How To Own Your Top Story

by Terry Segal on July 7, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Presentation

Top Story
photo by Bob Jagendorf

You’ve got your top story for this evening. Now, go own it. Treating the top news story with a single reporter package adds nothing to your news “cred.” The other guys are taking the same approach.

Be different. You need to provide more insight and value. Give viewers additional items. You need to own the story. Here are five ways to make it happen:

Personalize the story

How does the story affect people? Report the event through a personal story.

Find a parent affected by the cutback in school lunches. Find a commuter affected by the road closure. Find a business owner affected by the utility rate hike.

News becomes more relevant when people put a face on developments. People relate to people, not disconnected ideas.

Put the news into context

What does it mean? Make sure viewers understand the impact of events on their lives. Experts can help with tricky subjects.

Talk to a financial planner on what employees can do with retirement accounts after a local plant announces its closure. Speak to a defense attorney to explain legal options for a person just indicted for a crime. Let a consumer affairs expert outline warranty options for car owners after the local dealership has shuttered.

Make the package more than a “talking head.” Personalize the story. Interaction between the affected party and the expert can add a human touch.

Add perspective

How did we get to this place? Giving the history and/or background of events leading up to the news can prove illuminating. A history lesson is warranted for events that have taken months or years to unfold.

Background stories showcase your grasp of issues. They provide viewers with a timeline that highlights your news depth and commitment.

Look forward

Where do we go from here? A news event is often the first step in a long journey. Give viewers a look into that future. Twists and turns may await them – make sure that you point them out.

Suppose your city council just increased property taxes. Will the property tax hike force more foreclosures? Will businesses find the city too expensive for relocation? What city services are likely to avoid cutbacks? Will revenue from this hike protect the city’s bond rating?

Viewers don’t expect that you have a magic crystal ball. You can’t predict the future, but you can alert them to its possibilities.

Get viewers involved

Ask for immediate feedback from viewers. Internet polling, email solicitation, Twitter reaction, etc. provide a hi-tech “man on the street” equivalent. Give your audience a feel for how fellow viewers are reacting.

Today’s viewers want to participate in news. They’re aware that you can make this involvement happen. Seize the opportunity.

Savvy businesses recognize that customer interaction is now a two-way channel. Consumer loyalty and satisfaction is highly influenced by the quality of that dialogue.

Provide opportunities for viewers to interact with you. Stations providing that connection will ultimately prosper.

Every station has a top story. It’s often the same item across all stations on a
given night. Your job is to convince viewers that your presentation offers more value and insight. Otherwise, why watch?

Make a difference. Own your top story.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Seven Sins of On-Air Promotion

by Terry Segal on July 6, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Marketing

Promotion Sins
photo by shikeroku

Why does some on-air news promotion fall flat? Even with the best of intentions, the end results fail to move viewers. Blame the poor results on the following seven sins.

Poor understanding and knowledge of the product

You cannot sell what you don’t know. Effective salespeople know their product backward and forward. Promotion/creative services people need the same insight regarding news.

What differentiates your news from the competition? What elements are considered its strengths? These aspects are the ones you highlight.

The same approach works for individual story promotion. What’s the hook? Find out from the reporter and/or producer. It’s their responsibility to know that information. They do you and the news effort a disservice if they don’t.

Promotion and creative services people often cringe when identified as “sales people”. That’s unfortunate. Promotion is sales. Consider another line of work if that makes you feel uncomfortable. You’ll fail to reach your potential thinking otherwise.

Target audience not taken into account

Your promotion should appeal to the likely program viewer. This targeting especially holds true for individual stories aimed at specific audience segments. Make sure you know what type of viewer your newscast is chasing after.

Newscasts sometimes have a different feel depending upon the daypart. A lighter, more easygoing morning newscast needs promotion that captures that feel.

Visuals get in the way of the message

Don’t let the visuals overwhelm your message. Visuals are used as cover when the messaging is weak or nonexistent. Overpowering visuals can’t compensate if the viewer is left ignorant regarding the purpose of the promotion.

Super Bowl commercials are a prime example of this problem. Viewers talk about the spots from a production standpoint, but can’t recall the product or service.

The result? A waste of time and money.

Uninspired Copy

The writing lacks the color, urgency, and specifics to make the product stand out. Every promo producer should burn the following rule into their mind when it comes to creating copy for TV:

Write for radio.

