| Topic Name: |
TV NEWS IS DYING |
| Message Name: |
The TRUTH |
| Date Posted: |
05/18/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
I do not appreciate the way TV stations in my city replace the well known seasoned reporters and most of the anchors I've trusted for many years.
Who's the "suit" that supposedly figured out that I'm going to flock to your newscast just because you hired some hot young stud, who bears a slight resemblance to Brad Pitt, or a blonde babe with saucer eyes and a Heather Locklear smile.
Look George...look Ethel! They're "reporting" from the courthouse, and MY GOD they're LIVE! OOOOOOHH, AHHHHHH.... GEE WHIZ! Say George, do you mean they can go live from outside the TV station !!!!! WOW.... IMAGINE THAT! Via Satellite? Incredible! That's great leap of technology still amazes me!!!
Get a clue... it's 2005, and you're still doing the same live reporting you did 25 years, ago. OOOOH you've got a super dooper doppler.... WOW you've got a helicopter! I've lived in places and watched newscasts where that was the norm, and that was in the early 1980s! For crying out loud, the only major difference in the technology today and what was being used 25 years ago, is the people you have USING it are younger than the gadgets they're using!
These children of glamour journalism last a year or two and then move on. Then you hire another mindless "pretty" face.
Here's what I want.... I want people who know my area, and have become a part of my city and community. I want a station that cares more about "news", than the trash that they pass off as news. I don't want you to frighten me with a sense of urgency, unless IT'S REAL! It's all a matter of the people I grow to trust. That's the key word here....GROW to trust. That takes time to nurture, and cultivate!. If you have a slow day in news, I'm still going to watch if you have the people I like to watch. You don't even have to be the NUMBER ONE station!
I no longer have a newscast that I am loyal to, because you're not "loyal" to me. I'm in your prime demographic range, because I would buy the stuff you're main advertisers sell if you gave me a valid reason to tune in every day.
Sadly you're too busy pandering to mindless masses who are no better than the rubber-neckers I'm stuck behind looking for the pool of blood on the highway after passing an accident! Gee... turns out it was only a fender bender.... but since there's a backup, I see 5 news helicopters flying overhead. It must be 5pm, and you're just dying to impress me with "live" pictures of a traffic jam!
I can see the same think on the internet if I want traffic information. If I'm in my car, I'll tune in the radio station that has traffic news. I don;t turn to tv for traffic. PERIOD!
Until the day returns, when I can trust the people doing TV news I'll just be channel flipping, and screwing with your "meters". I'll fill out my diary with a week's worth of UPN, or PBS, knowing how that just drives you out of your mind!
One day you'll listen to me, because I'm a VIEWER, and ultimately... I am in charge, because I have the ultimate technology.
It's faster than a speeding helicopter....more powerful than a bazillion watt doppler radar! That incredible device allows me to push a single button, and CLICK, you're entire effort that day is wasted, because I've just turned off the TV!
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| Message: |
Good job -- Chanel number 5...the fragrance is a classic... the news business is more like cheap drugstore perfume if we're making references.
Your memo was well written and reflects the #1 reason I, a veteran reporter, am now out of the business and a member of the non-viewing, key demographic. I am one of those women who is spending money on all those household items, investment plans, cars, everything you see advertised during that early evening and late news hours. BUT the advertisers are not accessing me through the news -- because my little remote shuts off the screaming sense of false urgency, and irrelevant exclusives the moment Oprah signs off for the day.
I stay at home, I run a business from here, I turn the television on when Oprah is on, because sometimes it is relevant to me, and other times I just keep the music on instead of television.
By the way, when my husband, who has no news background, comes home from work he will promptly turn off the local news if it is tuned to LOCAL 4!!! because he can't tolerate all the "ONLY ON FOUR!!! screams, and WE ARE LIVE!!! shouts...My husband says he just cant take it.
So he turns on the one local station that doesnt scream so much, or CNBC, or PBS.
I spent 14 years in local news, and I still dont understand why the managers of today still think viewers are not sharp enough to see through the pathetic sales pitch of LIVE OH MY GOD WE ARE LIVE.
In sales, for example, the quality client is the one that is not so easily convinced, more of a thinker...but when they become sold on the product they are more loyal than the customer who is easily swayed...easy come easy go because that customer is not loyal and they are quickly impressed by the next sales pitch to come along.
Now why dont News/General Managers see this? If all they are grabbing viewers with is their LIVE ability... and a random exclusive, then don't they stop to think that the viewer drawn by that will go to another station the next day -- afterall who cant go live these days???
I know, I get it -- the live intro and tag is an opportunity for that news reporter to connect with the viewer, a moment of energy. Fine -- a reporter can make use of that time ...but folks the fact that WERE LIVE is not a selling point...not so much okay???
And as much as tv stations want to save money, hire the pretty young reporter...it is driving experienced journalists away -- and the quality viewers too.
Oh who cares...Im not watching anyway, and I dont know anyone who does...except the older audience and they are not buying the products advertisers are selling.
Local news as we know it has a limited future, if it does not evolve, it will extinguish itself. People who continue to defend its current state will also be extinct.
I'm going back to listen to internet radio now...bye.
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