A Comment from the last post wanted to know, "What are your qualifications on what does make a good story and what doesn't?" Some of what I write here may sound cliche, but I think it often is forgotten for flash and such. (No, its tempting here, but I wont point out the example of the City's newest arrival. Read previous posts for that.)
1)Must keep a viewer's interest - This is an obvious one, but can be very complex because it incorporates so much. If a story isn't interesting, many things can be at fault: bad subject matter, no story development, poor writing, bad editing, and no connection with the area.
2) Must answer the basic who, what, when, where, and why - Sometimes the answers to all of these 5 questions aren't known and won't ever be known. The challenge is to still engage the viewer and give a clear picture with the answers you have, but don't con the viewer into thinking you have all the answers when you do not.
3) Must fulfill the majority of viewers needs of wanting to know - Although it may sound strange at first, this refers to a shooting down the street and even to the latest escapade with Paris Hilton. Because of this, viewers' needs in a particular area of the country aren't identical. This is where I think consultants often times error. Sometimes they come up with a cure-all formula which may (I only write, "may." I don't like consultants.) help one town's TV station but not the whole country. Because people have many options of getting informed, if a viewer invests a few minutes to watch a story on TV, they better come out of it feeling they learned something out of the deal. Whether its the circumstances of the latest shooting or the name of Paris Hilton's newest dog, the viewer must feel they learned something rather than creating more questions from the story. The problems TV stations and other traditional media outlets have with the internet is the ability for viewers to customize their news intake. They don't have to invest 1:30 or 30 seconds for a story they do not care about. Sure they could flip to one of the other stations during this time, but they may not offer anything of interest either. The internet, on the other hand, can be more convenient for checking out multiple media sources at a faster pace. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer TV news over the internet.
I am only starting on this topic and as I get more comments about this one, I'll probably have more posts on this. So please, respond with your thoughts about what makes a good story. -Hal
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
51 comments:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It's been awhile since your last Heap bash...wait you did it again. Much the same way you personally attacked Kim Hynes awhile back and encouraged others to do the same. You are a slimeball who hides his own faults by attacking others. Unless you want to J-school you don't know what makes a good story, don't know how to put one together and really are talking out your ass.
I get the biggest kick out of this 12 poster. It's like he's at home stewing on everything Hal says. Go rent a movie or something, it's really not that big of a deal. Hal has bashed people by name at EVERY station. Usually it's in the name of critiquing a station's performance, rather than a personal attack. Usually.
Aww the poor little 12 troll.
Life's good when there's fault to be found at other stations ... but shine even the tiniest bit of light on his/her precious palace ... and s/he gets mad.
If you can't take it TT, you shouldn't dish it out.
yeah, yeah... I know -- no money at my station ... zzzz ... they don't pay us well .... zzz 12 rules.... zzzzz
...Speed zone stories are important.. zzz ...ground breaking journalism .... expect more ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Hal is infamous for his personal attacks, lately they've been at one person. He's the troll.
How about the fact that Grey and by extension KAKE's stock is about to be dumped to junk status. How about the fact they make people do 2 or 3 or even 4 jobs. How about the fact they can't keep the lights on because they are hemmoraging money.
I know this is off topic, but whats going on with Gray TV (parent of KAKE)?? The stock is 24cents, down more than 30% just today. That screams bankruptcy. Whats going on? Is Gray going to survive?
A good story: Does all Hal says, AND does at least one of the following
1. Holds the powerful accountable, bringning change as a result (due to legislation &/or popular pressure);
2. Gives voice to the voiceless/powerless, especially when there's abuse of power;
3. Presents a powerful, authentic argument in an emotionally persuasive way that helps people see an issue in new ways.
4. Makes a difference in viewers' lives that they otherwise would not have anticipated.
I wouldn't be surprised if we start hearing about Grey stations closing by the first quarter of next year.
However, that doesn't mean KAKE will. Someone might be able to buy them. Look at KSN. Their current ownership, while no where near perfect has managed to stay afloat and do fairly decent during this hard economic time.