People aren’t necessarily glued to the TV watching. It’s often a background companion.

Write descriptive copy that is crisp and clear for those only listening. Do so and you’ll also heighten its effectiveness for those watching at the same time.

Doesn’t include a “call for action”

Make sure viewers know when they can watch. Tell and remind them. Reinforce the info both visually and audibly (remember the “write for radio” suggestion).

It’s sales time again. Effective salespeople ask for the order – it’s the only way you get it.

Opens weak / ends weak

First and last impressions are the strongest. You only have a limited amount of time to entice viewers. Grab them immediately with strong visuals and/or compelling copy. Leave them with a powerful ending.

Which is more effective? I always favor the strong open. You grab them at the beginning because there’s no guarantee they’ll be around at the end. Consider it insurance.

However, a great open increases the chances of them sticking around and you get a second chance to impress them.

Try not to make this decision an “either or” proposition. Make sure that you do at least one – preferably both.

Tries to do too much

Limit each spot to one message only. This approach conveys the message more clearly to viewers. Multiple ideas compete against each other and weaken their impact with viewers.

Know in advance the one takeaway for viewers and produce material to that end.

A lot is expected of you. You’re asked to make it happen in 15 or 30 seconds.

Meet those expectations. Avoid these seven sins for more effective on-air news promotion.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Warning! News Viewers Take Control

by Terry Segal on July 3, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Insight

control
photo by altemark

The shrinking audiences and revenue that buffet local news mirror the wrenching changes being felt in other businesses. The underlying reason is important to note for it has fundamentally changed the way consumers interact with your product.

You are no longer in control. Your customers, your viewers, are.

Before the internet, many businesses operated in and benefited from an era of economic scarcity. This arrangement meant that consumers had limited options for satisfying their needs. They were often restricted to local merchants and product inventories that carried only the most popular choices.

Someone with distinct or unusual demands had a difficult time finding products, if they could be found at all. Business innovation and risk taking was stunted because the prevailing conditions generated satisfactory profits.

Business – especially television – used to control the playing field. Not anymore.

People have now gained control over their viewing behavior. Look at how your business has changed. It’s morphed from viewers having a choice of three to four channels to hundreds. The act of watching video has moved from one device (TV) to many (desktop, notebook, smartphone, iPod, slingbox, etc.)

People now have a choice of when to watch, thanks to TiVo, VOD, Hulu, TV.com, etc. Your website grants them access to news 24/7.

Heavens…news now gets distributed without you as the middleman. The role that Twitter played in the Iranian election protests is a harbinger of things to come. The issue isn’t how big a role that Twitter actually played as it was its unquestioned ability to spread information. That has significant implications for you regarding live, breaking coverage.

The age of economic scarcity has ended. Viewers now have the upper hand in determining how they feed their information appetite.

Access to news has exploded beyond its availability on your channel at 5p, 6p, 10p, or 11p. Mobile alerts, email notification, and web updates keep viewers continuously informed. Your station represents only one ship in a sea of options.

How is your news effort adapting to this new situation? Does your station…

  • have multiple options to alert viewers to breaking news?
  • provide more than warmed over video on its website?
  • recognize that a viewer’s relationship with news has become more participatory?
  • understand that viewers expect more and are less forgiving when you fall short?
  • recognize that your on-air newscast is just one platform in a world where multiple options have become the norm?
  • understand how powerful the concepts of immediacy and convenience have become to news consumers?

Your world has changed. And it’s not going back to the way it was.

Adapt your news strategy and tactics to this change. Ignore it at your own peril.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Beware This News Format

by Terry Segal on July 2, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Presentation

Beware News Format
photo by kevindooley

Imagine you’re a comedian giving a thirty minute show. Would you use all of your best jokes in the first ten minutes only to limp through the remainder of your program?

Of course not. You’d gain a reputation as being light on material. Your approach means a promising career never gets off the ground. No headliner status for you.

Stations unwittingly do the same when they use “11@11″, or some variant of it, when formatting and marketing their late news (if you’re unfamiliar with “11 @11″, the format promises to deliver the key news and weather, commercial free, within a specified number of minutes at the top of the newscast). The implied viewer benefit is convenience because the station respects the audience’s time. Especially at this late hour.

