Were We That Bad?

I will admit that I rarely watch much tv news these days. It bothers me that I don't, especially since I came from that world. The problem is that local television news is so bad these days. What shakes me the most is the question that I ask right after I watch a bad newscast... Was I or the people I worked with just as bad? The answer is always "we couldn't have been..." but who is to say. The internet and blogs weren't around for us to find out for sure.

That takes me back to the Dana Carvey skit where he plays the grumpy old man on SNL News my favorite line from that skit was:

"Life was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn't need moooovin' pitchurrrres. In my day, there was only one show in town -- it was called "Stare at the sun!" ... That's right! You'd sit in the middle of an open field and stare up at the sun till your eyeballs burst into flames! And you thought, "Oh, no! Maybe I shouldn't've stared directly into the burning sun with my eyes wide open." But it was too late! Your head was on fire and people were roastin' chickens over it. ... And that's the way it was and weeee liked it!"

Thanks again to the internet for being able to find the actual words.

So the follow up question I ask myself is always why do I think it is so bad? In most cases it seems like the stories are poorly put together with no real flow. The stories for the most part aren't creative when they can be creative, and not hard hitting or in depth when they need to be either. What happened to the market developing quality reporters like it did in Peoria 10-15 years ago. Jay Shatz, LP Phillips, Fraser Engerman, Dana Koslov, Anna Werner just to name a few.

Those reporters put time into a story or at least learned a bit about it before so they were at least somewhat ready and had an idea about what was going on. A for instance... When Cat does it's quarterly release the story on the news today reads almost verbatim the press release that Cat puts out. Now I'm not saying that Big Yellow isn't telling the truth but listen to the analysts call and hear what they are asking and hitting on. It's easier now then ever since it's on the internet! Do some basic learning on any number of web sites explaining how to read a financial statement. Instead I see the Cat press release which I could have gotten off the internet and read. I'd be willing to bet that if asked any of the reporters in Peoria what a 10Q is and where you could find one they would just stare dazed and confused at you.

I was always taught by my parents that if you have something negative to say be sure to offer a solution since being negative without offering a solution isn't any better then the problem you are complaining about. Well I wish I could offer a long term solution. In the short term I guess I would suggest watching a lot of winning NPPA videos (national press photographers association. The group has regular contests for best news stories based on writing and video together) and a subscription to the local newspaper of their choice. See if they can't sneak into the assignment editors story pile and be prepared for the coming days story or come in with one that is fresh and well researched and not done by Time Magazine or one of the local papers. Finally... try and do an in depth piece sometime OTHER then sweeps.