Bad news ideas

"When morning shows began, the idea was to mimic the breakfast table, with mommy, daddy and some kids...you can break the mold now. There are no bad ideas, only poor execution. And if you execute poorly, you get executed."
- CBS's Steve Friedman to Gail Shister, Philadelphia Inquirer

Wow, how stupid can you get.

"There are no bad ideas, only poor execution."

Ummm... sorry, but there are LOTS of bad ideas. Lot of stupid gimmicks that annoy people more than anything else. Why do you think that with the rise of the latest breaking news, and the scare you news, that the number of people watching the news has gone down?

Yes, stations still fight their ratings wars, but each year, those numbers represent fewer and fewer viewers.

People can say that cable is pulling away the viewers, or the Internet, but the problem isn't that viewers are being pulled away, it's that news is pushing them away. The flashing lights and warning bells that accompany the story about how some common item in your house could KILL YOU, will get people's attention, but it will drive away far more people than it will bring in.

"And if you execute poorly, you get executed."

That's a great idea. Some schmuck comes up with a bad idea. Tells people to do the bad idea. Bad idea falls flat on the floor. What happens, the people who were told to do the bad idea gets the ax, not the schmuck with the bad idea in the first place.

Folks, broadcast TV is dying, because the people in charge are killing it and can't, or won't, realize that they are screwing it up.

How to fix it:
First, make news compelling, and I don't mean the stories about everyday stuff that could kill you. You want people to watch your station and read the stories on your website, then give them more than the bloggers can. An average blogger only has so much time and effort to put into their stories, a TV station can devote far more resources to get more information for a story. That means that reporters have to have the time to work on the stories. No 3 stories a day, every day. One story a day, or a couple of stories a week. Give the reporters a chance to work on it.

National news must be about the stories that impact the nation, both local and international. Local news should be about local news. Maybe the local impact of a national story, but local, nonetheless. The stories of a local newscast should not be repackaged national stories, or the national stories run again.

Morning news should be light-hearted and fun. At 6am, people still want the news, but they want banter and fun along with it. No smart-mouth joking during the news, but banter afterwards. Some of the most successful morning newscasts in local markets, has that very banter and wit.

Videoporters, the idea that the reporter should be out shooting video while they are at it, remember when I said that reporters should have more time to devote to stories, this is the opposite of that idea. This is more work with less time to spend on each item. Meaning each item is rushed or incomplete, and people don't get the stories that compel them to watch.

Oh well, I'm not in charge, other, higher-paid, schmucks are.