Stations never use the format for an extended period of time. No surprise – it doesn’t pay off. It’s a flawed strategy. A lot of time and money go to waste.

You can’t build a business when you devalue the very product you’re selling. In this case, it’s your news reputation.

Viewers get the wrong message despite the good intentions. Stations think the audience will appreciate the opportunity to watch for a limited time and still feel fully informed.

The real viewer takeaway?

Your newscast is bloated with fill. It lacks substance and value. If a viewer only has to watch for eleven minutes, what does that say about the news value of the other two-thirds?

Not much.

The concept inflicts more damage than competitors ever did to your late news image.

Find better ways to differentiate your news.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Curiosity – The Trait That Makes Reporters Great

by Terry Segal on July 1, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Reporting

Curiosity
photo by sytoha / Syed Touhid Hassan

Successful reporters possess traits and skills that make them special. Persistence, great writing, and gut instinct come to mind. All important, but there’s one trait that I’ll take over all the others.

Curiosity.

Curious people make great reporters. It’s a trait that you need to discover when evaluating potential employees and reviewing your current staff.

Curious people approach life in ways that make great reporting possible:

They ask questions. “Why?” is a favorite. Who’s more curious than children? No one. Notice how often they use “Why?” Asking questions gathers information and breaks down barriers. Curious people do it as a second nature.

They possess a healthy dose of skepticism. First answers to questions aren’t gospel or the final say. They’ll approach issues from different angles until they feel satisfied. Skepticism leads to probing, a vital tool for effective reporters.

They see issues as continually evolving, never resolved. The world never stands still to a curious person since another question or explanation always surfaces. That leads to ongoing exploration and an ability to ferret out information that normally stays undercover.

They view the world with a richer perspective. Their ongoing exploration widens their worldly outlook and provides perspective lost to a more closed person. It gives them an advantage in asking key questions and making sense of hidden meanings.

They’re less fearful. Their worldly views are less rigid than others so they’re willing “to go places” that could upset their current perspective. This freedom allows questions and discoveries unleased from the need to maintain the staus quo. Non-curious people shy away from situations and information that shatter their current world view.

They go where others won’t and don’t. Discoveries and insight happen on less beaten paths, far from where the masses gather. Curious people live in that world. We need their courage and ease in dealing with it to make it safe and understood by those who avoid it.

Someone once suggested that people with these characteristics are difficult to manage. They’re not big on rules or following orders.

What’s the downside?

Passive, “do it by the book” employees don’t ruffle feathers. Neither do they take the prudent risks that any growing business needs.

Make your choice. Do you want to thrive or merely survive?

I’ll take the challenge of “reigning in” highly motivated people over the option of trying to further push and energize competent people any day.

How many of your reporters are curious? Your producers? Your newsroom? The more you have, the more you stand to succeed.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Three Things to Avoid in Late News Updates

by Terry Segal on June 30, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Presentation

Late News
photo by tomt6788

It’s not good for business or morale when the late newscast rehashes the earlier program. Stations use a variety of tactics to give each a distinct flavor. Yet, efforts to distinguish between the two sometimes cause more harm than good. It’s time again to question certain news conventions.

“New” is a Double Edged Sword

Some stations flag stories in their late newscast with the tag, “New at 11″ or “New at 10″. I don’t get it. What does that say about the other stories? Are they “old?”

The solution? Tag stories from to convey a “bonus” orientation rather than setting up an old vs. new comparison. You still get credit for updated late news material without diminishing the value of other stories.

The purpose in tagging such material is to demonstrate that the late news is not a repeat of the earlier edition. Alert viewers to new material and you convince them of that fact.

Yet the terminology seems contradictory. It emphasizes the problem rather than correcting it. Stations don’t flag any stories in their earlier newscast with tags like “New at 6″ or “New at 5.”

How about “11:00 Extra” or “More at 11″ or “11:00 Bonus”? All suggest that you’ve added these stories to the late program. You also avoid hinting that the other news is a carryover from earlier in the day.

Whatever you call it, make sure the news is truly fresh for the late broadcast. I’m writing this post after watching a local station introduce video shot during the afternoon as a “New Development.” in their late news. No updated copy or reporter tag. It’s not a “New Development” at 11pm if your video was shot at 12 noon and not updated.

