As someone who enjoys scripted television shows, May sweeps always brings a sense of both fun and frustration to me. Fun because you get to enjoy all those season finales. Frustration because for some inexplicable reason, the networks run said season finales in the first or second weeks of sweeps. And then waste the rest of the book with reruns or reality junk.
News departments use every last minute of sweeps periods, and many savvy News Directors start their sweeps pieces early and keep them going a few days past the end of the book. (Here's a news flash: viewers don't generally start watching newscasts on a Thursday and completely stop on a Wednesday.)
When I was a kid, most prime time shows had 39 brand new episodes per season. When summer rolled around, you got some fun summer replacement shows. This was, of course, before the networks loaded up the summer with reality garbage and sent us running over to the FX and USA and AMC networks for entertainment. Now you're lucky if you get 20 new episodes for your favorite shows. Maybe it's too expensive to produce more shows, but couldn't they at least fill up sweeps months and give our late newscasts a helping hand?
This also illustrates why news departments are more "on their own" than ever before. Why it's imperative to come up with great stories on a regular basis, because you can't expect a great lead-in from the latest of an endless parade of musical talent reality shows. (I keep waiting for them to combine a weight loss show with a dating show and a singing show. Just imagine a single woman dropping a hundred pounds and turning into a beautiful swan while trying out for Broadway musicals and having her choice of bachelors. Call it "Swan Song Bachelorette.")
Bottom line, you may have a great story for the late newscast but your promo in prime time may only be viewed by people whose lips move when they read. So those teases in the earlier newscasts and during the daytime are even more crucial.
And since the networks aren't giving you much, you need to put your promotions hat on. You may think promotion is something the promotions department should deal with, but remember, you're putting the story together. Even though you've got enough plates to keep spinning with live shots, two packs a day and maybe one-man-banding, you should take a minute to let the promo person know a little bit about your story. Where to find the money shot, the great sound bite, etc. I know it's not your job, but it will help you keep the one you have. When more people watch your stories, when your stories become watercooler tales, you become more valuable to the station. And helping the promotions department labels you as a true team player.
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Monday, May 7, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Jumping to conclusions: covering Junior Seau's suicide
Many years ago Disney World used to have these wonderful junkets in which stations would send reporters along with local sports legends for a week playing what were called "Goofy Games." I was fortunate enough to be included on a few of these, getting the chance to rub elbows with Hall of Famers and actually have conversations with them. By the way, most of the sports stars were already retired.
What was eye opening was a conversation I had with the wife of a man who was a sports legend. She told me how he was bored out of his mind, and spent a lot of time with his old teammates on the phone talking about how boring life was without a game on the line. "You can only play so much golf," she said.
A lot of the legends I met during those weeks fell into that category. I was expecting guys with the world by the tail, but a lot of them were simply sad, middle-aged guys who acted like their lives were over. I came away feeling sorry for many of them.
Think about it: suppose you rose to the level of network anchor and all of a sudden at 35 you're out of the business and no one will hire you because you're too old. You'd get depressed too.
Head injuries and concussions are the hot topic these days when it comes to football, and no one will deny these guys take way too many shots to the brain. But sports suicides are a different animal. Few commentators have mentioned life after the cheering has stopped.
We can never really know what goes through someone's mind that causes that person to take his own life. Jump to all the conclusions you want, but the answers will never really be known.
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What was eye opening was a conversation I had with the wife of a man who was a sports legend. She told me how he was bored out of his mind, and spent a lot of time with his old teammates on the phone talking about how boring life was without a game on the line. "You can only play so much golf," she said.
A lot of the legends I met during those weeks fell into that category. I was expecting guys with the world by the tail, but a lot of them were simply sad, middle-aged guys who acted like their lives were over. I came away feeling sorry for many of them.
Think about it: suppose you rose to the level of network anchor and all of a sudden at 35 you're out of the business and no one will hire you because you're too old. You'd get depressed too.
