Comments on: Looks worth everything in TV news?

By: Elf

Elf — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:02:24 +0000

Jake and Anonymous: I believe it was determined that the problem only occurs when there’s no www in front of the url. If you sick one in front of the lostremote, the topmenu should work.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 07:54:19 +0000

Jake: I have the same problem, too, and Cory’s aware of it. Nobody seems to have any idea why it happens. It doesn’t happen to everybody. I have Windows and it fails in IE6, IE7, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, and even more obscure ones. (Flock, anyone?)

By: discreet_chaos

discreet_chaos — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:00:33 +0000

After you’ve doubled the number of reporters, bought all the satellite trucks or have equipped everyone with laptops and wireless cards, the price of advertising isn’t going to go down and somebody has to pocket the profit. Perhaps this girl wasn’t worth the money and maybe talent is super-cheap in one of the country’s largest market, but you rather those doing the work get more money than the conglomerates which own the stations?

The BBC sells no advertising and they are financed with tax dollars. They can’t make a profit and nobody’s getting rich. Maybe from a political perspective, we should strive for dispassionate discourse, but they aren’t really a business model.

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:02:21 +0000

Cory,

The “about” tab on the lostremote banner doesn’t work for me on my mac running leopard and firefox. Safari didn’t work either. The “Have a story idea?” link on your main page doesn’t work either. I’ve wanted to send you a story idea today (and a different one several weeks ago) but there is no ’story idea’ link on your site that works.

Jake

By: Z

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:12:05 +0000

“Journalism is no longer immune from the demands of its customers. It will have to compete for them and “pander” to them. And, that’s a good thing.”

Not really. How do you think we got to the place where we run police chases, crime crime crime and water-skiing squirrels?

By: Tonto Weinstein

Tonto Weinstein — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:53:08 +0000

The days of the $700,000 anchor are drawing to a close, regardless of those behaving badly.

TV is looking to scrimp every penny and some day, a wise general manager will realize that the *real* competition doesn’t have any $700,000 talent. In fact, it has hardly any talent at all.

People continue to watch out of habit, weather and the far chance that there will be something of interest. As long as they don’t look like hell, I don’t think it matters. It doesn’t to me.

By: ex-tv

ex-tv — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:49:45 +0000

As a recent TV expatriate, I couldn’t agree more. However, “talent” (and I’ve worked with some great folks, so I’m not bashing them collectively) is not the only area in which TV wastes mindboggling amounts of money for relatively little return - there is also the anachronistic technology. I look at the six-digit satellite truck lumbering down the street with crews in its wake toting five-digit gear, and think, my laptop, aircard, video camera, all can get the same info back, often processed more quickly, for a sliver of the cost. You go to TV for a show, not for efficiently presented information. But even in that context, put the “whatever the viewers want” philosophy in perspective. We’re talking now about whatever the REMAINING viewers want - I watched the overnights in the same market for more than 15 years and the HUT hemorrhage was truly frightening to behold. The winning number for an average evening newscast at the start of that time frame was more than triple what “the dominant number 1″ gets now.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:52:13 +0000

TDC … That is if Larry doesn’t beat him to the punch for ‘unauthorized’ photos.

By: tdc

tdc — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:55:19 +0000

hugh will now offer her 1M to pose nude.

By: Style over Substance

Style over Substance — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:14:45 +0000

I have been preaching to the choir for years. The practice of paying an Alycia Lane $700K annually has to end.

Take a look at her in the picture circulating the ‘net; she is not all that pretty without the makeup, hair spray, and lighting that makes the newsblabber look like a Barbie doll.

Most male GMs should be polled. Why has Lane and others like her not been terminated immediately after being associated with alleged behavior like the recent news? Because they drool over her.

I’d rather get my news from reading it myself for most stories which appear on local news. After all, they are ripped right from the AP. As for the Breaking News of local news, at most, 5% of those apply to me. Most are about issues of utter nonsense.

By: Safran

Safran — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:08:57 +0000

This is the same dimwit who mailed bikini pics of herself to Rich Eisen, who was married and worked at ESPN. You know - the ones his wife intercepted? She has been an Anchor Behaving Badly for years.

Forget about where her $700,000 could be better spent - you could have a blog just on that. Think about this: the same people who say that the internet is ruining journalism are those who think that paying this kind of money is a good idea.

Journalism isn’t dying - just bad journalists.

By: Steve Boriss

Steve Boriss — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:20:54 +0000

For better or worse, news will increasingly be defined by what consumers want, not what journalists think consumers should have. If they want a pretty face to look at, that’s what they will get. Journalism is no longer immune from the demands of its customers. It will have to compete for them and “pander” to them. And, that’s a good thing. (Steve Boriss, TheFutureOfNews.com)

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:24:05 +0000

I love the idea but will it buy ratings? Let’s remember that Nielsen is what determines whether or not your station makes money.

This would be a cool idea for someone to launch independently on the web and then bring it to local cable or TV.

Unless your station is in last place, it’s going to be hard to get GMs / Owners to completely overhaul their news departments during a Presidential election year.

By: jb

jb — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:22:28 +0000

I like how places like BBC refer to their talking heads as “newsreaders” or “presenters” and differentiate that from “journalist” or “reporter.” IMO, at too many local news outfits the anchor is decidedly more the former than the later.

By: !!!

!!! — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:19:58 +0000

Someday they’ll take a pencil to local sports anchors. Our guy is on the air 3 minutes a day and pushes 1/2 mil. That’s two new live trucks a year. And lets face it, a big local sports story is just as easily local news.