Live Reports Leave Reporters Stranded

What’s wrong with the following technique used to make the late news appear more updated? A reporter does a live shot at the scene of a story that ran earlier in the day. The reporter stands in front of a darkened building that viewers are unable to see. The reporter makes reference to the building by pointing over his or her shoulder as if to convince viewers of its location.

The reporter intros the package which features daytime footage. The package often runs without re-editing from its earlier version. The reporter signs off and the anchor moves on to another story.

The live component looks forced as viewers wonders why the reporter is placed in front of a location they can’t see. Little is added in the way of new information. Truth is, the story could easily have been delivered in-studio or even by an anchor leadin.

Wouldn’t it validate the live component if the anchor asked the reporter a question that updated developments? Why send a reporter live offsite and then not interact with him or her?

You need to use live trucks to justify their purchase. You also need to use them in a fashion that better showcases their value to viewers.

Weather Recap Woes

Someone once said that weathercasts aren’t history lessons. Nowhere is that truer than in the late evening. Viewers are focused on tomorrow – especially parents and commuters looking for early morning conditions. Focus your weathercast on giving viewers a look ahead. That’s where their attention lies.

Recaps of highs/lows around the viewing area come across as old news. So does an almanac of the day’s conditions. This issue is even more pertinent when weather conditions fall within the norms. You’re giving viewers even less valuable information when taking this approach.

A day featuring extraordinary conditions doesn’t change the orientation of late evening weather. Such conditions warrant coverage earlier in the newscast.

Make sure the weathercast focuses on the future. That’s true for every weathercast, but especially so late night. It’s not the time of day for a look back.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Grow Your News With Niche Content

by Terry Segal on June 29, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Insight

Niche Content
photo by tinou bao

You’ve heard it a million times – we live in a niche world. The internet has both broadened our world and shrunk it at the same time. You can drill down to the most specific qualifier (organic, free trade, South American, ground, decaffeinated coffee) and not feel limited by the physical location of the supplier. You want it, you got it.

Your viewers can satisfy almost any taste or desire, no matter how unusual.

TV news struggles against this backdrop. Its business model embraces that of the mass merchant. The aim is deliver tonnage. Precision is not a criteria.

Carving the audience into 18-49 and 25-54 segments doesn’t qualify as niche
marketing. Never did. I used to remind people that Grace Slick of Jefferson
Airplane and Tricia Nixon both fell into the women 18-49, college educated, high socioeconomic demo. How precise is that?

The current sales model for local TV news won’t support further slicing of the audience. It’s geared to delivering as many bodies as possible.

So, the product continues to aim at being all things to all people. Too many
stations run similar stories and offer almost identical weather forecasts. News formats run together with even commercial breaks occurring at the same time.

The trend is toward offering more sameness. Video news sharing arrangements have sprouted in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Tampa to name a few. Will the process free up resources to craft other stories, or simply be used to cut costs?

Mass is becoming smaller now. It’s time to think niche to get bigger.

How Niche Thinking Succeeds

Incorporating niche thinking into the sales process may be difficult. Not so in the programming and production arena. Your ability to grow news ratings depends on your success in adding niche content to your news.

Forget about appealing to your entire DMA. Especially if you’re chasing the news leader. They already beat you there.

Recognize there are pockets and clusters of viewers within your market that are receptive to newscasts that meet their interests. They’re waiting for you. Target them and satisfy their demands.

Here are two such examples from my days at GOCOM. KSPR was a distant third in news in Springfield, Missouri. Springfield is a midsize market from a population standpoint, but a big one in terms of geographic area.

Our niche solution was to concentrate our news coverage in Springfield and cede the rest of the DMA to the competition. The station became totally Springfield-centric. Our news trucks never left this defined area.

We even produced other local programming that highlighted Springfield activities. The station soon recorded its highest news ratings in history.

The newscast also began with a one minute weather segment that gave viewers a complete seven day forecast. Right at the top. If you wanted weather news, you didn’t have to wait. This segment didn’t tease the forecast, it gave you the details in full glory.

Springfield news and weather – the news niche. The station got bigger by thinking smaller.

Thnking niche drove our Chico, California station from third place to first in news in one rating book.

Chico stations compete in a split market with Redding and Chico. We identified that the viewers living between both cities in the area called North Valley felt underserved by all news stations.

