Okay, even I didn’t think you’d bend over this far.

I never used the word “art.”

I said “quality.”

But you can’t defend the work that comes from these shops–both in writing and shooting–so you go back to your old “art/PBS/Spielberg” line.

Preaching that the best way to save money is to adopt a system that produces a lesser product for 20 years is nothing to take pride in.

The way corporate America works, I have no doubt you’ll win, because cheaper always trumps better.

And then the ratings will tank even further.

You’ll be so proud.

Yes.

I get it. To you, news consists of sending lots of people out to take lots of pictures.

To me, it takes a lot more than carrying a camcorder to be a journalist. (It also takes more than owning a paintbrush to make one an artist, and more than owning a PC to make one a writer.)

And you cut-and-paste from yourself, pal.

Just because something may be inevitable doesn’t make that thing a positive change, and this is one of those cases.

I recently ran a bootcamp in DC. I had 40 people in it. So every day, I sent 40 people with cameras to cover DC. Do you realize that during the bootcamp, I was effectively running the biggest local news operation in DC? And for what cost?

It is over.

Change or die.

–and a truckload of stories you wouldn’t want to have to watch coming from them.

Quantity, not quality. Want to stuff a newscast? Great!

Want viewers to watch it? Good luck. They’re smarter than that.

But i saw something interesting the other day —

Our desk swaps emails with KRON every day about what they’re on and what we’re on to see if there’s anything we’re interested in. About a week ago I saw their rundown and it was STACKED. They really did have like 20 reporters that day.

I would kill to have that many people. If I lose a little video quality to do it I may still say the station, and the viewer, comes out ahead.

That said, the two times in recent memory I took something from KRON to cut down, the video SUCKED. It was OK to cut down to an e block vo, but I can’t believe they aired those packages — it was the sort of stuff that I wouldn’t have aired when I worked in market 195.

And if we were talking about “citizen news,” your cut-and-pasted boilerplate might even be relevant. But we aren’t–we’re talking about what YOU do.

You go into TV newsrooms and convince the management to cut costs by cutting staff and swapping around jobs.

Your schtick is not about “empowering the people.” Your is about making big bucks (remember VOA?) by convincing corporate bosses you can save them money, if they pay you to do it.

Don’t try to pretend you do something noble.

Television is no free press. The cost of the cameras and edits for years have kept television, our most powerful medium, concentrated in the hands of the select few. That, more than anything else, is why the content has, since its inception, been unmititgated crap. The standards are so low, and have been so low for so long that we are willing to tolerate just about anything as TV news - just turn on your local fare or the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric if you need proof of the triumph of mediocrity on TV.

These small cameras and edits will unleash millions - just as typewriters unleashed millions of potential writers. Will most of them be garbage you bet! Will a few create the kind of content that you have never seen before ? It is inevitable - and for a democracy absolutely necessary.

I know free presses are mess - they are supposed to be.

But this is not the Soviet Union. The idea that we would turn over the most powerful medium of communication the world has ever known to the likes of Matt Lauer and Mike Wallace, and declare that they are somehow the ‘elect voice of God’ is an act of cultural suicide.

Now, a million, ten million cameras are going to go forth. Its going to be a very different world. And thank God for that.

And that is what I mean when I say you are a dinosaur. Not that one guy with a small camera will replace on crew. On the contrary, a thousand, ten thousand (Youtube already has more than 100 milliion videos - and they are just getting started)…..

The days of “THE VOICE OF GOD NEWS” are coming to a close.

And not a minute too soon.

If you don’t believe me, just tune into Katie tonight and take a look.

No, I am a journalist who is tired of seeing cost-cutting measures hack away at our ability to report the news well.

Your question proves that you really don’t get it. You assume that the only people who would have an opnion on this are those who might lose their jobs or whose jobs might change as a result of it.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Moving station ratings takes a very long time. Years. I’ve seen so many attempts at moving the needle that did little. The biggest change is when a network improves.

But what does change dramatically is a station’s financial picture. VJs do not, not, not mean instant #1 ratings. But neither do set changes, new anchors or a graphics package that screams “Doppler 1,000,000!” It all takes a tremendous amount of time.

I am always concerned about the quality of journalism. I hope that anyone who has read LR for any amount of time recognizes that the capital J journalism comes first here. I have seen plenty of VJ pieces from KRON and WKRN. I dare say I’ve seen more than most people who debate them. Are there times when a full crew is best? Absolutely. Are there times when one person can do the job? Again, absolutely.

Adding VJs gives a station flexibility. In the case of ABC News (again, that’s the topic here, right?) it gives them bureaus where they could afford none. Please tell me what is wrong with that?

It’s not about the “Vs.”