Head injuries and concussions are the hot topic these days when it comes to football, and no one will deny these guys take way too many shots to the brain. But sports suicides are a different animal. Few commentators have mentioned life after the cheering has stopped.
We can never really know what goes through someone's mind that causes that person to take his own life. Jump to all the conclusions you want, but the answers will never really be known.
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
There are black widows, merry widows... and the queen of the "A" Block... the grieving widow
A while back I was talking to a client who was on her way out to do a "grieving widow" story. You know... someone dies, reporter shows up, gets family member to choke up looking at picture of said dead person. The reporter told me the News Director told her, "Make sure you get tears."
And that's not the first time I've heard a reporter getting that directive.
So let me ask all you you managers, assignment editors and News Directors a question: Would you go out on the street, pick a person at random, and make that person cry? Of course not.
So why, in a time when someone in mourning needs a shoulder to cry on, do you provide a camera and a microphone?
There are stations that do this constantly, and promote the hell out of these stories. Think about that, those of you in management. You are using someone's death to promote your newscast. You want a camera at your own funeral and your own personal promo for the six o'clock newscast? I think not.
Of course, those stations are usually playing to the lowest common denominator. Their viewers are those who rubberneck at car wrecks and who couldn't name the Vice President of the United States but can identify the entire cast of Jersey Shore.
You wanna do a legit followup to a tragedy? Leave the grieving widow alone and find the real story. Why it might have happened, how it might have been prevented, who might be responsible.
There's a creature that lives off dead things. It's called a vulture. Don't join the flock.
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And that's not the first time I've heard a reporter getting that directive.
So let me ask all you you managers, assignment editors and News Directors a question: Would you go out on the street, pick a person at random, and make that person cry? Of course not.
So why, in a time when someone in mourning needs a shoulder to cry on, do you provide a camera and a microphone?
There are stations that do this constantly, and promote the hell out of these stories. Think about that, those of you in management. You are using someone's death to promote your newscast. You want a camera at your own funeral and your own personal promo for the six o'clock newscast? I think not.
Of course, those stations are usually playing to the lowest common denominator. Their viewers are those who rubberneck at car wrecks and who couldn't name the Vice President of the United States but can identify the entire cast of Jersey Shore.
You wanna do a legit followup to a tragedy? Leave the grieving widow alone and find the real story. Why it might have happened, how it might have been prevented, who might be responsible.
There's a creature that lives off dead things. It's called a vulture. Don't join the flock.
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Monday, April 30, 2012
Memo to the National Scholastic Press Association: You don't teach future journalists by bullying them
A few years ago I attended a two week seminar. On day one the moderator told us there was one hard and fast rule. We could not discuss politics or religion, even in our free time. He stressed that we were there to learn and work together, not waste time arguing various beliefs and principles. When he announced this there was a collective sigh of relief from the group. And after two weeks, I had no earthly idea where any of them stood on politics or religion.
Recently the National Scholastic Press Association held a seminar for high school journalism students. During which a man who speaks out against bullying delivered a rant against the Bible and Christians. When several students walked out, he called them "pansy assed."
If he had been a teacher, he would have been fired.
Yes, that's the way you teach future journalists. By bullying them into thinking they must agree with a certain point of view. And yes, this was bullying.
Full disclosure: I'm Catholic, and that doesn't necessarily mean I'm far to the right. I have very liberal friends and very conservative friends. I've worked with and made friends with plenty of gay people, Jewish people, agnostics. Two of my friends who are the kindest, most giving people you've ever met are atheists. If I limited myself to friends who only agreed with my point of view, I'd be pretty lonely. If I tried my best to impose my beliefs on my friends, I wouldn't have them as friends very long.
And if I tried to impose my beliefs on viewers, I'd be tagged with what I consider to be the worst label you can hang on a journalist: biased.
Yet at this seminar these future journalists... teenagers, for God's sake... may have come away with the impression that to survive in this business you must have one set of beliefs. And if you don't, well, you're a "pansy ass" and get the hell out.