Our news effort focused on this area and its viewers. The station even changed its call letters to KNVN – North Valley News. The first place results speak for themselves. KNVN found success exploiting a niche.

Find and create your niches. Some are subject oriented. Some are geography based.

All require a change in thinking. Giving up the concept of being all things to all people. That thinking embraces the mass appeal concept that worked when people only had three or four sources for news.

Other news and information sources cater to your viewer’s specific interests. They’ve grown accustomed to this attention. Your news must take a similar approach.

Offer specific targeted news to key segments of your audience. You’ll grow your numbers and build the loyalty so critical to your future success.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Promotion Myth That is Killing Your News

by Terry Segal on June 26, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Marketing

Promotion Myth
photo by aussiegall

A lot of time and money is wasted on ineffective news promotion. I’m not referring to poor messaging or weak production values. They matter, but they’re not the issue here..

No, I’m referring to a fundamental misconception about the influence of promotion. It’s a myth that once recognized will alter your entire promotion stategy.

Pick a subject in which you undeniably have no interest. For me, it’s opera. Got yours?

Now suppose you view a series of on-air promotion spots that showcase a program on that subject. These spots are the best quality spots you’ve ever seen. Stunning visuals. Captivating copy. Placement that catches you time and again.

Guess what? In my case, I’m still not watching the program on opera. Are you planning to watch the program on your uninteresting subject? Probably not.

Therein lies the issue. The myth exposed – that well crafted promotion will get people to watch your program. In your case, your news.

Here’s the real truth – promotion can’t change a person’s mind. Read that again – promotion can’t change a person’s mind.

If someone has no interest in your news, no amount of promotion will change that. No matter how good you think it is.

Get Inside Your Viewers’ Mind

The real value of promotion is two fold. First, it serves an alert to those predisposed or favorable to watching your news. Call it a program reminder.

Second, it reinforces their decision about watching your news. You’re patting them on the back for their wise choice.

These values have nothing to do with changing a person’s mind. They deal more with connecting with what is already IN THE MIND.

Bottom line? Your promotion is ineffective unless you:

  • have a clear understanding of why people watch you.
  • showcase the specific elements that attract people to your news.
  • use a consistent strategy that integrates the two preceding points.

Focus on your strengths. Promotion that emphasizes these attributes resonates with your viewers. They’re receptive because they already perceive you in that manner. You’re not asking them to change their view.

Producing great spots with no consistent message or no intended audience (everybody doesn’t count) doom you. You’re betting that you change people’s minds. History is littered with companies that tried to do so and failed.

Ford Edsel. New Coke. Crystal Pepsi. McDonald’s Arch Deluxe.

Promotion doesn’t work that way. Give up the myth.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Ratings or Share – Which is More Important?

by Terry Segal on June 25, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Research

Ratings and Share
photo by The Artifex

Everyone always talks about ratings when gauging the success of a television product. Local news is no different. Yet, pay attention to another measurement – share of audience – to get a complete understanding of how you’re doing.

From a programming perspective, losing share represents a true setback. It means that you’ve lost your hold on the audience.

Let’s quickly define the terms rating(s) and share. Skip ahead if you’re familiar with how they’re determined. Be honest, though. I spent fifteen years in research and was often surprised at how many industry people misunderstood how these measurements were calculated, or what they truly represent.

Ratings are the currency of sales. Your station’s revenue is based on your ratings for specific demographic groups (referred to as “demos.”). A rating is the percentage of a defined demo in your market that watched your news.

Let’s say your market population had an estimated 100 people in the 25-54 age category (I’m using very simple numbers for explanation). Nielsen projects that 20 of them watched your late news. Your rating is 20 (20/100). Forget using the percent sign.

Sales will use the 20 rating to price the various packages they sell to advertisers.

While advertisers don’t buy share, you need to pay attention to this number as another programming barometer.

Share measures what percentage of the demo watching TV at a certain time was tuned to your station.

It’s time to introduce another metric to help define share. It’s called Persons Using Television (PUT). Remember that our market had an estimated population of 100 people age 25-54.

It stands to reason that not all of them are watching TV in a certain time period. Let’s use your late news time period. Nielsen estimates that 60 of those 100 people age 25-54 were watching TV during the time your late news was telecast.

