Can You Hear Me Now?

In the changing face of digital technology comes a new enemy to the quality of your news: the audio condenser. What this evil little box does is open any mic that is routed into it every time it hears a sound. Why does that matter? Oh....yea of little inside news information!

Your news anchors have little side conversations during main weather (and commercial breaks and packages as well...but those won't make it to air). They also cough, sneeze, clear their throats incessantly, and type like mad on the computer responding to the latest Facebook post. All of that will be added to your soundtrack of what you hear during the local news. Why are news stations going this route? Well...about 40% of local stations decided to go with an automation system in the past few years. And computers do EXACTLY what they are told (and we just LOVE that about machines...here's a wonderful example of that LOVE...but I digress)! So...computers...doing exactly what they are told to do..clip mics. Because the mic has to "ramp up" - which means the little slider (like you see in the above pic) has to go from 0 to whatever level you need it at to hear the anchor clearly - and the anchors try to keep a newscast as tight as possible - you have a clip of their mic at the beginning of every story. In comes the audio condenser to save the day!

So while news stations try to fix a computer with another computer (because humans cost too much...although they do the job correctly)...you get to hear all of the background noise that was previously reserved for just the studio crew. Lucky you! *cough*


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News Exchange Partners

Several years ago news viewers started hearing about their local stations newspaper exchange partners. Some people wondered why certain stations chose certain newspapers to align themselves, and why ALL local stations now seem to have one partner or several. Newspapers are hurting terribly in recent years. Weekly circulation is down almost 5 %. While the number or web viewers is on the rise, making money off of those viewers is proving difficult for newspapers and news stations alike. So why join forces in what seems to be a more competitive market for your viewership? The reason is quite simple: money.

The majority of news is originated and gathered by newspaper reporters. That fact hasn't changed much over the years. Add to that fact that newspapers and news stations alike are cutting staff to save money.....and partnerships (where a tv station pays a local paper for their information) makes sense.

Every market has a dominating tv station and a dominating newspaper. When the two align forces to bring you your news, it can be devastating to the other competitors. Don't be surprised in the next decade or two if you see these types of partnerships pushing the rest of competition out of the market completely, leaving just one set of news gatherers to bring you the news. Do you run the risk of news bias that way? ABSOLUTELY! But when the bottom line is staring them in the face do you really think the bosses care about something as small as fairness in news? Come on....be honest now!

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The Heart Of It All

In the center of every newsroom across the country lies a large desk, riddled with scanner chatter from the many speakers the lie on it. This is the assignment desk, where the majority of news gathering takes place. The assignment desk can make or break a station. If you have a successful one, where the workers, or assignment editors, are smooth at getting details out of local police stations, are adept in getting all of the details down from a viewers tip, or they catch every important thing that comes across the scanners, your local news station will be top notch at bringing you all of the breaking news of the day.

If the assignment editors are slow, or distracted -even for a moment- your newscast suffers. Take , for example, a recent story where someone jumped from a tall office building in Pittsburgh. While it came across the scanners, it was not an assignment editor who heard it, but rather a reporter sitting next to the assignment desk. Had he not been sitting there to bring that blip to someones attention, the station would have been scooped, and while they would have had the story later, later is the kiss of death in local news.

So the next time you call in a news tip and wonder why the person on the other end of the line sounds like they have a touch of ADD...just understand that that means they are good at running the assignment desk!

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Experience? Pshaw! We don't need no friggin' experience!

When I hear young people say they want to work in news.....my reaction is typically...shall we say...less than enthusiastic. It's not that the job market is lacking for them. On the contrary, for fresh young people right out of college willing to work long hours for little pay and no benefits the sky is the limit. It's just that - where do you go from there? The trend I see is these young people (replacing people with decades of experience due to retirements or the company pushing people out to save money) end up burning out on jobs that offer little job security. A few lucky ones do end up getting full time positions, but the majority of them change careers.

And why should any of this matter to you - the news viewer? Because as stations across the country lose experience to make way for these low paid workers, the quality of your newscast goes down as well. In the past 12 months I have literally had 5 people train on a newscast....and I say train figuratively. There is little actual training. It's more of a 'let's push you out of this boat and see if you can swim' approach. So the next time you are watching the news and see a typo, or hear a story that just doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense....you now know the reason why. And get used to youtube quality video. With the invention of the portable live shot , where quality takes a back seat to convenience, and the influx of viewer shot video, it seems this trend is here to stay.