Also people, listen. Just because KAKE's parent company is doing bad has no reflection on the people there themselves. Let's be honest here and step back from the bickering and realize there are good hard working people at all three stations. I seriously hope the younger people here realize how small of a business this is. I choose to remain anonymous, but can say I've been in the TV industry before a lot of you were even born. Stop being so personal on this blog. One day you, Cayle Thompson from KAKE might work with Aileen Somborio from KSN. Alana Rocha from KWCH might find herself working with Abby Barnett. Blake Smith from KAKE might end up working with Andrew Kozak from KSN. Jenn Bates from KWCH might end up working with Ben Arnett from KAKE. And so on. The point is you shouldn't burn bridges or have bad blood within your station AND MARKET.
Hal's comments, while sometimes border personal, are just his opinion, take it for what it's worth. But for you young'ins who might be posting or reading this, try to stop being so negative and mean. Yes, we are all in this market at separate competing stations, but we're all in this small, crazy, volatile and shrinking business TOGETHER.
While you may work with these people SOMEDAY...right now you don't. They are the enemy. The competition. They are neither colleagues nor friends.
callmecrazy makes severaL EXCELLENT points. Some sort of merger of KAKE and KSN would make a LOT of sense. Right now the Industry is in total turmoil and the business models simply do not work in their present form. We've seen this coming for several years in GOOD times. Now that the bad times are here its a crisis. Maybe the landscape here would be better with 2 stronger TV stations? I don't know. Not along ago most major cities had 2 or 3 newspapers--now many of them have one.
anon 9:00pm says they are the enemy, not friends.
Go back to high school. There are several friends amongst the different stations who hang out and talk to each other all the time.
Something tells me anon 9:00pm has issues from being cut from the high school football team.
Yes -
It was a sad day when he was 86'd as waterboy
Kudos to 12 for turning a horrible story, the triple fatality police chase, into something more than a standard dry pkg with police sound. They were the only ones to have sound from not one family but two of the three. They also had it in their early Saturday show when everyone else had boring police sound. It personalized the story and actually showed the victims as people and not just stats.
3's Cramer or Kramer, however it's spelled, came off as uncaring and cold. No emotion with poor storytelling.
10 did a bit better but not by much.
We don't know what 10 had on the crash saturday night because they were having so many technical problems and never actually got that story on in full. 12 did do a good job with it though.
You have those types of issues when you have half the people you need to have because of budget cuts.
Also KWCH broke the decision by Harrah's to pull out of Mulvane well before anyone else Monday afternoon. Props to them for that too.
I wonder why KAKE took the timestamps off their web stories? Could it be because they are behind on everything.
Is there much logic to anything kake does lately?
KWCH breaks the story about massive Boeing layoffs well before anyone else (at least 30 minutes by my count). It seems they are breaking stories all over the place these days and everyone else is playing catch up.
Well good for you!
You want a cookie?
Now go do a POP. And have HEAP front it.
Not jealous -- and certainly not jealous of you.
I'm not in television but i have to say anonymous 6:14 seems a little jealous HA. But seriously I have to say 12 seems to be on it lately. I usually watch 10 but i do watch CBS programs and the commercials 12 runs for the news are grabbing my attention. I find myself watching 12 more often lately.
It's called real journalism. Maybe KAKE and KSN should try it instead of puff pieces on things like "Religion in Kansas." It's like doing a piece entitled "Grass on the Yard" or "Clouds in the Sky." KAKE maybe could do real journalism if they hired real journalists. The truth is they don't have enough money to pay the people they have, Gray is about to declare bankrupcty if its stock goes any lower and have you noticed, KAKE hasn't had job openings posted for well... months.
KSN is a joke when it comes to serious news. Tonight...the "supicious death in Pratt"... they made the leap to calling it a homicide even though police didn't. Their stories (online and on-air) said police made a "horrific discovery." Really? Police aren't saying how the woman died...and horrific is a judgment call. What is horrific to one may not be another. It's an OPINION, which even the amateurs on Main Street should know has no place in news.
If it was horrific then someone had to have said it...attribute it.
http://www.ksn.com/news/local/34935509.html
It seems KSN is trying the sensationalism thing KAKE tried a couple years back and failed miserably. I guess they have to keep trying something because their ratings continue to plummet faster than their network's.