Persons Using Television (PUT) is calculated by dividing the number of people watching by their total population. In this case the calculation is 60/100 = 60%. Like ratings, the percent sign is dropped.

We can now calculate share. Take the rating and divide by the PUT – in this case, 20/60=33%. You can leave off the percent sign.

Let’s recap the measurements in this example before moving on

  • Rating  20
  • Share   33
  • PUT      60

The Importance of Share

Here’s why you need to keep an eye on share. Ratings can fluctuate at different times of the year. You can actually get higher ratings, but lose share at the same time. Any euphoria about the higher ratings can mask an underlying problem. The share measurement unmasks this issue.

How can you get higher ratings, but lose share? PUT levels are higher in the fall and winter than in the spring. If we raise the PUT level to 67 and drop the share to 31 in our example, our ratings still inch up to 21.

Your ratings would have grown to 22 had you held the 33 share. Losing share has cost you 1 rating point.

Nowadays every rating point is gold. Just ask your GM (if he or she will tell you) what the loss of 1 rating point in news is worth over the year. Just don’t leave the office until you’re sure the color has come back to their face.

Higher ratings make everybody happy. Always celebrate that good news. But keep an eye on share for a more complete report card on your effort.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Five News Conventions That Got Me Thinking

by Terry Segal on June 24, 2009

Print this Post Print this Post

in Ideas

News Conventions
photo by josef.stuefer

Local television news is ruled by certain conventions just like any other business. Certain practices continue because “it’s always been done that way.”

It got me to thinking…

1. Why aren’t single topic newscasts used more often?

This type of newscast usually occurs when a major disaster happens. Otherwise, forget it.

Yet, the news landscape today contains a number of topics that fall under the “emergency” classfication. They offer the urgency and relevancy that viewers demand.

Take the economy. Virtually every city and its business community is facing a myriad of challenges. Examine them. Every day presents fresh opportunities.

Take health care. Viewers wrestle with rising costs, often foregoing needed care. Doctors struggle to provide quality care for patients. Hospitals battle rising costs and squeezed budgets. Every day adds more options to explore.

Take education. Program cuts. Teacher shortages. Student boredom. Testing controversies. Tuitions rising. From elementary school to college, every day brings more issues to the front.

What about your market? What other issues come to mind?

A single topic newscast can be timely. Hard hitting. Relevant.

All that’s required is planning, and the guts to do things differently.

2. Why don’t reporters get to brief and interact with other reporters?

It appears that only anchors get to interact with other newsteam members. That’s okay because anchors are paid to take the lead.

What would happen if the scope of a story encouraged a wider line of questioning or input from newsteam members (see item 1 above)? Why couldn’t an anchor talk with two reporters and have a three way conversation? What if one of the reporters took the lead? Added his or her insight to what the other reporter had said?

You want your station to be the market’s first option for news. Why restrict the way news is presented? Wouldn’t the arrangement be a great way to showcase the depth of your news operation?

3. Why do most stations still feature a daily sports segment?

Even in markets with professional teams sports fans already know the scores and highlights of the home team by the time your news rolls around. Thank the internet and your myriad cable competitors for that. They’ve even provided more extensive footage and insider information than your sportscaster can due to their different format.

Can you fill your sports segment every night with high profile local (meaning non-professional) coverage?

If not, collapse the segment and give the time back to news. No harm will come to your newscast.

A traditional sports segment locks you into the past. You can’t afford that today, certainly not in the future.

4. Why do most anchors continue to sit behind news desks?

Talk about putting a barrier between your newsteam and the audience. Yes, the new HD designs look beautiful. But, the practice still puts distance between the anchors and the audience.

We’ve experimented with anchors standing, sitting in newsrooms (behind a desk), and roaming the newsroom floor.

Why not a simple table that opens the space? How about attractive high back chairs? Either works since the anchors are usually framed from the chest up.

Too informal? Give the audience more credit. Offer them the information they want and the formality becomes irrelevant.

5. Why don’t  stations use local inserts on cable news to showcase more special reports and packages?

Local inserts usually feature brief headlines and/or a quick weather recap. They’re usually taped and eventually lose their timeliness.

Why not use the time to further showcase and promote the station’s reporting largesse? Air a special feature or report that is timeless. Give that piece extra exposure. Alert viewers to the best work that your station has done.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →