TELEVISION

TELEVISION. Cont'd.

9. Seek feedback. Go back to those institutions you report on periodically and ask them how your industry can cover their industries better! Ask the workers who watch you, not just the CEO's. Younger broadcast managers may never have heard of "Ascertainment Surveys" the FCC used to require stations gather for Licence Renewal every three years. In the 1970s, station personnel had to go out with pen and paper--no microphones--to interview more than a hundred community leaders in all walks of life to ascertain their thoughts on "community issues." Broadcasters hated them and screamed to be relieved of the government papework burden. But you know? There's no way a journalist could walk away from one of those face-to-face, one-on-one interviews without a new awareness as well as half dozen solid, meaty story ideas! They were incredible news tips. In retrospect, didn't they help you broadcast in the public interest? You said then you didn't need the FCC telling you how determine community issues but now you rely on out-of-town consultants to tell you. Does that make sense?

Newsroom air is pretty stale. After nearly ten years away from the biz--and looking at news from the outside for awhile, this author now realizes how difficult it was for the decision makers to get fresh ideas. It would give you a new perspective to get out of the newsroom for awhile and see what your shows look like on the other side of the glass. You managers and producers spend too many hours in the newsroom and you have isolated yourselves from the viewers you presume to serve. We, who know our own industries well, can easily tell when your people report on our industries superficially. Don't you realize that when we see you do a bad job on things we know well, your overall credibility diminishes in our eyes. Pay less attention to your competition and more attention to us. How can you know this if you don't ask us? Ratings only tell you who watches...but demographics don't tell you anything else. Ratings is not why you got into journalism, is it? Nothing should have changed.

10. If you're a journalist looking for work, look before you leap. It's a lot harder to jump ship after you've just moved halfway across the country and discovered you've gone to work for a slime bag. So before you take a new job, find out about a station's reputation and news philosophy. Moving to a bigger market is good--just make sure it's also a better one. After all, you also want to be able to sleep at night in your new market. If you can't find a better market, you have to decide if you want to butt your head trying to change things or look out for yourself and your family. If you decide to get out, start cross training yourself. TV News is a nitch-industry. Your skills are not widely transferable because you probably don't have a print side background. Besides, it's not so easy switching careers out of the industry you're in that has the reputation it does. That will be especially true if you're to the point you're making fairly good money and getting older. The longer you wait to find a different career, the harder it will be economically for you to do so.

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You people who decide local news are quick to hold community leaders to high standards. When they fall short, you're quick to humiliate them before their neighbors. It's time you hold yourselves up to similar standards of excellence. As most journalists know, the printed press--and even your networks-- do a much better job of this than local TV stations do. So now as a group--deserved or not--you're all getting an unflattering reputation among Americans and you're having to fight hard to retain viewers. Must you do it with tricks? Can't you do it with quality? Based on the EMAIL REACTION from the author's web site, it's clear many TV insiders know the problems. You might wish to read some of what your own people are saying and take their advice. As the consultants say, it'll be a lot easier to keep viewers rather than to try to win them back.

About the author. This web site is an essay written by Greg Byron, a former radio and television newsman who has moved on after nearly twenty years to a second, unrelated career in computer technology. The observations contained herein come from his experience in four local television news departments in different states--as beat/series reporter, assignment editor, producer, and operations manager. He has a journalism degree from Wichita State University, has won four state-level broadcast association awards, and a NY Film Festival medal for local news series. He is quick to point out that not all stations approach news identically. Some stations actually do attempt consistent journalism and their staffs are more stable. However, way too many others (apparently most stations) present a parade of new faces and sensation under the guise of journalism. Those are the ones who have handed over their news decisionmaking to out of town consultants--and they're not getting what they paid for. Those are the ones about which this essay offers critique.