So, how did the organization that ran the seminar follow up on this event that offended so many kids? By releasing a statement that included this line which belongs in the cover-your-ass-memo hall of fame:
"We appreciate the level of thoughtfulness and deliberation regarding Dan Savage’s keynote address. Some audience members who felt hurt by his words and tone decided to leave in the middle of his speech, and to this, we want to make our point very clear: While as a journalist it’s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you, these students and advisers had simply reached their tolerance level for what they were willing to hear."
Did you catch the CYA part of that statement? While as a journalist it’s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you. The organization later referred to this as a "teachable moment."
I got your teachable moment right here.
There's a big difference between teaching and lecturing. Between instruction and trying to impose one's views. Between having an opinion and bullying. While as journalists we often have to cover stories and interview people that make us physically ill, this was not the venue to convey that principle. That's what assignments and internships are for. Over the years I've had to cover stories that made me sick, interview people so disgusting I wanted to use a shotgun mike so I didn't have to get closer than three feet. But in college I never endured anything like this.
If you're a high school or college student, know this: you don't have to change any of your beliefs to succeed in this business. You wanna be a flaming liberal or Bible-thumping conservative? Fine. There are plenty of people in the business just like you, and every newsroom has a group of people with very diverse beliefs and opinions. No one will ever ask you what your beliefs are or what your sexual preference is during a job interview. Because if you're an objective reporter, it doesn't matter. Just keep your views out of your stories and you'll do fine.
What biased people on both sides of the spectrum never seem to understand is that you cannot legislate thought. Change the laws all you want, rant and rave, imply that those who think otherwise are stupid or wrong... and you still can't force another person to think in the exact same manner that you do.
It's one thing to be assigned to cover something you find distasteful. It's quite another to go to a seminar with the expectation of learning something and be insulted.
You kids want a teachable moment? Here ya go. If you try to bully your audience into accepting your own point of view, you're not a real journalist.
--
Recently the National Scholastic Press Association held a seminar for high school journalism students. During which a man who speaks out against bullying delivered a rant against the Bible and Christians. When several students walked out, he called them "pansy assed."
If he had been a teacher, he would have been fired.
Yes, that's the way you teach future journalists. By bullying them into thinking they must agree with a certain point of view. And yes, this was bullying.
Full disclosure: I'm Catholic, and that doesn't necessarily mean I'm far to the right. I have very liberal friends and very conservative friends. I've worked with and made friends with plenty of gay people, Jewish people, agnostics. Two of my friends who are the kindest, most giving people you've ever met are atheists. If I limited myself to friends who only agreed with my point of view, I'd be pretty lonely. If I tried my best to impose my beliefs on my friends, I wouldn't have them as friends very long.
And if I tried to impose my beliefs on viewers, I'd be tagged with what I consider to be the worst label you can hang on a journalist: biased.
Yet at this seminar these future journalists... teenagers, for God's sake... may have come away with the impression that to survive in this business you must have one set of beliefs. And if you don't, well, you're a "pansy ass" and get the hell out.
So, how did the organization that ran the seminar follow up on this event that offended so many kids? By releasing a statement that included this line which belongs in the cover-your-ass-memo hall of fame:
"We appreciate the level of thoughtfulness and deliberation regarding Dan Savage’s keynote address. Some audience members who felt hurt by his words and tone decided to leave in the middle of his speech, and to this, we want to make our point very clear: While as a journalist it’s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you, these students and advisers had simply reached their tolerance level for what they were willing to hear."
Did you catch the CYA part of that statement? While as a journalist it’s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you. The organization later referred to this as a "teachable moment."
I got your teachable moment right here.
There's a big difference between teaching and lecturing. Between instruction and trying to impose one's views. Between having an opinion and bullying. While as journalists we often have to cover stories and interview people that make us physically ill, this was not the venue to convey that principle. That's what assignments and internships are for. Over the years I've had to cover stories that made me sick, interview people so disgusting I wanted to use a shotgun mike so I didn't have to get closer than three feet. But in college I never endured anything like this.