Engrish Dammit!

One of the worst things that plagues newsrooms across the country is that seasoned writers either move up the chain by becoming producers, or move on to new careers. The majority of writers, or AP's, in newsrooms are fresh out of college, who spend more time posting about their new career on Twitter or Facebook then they do learning how to use the spellcheck.

Now, one would think that if you went to school as a communication or journalism major, than English would be one of your strong points. WRONG! And here's what absolutely drives me up a friggin wall -- not only do the majority of these writers have difficulty spelling, they fail to rely on spellcheck, relying on their own ego instead. Due to that we get gems like the one posted here - Child bit by car!?!?!?! While that would make for a *FABULOUS* story..I somehow doubt that was the intended text.

The station I work at has a wall of shame covered with screen captures of some of these gems. Entire websites are dedicated to calling out bad spellers. My take on the whole thing? If you are WRITING for a living...then you either:
a) Need to learn how to spell
or
b) Need to make friends with spell check or dictionary.com .

Attack of the Shadow People!

So there's been this recent trend among interviewees in news where they have no problem TALKING to the the reporters, but they really don't want their face shown. Now - I can understand if they fear retaliation , like when talking about a neighbor suspected in a murder or gang crime, but when talking about a fire? Or car accident? Come on people!

There is a lack of credibility among people who have something to say, but don't want acknowledged as being the person who said it. Stand behind your words! Perhaps if neighbors were more willing to take a stand and face whatever comes their way due to their statement we wouldn't have some of the neighborhood issues we have. I'm willing to bet these same people who refuse to show their face on camera are among the same group of people who witness a crime, but refuse to call police and report it.

If you don't want to be on the news, then don't talk to reporters! Today we literally had 5 people in the 5pm-6:30pm newscast who were talking shadows and were supered as "Voice of: Concerned Neighbor". Come out of the shadows and talk to reporters if you really want to put your 2 cents in. Otherwise stay home.

It's a fish! It's a boat! No wait...it's a deer! Break into programming!

So a few weeks ago there was a deer found to be swimming in a local reservoir. Apparently some people frightened it and it jumped over the fence and into the reservoir, where it was unable to escape as the reservoir is surrounded by sloped walls. Concerned witnesses called animal control, and ultimately a nearby crew with a small boat was able to lead the deer out of the water.
http://www.wpxi.com/video/23511356/index.html
This was a nice, cute story with a happy ending. Something you might expect to see as a short story...or even as a newscast "kicker"...right? WRONG. This was big time breaking news! All of the local stations cut into local programming to alert everyone to the deer's predicament. Then they led the evening newscasts with the story of the deer. (It must have been a VERY slow news day!). Local tv critics had a field day commenting on the placement of the story:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10134/1058008-67.stm
So what do you think? Was this really a story worthy of leading a newscast? Or are we really that dumbed down as an audience that we will take interesting video over a good story anyday? I really hope that isn't the case...but with reality programs being as popular as they are.....
*sigh*

Bear Watch 2010

With most of the Western PA area covered by wooded areas, you would think spotting a bear now and then wouldn't be a big deal. Well..you've got that one wrong! Instead, local media has gone cukoo for bear stories, adding them to the newscasts whenever we can get video and/or pictures of the dastardly fellows. Why bears enthrall the newsroom and viewers alike is beyond me. Could you imagine the hype over, say, a deer? Oh wait..there was...more on that later.

So bears are coming into people's yeards looking for food. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the problem is not the bears...it's the humans.

They put out bird feeders in the summer, which game officials call "bear lollipops." They leave garbage or pet food outside, then panic when they see a furry intruder roaming through their yards, making their dogs bark.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06226/713320-85.stm#ixzz0t8i44Jbs

So if the people who live near wooded areas would only follow simple tips, and remove all bear accesible food from their yards...the problem would cease. I guess Western PA is full of the same silly people who go to Yellowstone every year and can't understand why bears come up to their campsites looking for food. Every year, Yellowstone park officials remind visitors to:

keep food, garbage, barbecue grills and other attractants stored in hard-sided vehicles or bear-proof food storage boxes when not in use. This helps keep bears from becoming conditioned to human foods and helps keep park visitors and their property safe.
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_44bdd06a-8610-11df-9afb-001cc4c002e0.html

..and yet we ultimately hear the stories of how yet another bear had to be captured and relocated. So people...let this be your lesson. Stop putting food out for woodland creatures...and the woodland creatures will stop being news.