What’s your newscast’s SPH?
Cory Bergman August 6th, 2007
That’s stories per hour, DUH. CNN is running a new promo for its morning show, American Morning, that proclaims it has the most “stories per hour” (with a big graphic of “SPH” on the screen). “It’s like listening to a news auction,” jokes Jon Stewart. “People don’t want a few stories thoroughly investigated, they want a lot of stories barely mentioned.”
2 Comments Add your own
1. Safran | August 6th, 2007 at 7:39 am
We need to bottle some kind of lotion with a high SPHPF (Stories Per Hour Protection Factor) to help shield this poor audience.
Lost Remote NewsScreen! With an SPHPF of 100 to give you 100 times the protection you would get if you were watching a newscast that simply ran news without hype.
2. Tim | August 6th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
CNN should also measure QPH / AATBPH (Questions Per Hour, Answer After The Break Per Hours). They (and other so-called news organizations) drive me nuts with the “How can you …” or “Will it …” questions before a commercial, and “We’ll tell you after the break”!!
I watch the news because I have questions like “what happened today?” - not to be presented with more questions!
I once sent e-mail to one of the insitutes (Pew, Poynter) about whether this is measured, but the response indicated they thought I was talking about “banter” between station / channel personnel (and entirely different, but equally aggravating, time-waster).
While I’m on a rant - what about RPSH (Repeat Stories Per Hour)? CNN is great, lately, at taking one story like the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and stretching it from the Situation Room at 5 Eastern all the way through AC 360 which ends at 11. If you were to determine what in that was actual new content (i.e. news), you’d probably come up with one hours.
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