If you're a high school or college student, know this: you don't have to change any of your beliefs to succeed in this business. You wanna be a flaming liberal or Bible-thumping conservative? Fine. There are plenty of people in the business just like you, and every newsroom has a group of people with very diverse beliefs and opinions. No one will ever ask you what your beliefs are or what your sexual preference is during a job interview. Because if you're an objective reporter, it doesn't matter. Just keep your views out of your stories and you'll do fine.
What biased people on both sides of the spectrum never seem to understand is that you cannot legislate thought. Change the laws all you want, rant and rave, imply that those who think otherwise are stupid or wrong... and you still can't force another person to think in the exact same manner that you do.
It's one thing to be assigned to cover something you find distasteful. It's quite another to go to a seminar with the expectation of learning something and be insulted.
You kids want a teachable moment? Here ya go. If you try to bully your audience into accepting your own point of view, you're not a real journalist.
--
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Versatility is the new black
Way back when, before consultants told News Directors that no one cares about sports, stations had fully staffed sports departments. A weekday guy, a weekend anchor, maybe even a morning show person.
Anyway, true story: We had someone local about to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And back then, the ND thought nothing of sending crews across the country for stories like this. But in this case, he was stuck. Due to people moving on, etc. he was out of sports people and needed the one guy he had left to cover the newscasts. So he drops by my desk and says, "You're the only one in the news department who really knows baseball. Wanna go to Cooperstown?"
Hell, yeah!
So, because of my versatility (I had been a weekend sports anchor at a previous station) I got to go on a cool trip and do some really fun stories. Ernie Banks even stole my microphone during a standup.
After that, I was occasionally pressed into service when the sports department was shorthanded. Even got to cover Brett Favre's last college game. (This was before he was a diva.)
Point is, you can make yourself more valuable to both your current and future employers by both letting management know you're interested in certain things, like sports or weather. There will always come a day when vacations and illnesses and people leaving will leave a ND shorthanded. Then he'll remember that he has someone who can step in and pinch hit.
And with staffs being stretched these days, an extra talent on your resume can be the difference between getting the job and not getting it. If I'm a News Director and have two candidates that are dead even, and one knows how to do weather, I'm going to pick the one who is more versatile. It's like a baseball manager having a utility player who can play all the infield and outfield positions. Versatility in your staff gives you more flexibility.
If you're interested in something, learn as much as you can and let people know you're interested. It might be something that saves your current job or gets you a new one.
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Anyway, true story: We had someone local about to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And back then, the ND thought nothing of sending crews across the country for stories like this. But in this case, he was stuck. Due to people moving on, etc. he was out of sports people and needed the one guy he had left to cover the newscasts. So he drops by my desk and says, "You're the only one in the news department who really knows baseball. Wanna go to Cooperstown?"
Hell, yeah!
So, because of my versatility (I had been a weekend sports anchor at a previous station) I got to go on a cool trip and do some really fun stories. Ernie Banks even stole my microphone during a standup.
After that, I was occasionally pressed into service when the sports department was shorthanded. Even got to cover Brett Favre's last college game. (This was before he was a diva.)
Point is, you can make yourself more valuable to both your current and future employers by both letting management know you're interested in certain things, like sports or weather. There will always come a day when vacations and illnesses and people leaving will leave a ND shorthanded. Then he'll remember that he has someone who can step in and pinch hit.
And with staffs being stretched these days, an extra talent on your resume can be the difference between getting the job and not getting it. If I'm a News Director and have two candidates that are dead even, and one knows how to do weather, I'm going to pick the one who is more versatile. It's like a baseball manager having a utility player who can play all the infield and outfield positions. Versatility in your staff gives you more flexibility.
If you're interested in something, learn as much as you can and let people know you're interested. It might be something that saves your current job or gets you a new one.
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