Jim Rogers Betting Big On News On KSNV

I really think he is taking his station in the right direction.... wish you all the best Jim!

Go, KSNV! This is the kind of broadcaster needed at the head of more station groups! I'll make a point of trying to watch later this month when in town for the NAB Exhibitor's Advisory Committee and also during NAB setup and show weeks. I particularly like the comment: 'Rogers also plans to continue waging a war against “the culture of the 30-second sound bite.” Not only does that sort of half-baked reporting make bad television, but it also furthers a society of people with ill-informed opinions, he says.' Now if we could only address the sort of ill formed opinions that grow from un-checked material posted willy nilly on the internet!

Just make sure you news folks keep you work areas clean, or you WILL hear from good ole Jim.

Great plan...and he won't be alone! He may be the first but definitely will not be the last.

Okay, I'm sorry, but someone's got to do it. Of course, "GMretiredTV" loves the idea. His toes probably curl even today thinking about all those checks he wrote for syndicated programming during his no doubt successful career.. And while I agree with Ted on most of what he says, I disagree with him that this is the direction local news programming should take. It is what it is. Local news. And even the largest markets can't find enough of it to fill their already 2-3 hour news holes, let alone pushing it to 5-6 hrs as Rogers suggests without repeating that fire down at 5th and Vine over and over again. It's either that or hire an army of a hundred with equipment to match and blow the news budget to kingdom come, which when I last checked is the wrong direction every GM wants to go. It's always lean and mean, right, general? Where can I whittle that department down, next? That's the problem with that hungry beast. It always wants more, and the GM wants to pay less.. As a result it always gets filled with fluff pieces, water-skiing squirrels and heaven forbid, "syndicated" crap in the form of features news shops buy into to fill the time created by all those layoffs that occurred in the last budget go around. And frankly, Ted, truly when was the last time you actually saw a 30 sec news bite make it on the air. They're closer to eight, ten and at most 15 seconds, which is just enough time to get it taken out of context and manipulated into whatever bias agenda is currently the soup du jour.. Look! I guess what really bothers me is that I find it hard to find a 30 minute or 60 minute local news broadcast in this country that's doing it right or close to right. Ted touched on it. There was a time, okay so I'm dating myself back into that golden era, when local news could almost tell itself. In fact, I remember an award winning piece of journalism where there was no reporter narrative for the first 60 seconds. It was all done with natural sound and incredible pictures of the event being covered. I remember a government meeting one night, that no one today would even consider covering because it was so b-o-r-i-n-g, where it was covered with a cluster of soundbites from angry citizens expressing their concern over the topic in question and the council president trying to regain control of the meeting but failing in his attempts. Sometimes an emotional story requires more than 30 seconds for a person to finally get his message across to others in his community. And the writing, my Lord, the writing that makes air! The bottom line, isn't that what our profession is all about? We're story tellers! Viewers tune us in to find out what's been going on in their town. And we're suppose to deliver on that commitment, not some ten second soundbite, or some one minute limit given to tell a story, to increase the all important story count and leave time for some fluff piece from Timbuktu. Don't get me wrong, I could tell some stories completely in two sentences and that's all they were worth, just a mention. But it's how you cover the important stories that gives your station a personality, for covering the news accurately and completely. Sure, its first, fast and factual for all the promo geeks, but first you have to report it accurately and completely. And in a style that makes people want to come back for a second helping, because they enjoy the men and women that present it each night. I'll take a 30 minute or 60 minute newscast done properly that actually puts me right into that story, than any so-called local news expansion to 3-4-5 hours in length. Hell, there are still news shops in major markets that don't even change a single word or soundbite in a vo/sot or pkg from one hour to the next, or from the early show to the late show! There is no excuse for that! I would write my pkg for the main show, break it down to a vo/sot for the next one, and totally rewrite my vo/sot using a different sound cut for the late show. Imagine that. Three versions written by the reporter who covered the story, and not leaving it to a clueless third party. Of course, to do all this and do it right requires someone with experience leading the charge, which unfortunately is the first thing to go when going lean and mean. And it's because of this mindset and atmosphere in today's newsrooms and management offices, that I see disaster waiting in the wings. More crap being offered over more hours in the day. Let's tell it like it is. This is a blatant way to put syndication money back into the profit column, with the time filled with so-called news and public affairs, done with a paper thin budget that only allows for high school grads for the behind the scenes work and green college grads for going through the motions, being led by others with only a year or two of more experience. It's a sad but true trend going on in our television markets from small to medium and even inching ever upwards into our larger markets. "Bailusout" sounds like someone with first hand experience with ole Jim, and perhaps the original "reporter" who presented us with this story could have given us a look into his existing station properties and their news departments. Does this person have a true love for news coverage or more money in the pocket. If its the latter, than I would much rather have him bring back the afternoon "tea time" movie or bowling for dollars(I actually worked at a station where the two bowling alleys were still in the basement) "Doubtful" is sadly correct in the prediction of how local TV news will go in its path to nonexistence. Why do I feel so despondent? Network news is a sham, and the last of the big daily rags are agenda driven. Do yourself a favor, go to the library and pull out the microfische of the New York Times back in the 1800s and read some of the days' editions, covering the civil war or the expansion of the west, and everything else under the sun, going on in countries around the world. All that was fit to print, the Gray Lady was in her heyday. Now, put out this past week's editions and the agenda based bias will leap out at you as well as the fact that there is no other side being presented. And its that paper that is considered must have in every local news shop before the morning editorial meeting to plan out the day's coverage. What ever happened to the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, and its list of rules and ethics. How many out there even know what I'm talking about? And how many have even taken the time to go back and see their original set of rules and ethics to compare with the changes that have taken place over time. Believe me, it all matters. And now to try to head off one of Ted's pet peeves of ill formed opinions on other's opinions, I am not talking from sour grapes. I was never fired in my more than 30 years in the business, even though I would wear that badge with honor. My last 15 years I did not solicit TV stations, they solicited me. I wore the cap of news anchorman and award winning reporter for more than ten years before I went off camera into news management wearing all titles including news director and helped turn around number three stations into number one stations, in my various roles. It was a TIA that forced me into early retirement. There was a time when I was proud of my profession and what it truly stood for ... the ever vigilant watchdog looking over my community and big government, protecting the little guy, and helping his attempts at fighting city hall. I worked for the working stiff who worked his butt off all day to keep his family in shelter, clothes on their back and food on the table, just like my dad did. And just like my dad, who would then sit in his chair, popping the top off a cold one, and tuning into the local news to find out what's going on locally and nationally and how the government was going to screw him next. He wanted to be informed. And in that, I delivered. And that's the way it was.

I wish the system had a way to buy a paragraph! LastCall, you sound like a great TV news guy. I agree with pretty much every thing you said, with only a couple of minor exceptions: I think in the case of most stations (like the Fox O&Os;) that do several hours of news at a time, they don't consider rewrites important because they don't expect anyone to watch more than 30-45 minutes at a time. They intend to be there when you want to watch news. I really wish Mr. Rogers well, and I hope you do, too. While so much of what you say about TV news, as it exists today is true, especially about cutting budgets to the bone and doing it as cheaply as possible, here's a guy who sees the problem and says he really wants to change the culture and do it right. Maybe you don't believe him. I choose to believe he has the right intention. Maybe if he's right and finds a way to make it successful, more stations and groups will follow the model. I really hope so.