes for my weekend weather: Boating or headed for the beach or golf course this weekend? There's some stuff you need to know before firming up those plans. Or: Some changes are happening tonight that will impact your morning plans, changes that involve snow, sleet and freezing rain. That would give me a reason to hang around.
All of us have our pet peeves about local TV news, and local newspapers. But, the one thing all of us need to keep in mind is that they are LOCAL! There's a move underfoot for large TV corporations to move towards a centralized news cast. One team of anchors, at a central location, giving non-local-specific news content and calling it local news. A fire, a murder, or a three car pileup is newsworthy for a specific market, but those events will not make a regional newscast. What you will get will be stories of general or universal interest. Wide audience appeal, marketing gurus call it. The cute cat rescued from a tree by a firefighter. Kicker stories, in a local news cast. In a specific market, wide audience appeal includes a lot more stories than it does when the newscast originates from a central location, and is shown on TV stations throughout the southeast, or southwest, or northeast.
That, unfortunately, is where things seem to be going. All a matter of economics and cost cutting, Instead of paying anchor teams in each of the corporation's 10 to 35, or more, markets, they can get away with paying one team. It's like network news on a smaller scale, covering stories that have less meaning to individual towns.
And, more unemployed anchors who can do nothing else.
It was a welcome change watching the NBC affiliate, WITN, Wednesday at 11. Breaking news video of a fire in Onslow County (new at 11), another fire, complete with video and sound bites (I believe it was Greenville)...bites from someone other than dreaded "officials". And, another breaking news, also new at 11, story.
Well-done.
Breaking news is not the only news out there, of course, but it ranks near the top of what an audience...you and me...want to know about. My memory hasn't faded completely, and I know what research shows. At least, research for one market. Market is TV talk for the designated markets, like Wilmington, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Greenville-Washington-New Bern, New York City, L.A.
In the one market, and there's no reason to believe it varies much across the country, Severe Weather is at the top of the list for the majority of viewers. That's what they want to know about more than ANY-thing else. Number two on that list is Crime Prevention/ Safety. News managers will differ on what they interpret that to mean. But, having watched focus groups on a couple occasions, I came away with what I believe viewers want. Since 9-11, it's been pretty much anything that concerns their safety. From fires to murders to traffic accdents. Breaking News. Sort of. The viewers in the focus groups did explain it a bit further. Yes, they want to know about those things. But, they want MORE.
How did that murder happen? What's the untold story behind the headlines? Is my family in danger? What can I do to make sure I'm not a victim?
They want to know the same things about fires or traffic accidents. How can the information they get from TV news be used to safeguard their families, their homes? That's the second step in news coverage. The part that is all too often neglected.
Let's examine a couple stories from last night. Yes, the big woods fire got some attention. Good, colorful video. But, it also contained information about smoke-covered highways, and contained a warning to drivers about hazardous driving conditions.
A fire at a home where the power had been cut off (for whatever reason). The homeowner left to pay the bill, and the utility company restored power. Before the home owner returned home. As (bad) luck would have it, a stove had been left on during the power "interruption", but lit up when power was restored. A story with a messsage, albeit perhaps a bit subtle.
That's good journalism.
Ok, so what's not good about television news? Keeping in mind that weather is king (maybe not in San Diego or Hawaii), it often gets over-played. Take those teases that air between 8 and 11 pm. Pretty much always recorded. Pretty much overly generic or overly specific. My wife hates the tease concept. She feels that the weather guy or gal should "give it up" during that 5-15 second window of opportunity. But, teases are promos. They are meant to encourage us to watch the upcoming newscast. It is, of course, a marketing strategy. Television news ratings do not reflect how many people watch the teases. Those are program ratings. News bragging rights and the amount sales guys can charge for a commercial during a newscast depend on the ratings, i.e. the number of people watching. The more viewers, the higher the rates.
Ok, that explained, back to those weather teases. They're recorded in many, if not most, cases immediately after the 6 pm news. Four hours, or more, before the late news at 11. This is done for logistical reasons in smaller markets. News and Production staffers take dinner breaks after the early news, before they gear up for the late news. Those teases, all too often, run time and time again, the same one, until 10:59. Extremely generic. Some stations record more than one, and rotate them. Some include actual news teases during the evening. Keep in mind that they are recorded.
News teases are ever so important, especially if there are updates or a new story for the late news. Especially if there is breaking news. Even more important when there's no weather. Yes, there are days, as you know, when it's going to be "if you liked it today, you're going to like it tomorrow", when there's absolutely nothing newsy or timely about the weather. If that's the case, and I see no teases to encourage me to stay up for the late news, then I am just as apt to head for the rack.
The weather teases, of course, must do a tad more than "join me tonight at 11 for the latest weather". Yuchh. They must tease but not tell, in their efforts to keep us up for the late news. That's tough, sometmes, especially for meteorologists. Those guys really want to tell us eveything. All the time. Sometimes, too much of everything, as I'm sure you have seen. In general conversation, one day, I asked one of my mets how the heat index numbers were reached. I expected a layman-type of answer, something that I could actually understand. Something along the lines of it has to do with the humidity and the heat and whatever. Instead, the next day, after extensive research, this met brought me a formula that I swear must have been a half page long! And, then...to my horror...he becgan dissecting and explaing that formula.
What I would like, as a viewer, or course, is to get weather and news breaks throughout the evening. That's not really practical for television stations that carry prime time entertainment programming. Local availabilty times are sold at a premium rate. I understand and appreciate that. What would be nice, though, is a tease that promises me a report on upcoming changes for my weekend weather: Boating or headed for the beach or golf course this weekend? There's some stuff you need to know before firming up those plans. Or: Some changes are happening tonight that will impact your morning plans, changes that involve snow, sleet and freezing rain. That would give me a reason to hang around.
All of us have our pet peeves about local TV news, and local newspapers. But, the one thing all of us need to keep in mind is that they are LOCAL! There's a move underfoot for large TV corporations to move towards a centralized news cast. One team of anchors, at a central location, giving non-local-specific news content and calling it local news. A fire, a murder, or a three car pileup is newsworthy for a specific market, but those events will not make a regional newscast. What you will get will be stories of general or universal interest. Wide audience appeal, marketing gurus call it. The cute cat rescued from a tree by a firefighter. Kicker stories, in a local news cast. In a specific market, wide audience appeal includes a lot more stories than it does when the newscast originates from a central location, and is shown on TV stations throughout the southeast, or southwest, or northeast.
That, unfortunately, is where things seem to be going. All a matter of economics and cost cutting, Instead of paying anchor teams in each of the corporation's 10 to 35, or more, markets, they can get away with paying one team. It's like network news on a smaller scale, covering stories that have less meaning to individual towns.
And, more unemployed anchors who can do nothing else.
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