Every silly sweeps stunt you can think of is trumped by solid reporting

Over the years I've seen it all during sweeps, as news management and the promotions department pull out all the stops to get viewers. I've seen all sorts of giveaways, from tanks of gasoline to trips to a used car. (Long story, cheap station, don't ask.) Now every station seems to think some sort of social networking tactic will bring eyeballs to the newscast, as if people obsessed with Twitter are more concerned with the news of the day than their cell phones. Airing the "tweet of the day" on your newscast doesn't mean you've snagged a loyal viewer. It might just mean some teenage girl can brag that her text message made it on television.

And of course those of you who are reporters are given the directive to go all out during sweeps. You must have a standup in every story! (You should be doing that anyway.) You must find interesting angles to every story! (You should be doing that anyway.) You must have great video so that we can tease every story! (You should be getting that anyway.)

In case you hadn't figured this out, the stuff you do during sweeps as far as reporting is concerned is stuff you should be doing every single day. Do we go the extra mile during sweeps? Sure. But we should go the extra mile on every story. A couple of old sayings from my former News Director: "There are no boring stories, only boring reporters." And the classic, "We're in sweeps every day."

You don't just pick up viewers in February, May and November. You get them by doing solid work in the dog days of August, or that week after Christmas.

Sweeps stunts are a lot like restaurant coupons. You might get a free meal, but if the food is lousy, you won't go back. Ironically, the free food isn't "worth the price."

Same deal with news. You might get a viewer to take a look, but if the content isn't there, they won't stick around.

The only effective sweeps stunt is a solid newscast. And it starts and ends with you, whether it's February or August.

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New York Giants to-do list

Cheeseheads (Green Bay): Done

Potheads (San Francisco): Done

Chowderheads (New England): DONE!

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Top ten reasons to root for the Giants

1. Tom Brady has a heated toilet seat. Can you say "high maintenance?"

2. Patriots don't marry and/or date real women. Brady is married to a supermodel, Wes Welker engaged to a Hooters calendar girl, Rob Gronkowski hangs out with a young lady who, shall we say, is not the kind of girl you'd bring home to Mom. Eli Manning married college sweetheart.

3. The Giants are a family organization. Starting guard Chris Snee is married to Coach Tom Coughlin's daughter.

4. Giselle never smiles. Supermodel status, Hall of Fame husband, heated toilet seat, and she still has that barroom death stare force field look that says, "How dare you cast your gaze at me and don't even THINK about asking me to dance."

5. Bill Belichick once quit his job with the New York Jets by writing his resignation letter on a cocktail napkin.

6. Patriots once caught cheating and lost their first round draft choice.

7. Giants had enough class not to bring back Plaxico Burress and/or Tiki Barber.

8. Let's be honest... if the Ravens don't drop a touchdown and shank a field goal attempt, the Patriots aren't even here.

9. The Giants owner's mom chastised Terry Bradshaw on national television.

10. Cruuuuuuuuzzzzzz!

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Will you be ready when the call comes?

Time for an inspirational story. (You didn't really think we'd get through the week without some reference to the New York Giants, did you?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/paul_daugherty/02/01/blackburn/index.html?sct=nfl_t11_a1

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Sweeps start on Ground Hog Day: If your News Director sees a shadow, it's that of an executioner

Ah, the day before sweeps. There's an equation that applies to this particular time.

The amount of stress during any sweeps period is directly proportional to the salary of any member of a news staff.

In other words, the more money you make, the bigger the target you are. Bad book came in? Guess who gets the blame? Not the lowly street reporters or assistant producers. It starts at the top down.

So if you see you News Directors and anchors start twitching today, you know why.

Problem with sweeps is that they are often not a true indication of what viewers are watching. The theory is that it sometimes takes a year and a half for true results to filter through. So that great news product you've been knocking out this February might not show up in the numbers till next November.

Several years ago I worked in a newsroom that was always in a neck and neck race for number one. We avoided the scanner and had the white collar viewers; the other station went after viewers whose lips move when they read.

Anyway, News Director moves on right before sweeps, new ND that everyone hates moves in. Ratings come in, we're number one. New guy thinks his changes are the reason. (Yeah, making people miserable makes them put out a great product.) It was simply the aftereffects of what we'd done months earlier.

So sometimes anchors and News Directors can unfairly take the blame for a bad book. A new guy can come in and have to deal with the results of the previous regime, which might not have been very good.

While we live and die by the ratings, you have to put them in perspective. Many times you don't need ratings to validate the quality of your work.

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