Posted 8:14 AM by Gene

Proving that even Metro writers can live the life of Riley on their salaries, one of the intrepid gang who makes sure to litter the streets with their rag on my commute calls up a PRESS ETHICIST from POYN-TER, who makes a POYNT:

“Any time this type of publicity surrounds a news anchor, it is bad for all journalists,” said Poynter Institute broadcasting expert Al Tompkins, who has worked as a television media consultant for 30 years. “It affirms for viewers a belief that TV journalists are more TV than journalists.”...

But the perception that journalists — television reporters, in particular — lack credibility is simply not representative of the industry as a whole, Tompkins said.

“It’s just not true for the vast majority who go out and work hard,” he said. “It’s really sad that this is how people come to know people in TV newsrooms.”

Tell us about all that hard work, Al. Tell us about all the hard work weathermen do grinning and capering and telling bad jokes before the chroma key. Tell us about the hard work it takes for some Fred Flintstone to say coach is a drooling incompetent and must go. Tell us about the hard work standing in a Santa Claus suit or a monkey suit or a Wookiee uniform for the end-of-the-show laugh. Tell us about the hard work tracking down press conferences and copying the police blotter. Tell us about the hard work taking more time combing your hair than John Edwards. Tell us about the hard work being a PROFIT CENTER and a lead-in for Pat and Alex. If this is hard work, with those vastly inflated salaries I'd like some.

And this being Metro the story has no @#$%&* URL either!

P. S.

Consulting clients: ABC Owned and Operated Stations, Telemundo Television Stations; Meredith Television Stations; Scripps Howard Television, NBC owned and operation stations Promotions Directors; Stations; Hearst Argyle Television Stations; Gannett Television Stations; Griffin Communications; NBC Owned and Operated Stations; New York Times Television Stations; Cox Television; Cox Cable, Cox Washington DC Bureau, RUV TV (Iceland), Belo Television Stations; Freedom Newspapers of Florida, Freedom Newspapers of North Carolina, The Raleigh News & Observer, Shurz Broadcast stations, Radio and Television News Directors Association; RTNDA Canada; Radio and Television News Directors Foundation; The Ford Foundation; Hampton University, Kings University, Belmont University, Western Kentucky University, Middle Tennessee State University

Alabama Broadcasters Association; Arkansas Broadcasters Association; Oklahoma Broadcasters Association; Hawaii Association of Broadcasters; Texas Association of Broadcasters; Ohio AP Broadcasters Association; Pennsylvania Broadcasters Association; Illinois Broadcasters Association; Washington State Broadcasters Association; Georgia Broadcasters Association; Tennessee Broadcasters Association; Louisiana Broadcasters Association; New York State Broadcasters Association; West Virginia Broadcasters Association; Missouri Broadcasters Association; Virginia Broadcasters Association; North Carolina Broadcasters Association; South Carolina Association of Broadcasters; Wisconsin Broadcasters Association; Iowa Broadcasters Association;Oregon Broadcasters, North Carolina Press Association, Alaska Broadcasters Association, New Mexico Broadcasters Association

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences -- NATAS (Pennsylvania); NATAS (Washington DC); NATAS (Miami); WMC-TV; WSB-TV; KXAS-TV; KHOU-TV; WNEM-TV; KPHO-TV; WEWS-TV; WPTV-TV; WESH-TV; WKMG-TV; WTVW-TV; WPBF-TV; WHO-TV; KWTV-TV; WZZM-TV; WNEP-TV; WTKR-TV; KTHV-TV; KCTV-TV; WGAL; WTVF; WSBT

Lots of HARD WORK ya got there, Al!

P. P. S.

From the mid-1970s to the present, newscasts have been fierce battlegrounds for viewer loyalty. Stations earn a substantial portion of their revenue from their newscasts and aggressively promote their news through the day. Popular syndicated entertainment programming leading into newscasts is used to deliver viewers to a station's news product, and a popular newscast, in turn, boosts ratings for an entire evening's programming. Stations peddle newscasts and newscasters with billboards and other local media. But when programming and promotional strategies fail, stations turn to high paid hired guns to deliver the audience.

These "news doctors", or news consultants, are blamed for most of the ills of TV news. As station owners added or expanded newscasts, or launched a new drive for market dominance, they have consistently turned from the expertise of their own managers to the expertise of consultants with a track record of ratings increases and a supposedly scientific approach. The best known consulting firm is Frank N. Magid and Associates, but there are dozens of others. For several tens of thousands of dollars these firms conduct viewer surveys and focus groups. The results--a vague indication of what a few viewers think they like--are used to rebuild newscasts from the ground up. Newscasts are made "marketable."

The gimmicks offered by consultants or newly hired news directors have usually included some combination of the following: News sets may be rebuilt to be more modern, homey, or just bigger than the competition's. Newscasters and reporters are often fired and replaced and if not, are always "remade" in appearance and on-air persona. Consultants maintain vast nationwide videotape files of news talent, and records of their respective ratings, to help clients find the perfect personalities. News directors and other managers are often replaced. Music, graphics, and other aesthetic elements are updated, sometimes requiring extravagant equipment upgrades.

Finally, a new format is usually adopted. The most grating of these, known as "happy talk" (usually under the "Eyewitness News" designation), has mercifully died away in most markets. At its height in the late 1970s, the format sacrificed the delivery of information for almost non-stop witty, sometimes prurient, banter between attractive, if cerebrally vacant, on-air personalties.

Other common formats, some still in evidence, include "Action News", with quick young reporters and barely edited video of the day's highly visual carnage, or "News Center", emphasizing reporting and relevance to viewers. Live news coverage, as stations acquire the technology, is invariably made the newscast's raison d'etre. This often puts reporters in ridiculous situations, filing live reports from long deserted locations, without the depth and quality a pre-produced report would provide. These trends evidence the emphasis on entertainment which has pervaded local and regional TV news.

Which may help explain....

P. P. P. S. MORE HARD WORK:

Philadelphia media personalities sometimes make the news themselves.

Howard Eskin. The hard-charging WIP/NBC10 sports reporter has often been in hot water; it really boiled over after his friendship with a woman who was later murdered by her husband.

Cecily Tynan. The Action News weathercaster left a nasty voice mail on the answering machine of her fiance's ex-wife - who released the tape.

Tom Burlington. The Fox29 anchor was taken off the air indefinitely after reportedly using the N-word during a news meeting.

Mike Missanelli. WIP fired the host after he roughed up a producer.

Sharon Reed. NBC10 dismissed the reporter/anchor after she reportedly threatened a colleague by e-mail.

Monica Malpass. The 6ABC anchor made headlines during her long-running divorce case.

John Bolaris. The weathercaster, who starts next month on Fox29, was a one-man gossip bonfire while at NBC10: reports of nightclub dustups, a celebrated romance with singer Lauren Hart, and a child with former NBC10 anchor Tiffany McElroy.

Jessica Savitch. The Kennett Square native became a star at KYW-TV before being hired away by NBC. Rumors of drug use peaked after a slurred on-air appearance in 1983. Less than a month later Savitch drowned when the car she was riding in plunged into a canal in Bucks County.

Sorry for such a lengthy post but when these POYNTER types get on their high horses....

P. S. On 5/31/2008: I found the URL -- on Yahoo!