Anon 935 is upset that KWCH didn't have any video of the event and outside of KAKE, KSN had the most details. Its not a big deal, either way you view it. Hal, time for a new post.
you couldn't be more wrong. Their ratings are not falling. In fact, their weekend ratings are pretty decent to be honest.
I saw the story you were referencing, and yes, it could have been done better.
One story does not dictate the entire station. Get over yourself.
Keep believing the spin your station gives on you on the ratings. You look at the pure Nielsen numbers and they are BAD for KAKE and KSN.
Remember how KAKE lied on here awhile back and even said they are No.1 with some newscasts when they aren't even close.
Both KAKE and KSN are in trouble...maybe they should merge.
Is KSN hiring? I heard from the grape-vine they actually have an open reporter position open along with a possible weather position? anyone know who is leaving?
a woman murdered in her own home does qualify as a 'horrific' discovery.
if kwch had taken the time to send a reporter they would've learned it was a homicide - not a 'suspicious death'.
if you folks over at 12 are so confident in your superiority, why hawkishly watch all the other stations and cry foul on every single occasion you get beat on a story?
It certainly does seem interesting that the KWCH tool is on the defensive, since 12 has been beaten on every decent story this entire weekend. And they're about to get beaten on another one.
11:36 is a liar.
1) KAKE first, and wrongly, called it a homicide then pulled back to suspicious death. It has not been named a homicide by anyone in law enforcement. Police themselves called it a "suspicious death" and not a homicide.
2) Horrific is a decription. It's also an opinion and a judgement.
anon 3:30
fact: no new information has been released since yesterday by the pratt police department.
fact: kwch's 5:30pm newscast called it a homicide. the title of their full screen graphic map was 'pratt homicide' (they had to run a full screen graphic because they're the only tv station in town without video from the scene)
explanation?
And what "decent" stories would those be you moron?
Actually anon 3;30...KSN called it a homicide, a murder and never pulled back.
KAKE went out of their way at both 6 and 10 to emphasize the fact that police had NOT named it a homcide and were only calling it suspicious.
I think KSN has done the most "journalism" this ratings period. That's right, there's a difference between stunts and journalism-- unique, well-though stories. KWCH follows in second. And KAKE has been asleep at the switch. Hal, in the meantime, has been negligent at the switch. Are you still alive Hal?
Exactly what real journalism has KSN done? What stories have they broken? Who have they held accountable? Nope. Their biggest attempt was religion in zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Who cares
Well, its a homicide.
To: Anon 8:20am
Those numbers posted, most likely, by a KAKEer were Metro 25-54 numbers.
They were not a "lie" as you say. But, the poster should have stated exactly what they were providing.
Overall,
KWCH is #1
KAKE is #2
KSNW is #3
Even in total households, KWCH didn't win every newscast in every time slot. They are a very strong station...but "dominant #1" stations win every newscast.
KAEE wins the last hour of the M-F AM shows, while tied with KWCH before then.
KSNW won nothing, when "competing" head-to-head.
You obviously didn't watch any of the stories, 12 troll. No matter... Hal, time for a new post already. The natives are restless.
Announced it was a homicide TODAY. KSN was irresponsible in its reporting when it didn't know for sure. It jumped the gun. Plain and simple. Just because it ended up being a homicide doesn't justify sloppy journalism.
When most of your newscasts double the nearest station in the ratings you are dominant as 12 is.
CBS stations have always hurt in morning because that's where the No.1 network lags far behind NBC with Today and ABC with GMA. It's always been the case.
Fact is 12 is in a better place financially than anyone else here by far. Just went HD, healthy company, new building and stuff. Meantime Gray may have to file for bankruptcy if their stock falls any more. They have to turn the lights off even in the middle of the day to pay the bills.
Maybe it's because KSN has a reporter that LIVES IN PRATT that they knew it was a homicide before anyone else...HMMMMMM
So what if they had someone living in Pratt. Its called using your resources. It's still no excuse for another station in town to not have any scene video until the day after.
You people bitch way too much. All 3 stations in this town stink. As a viewer, I don't sit and home and wonder why one station called a story a murder and the other did not. That does not cross my mind.
I don't have an HD TV, so I could care less about who's in HD and who isn't.
I get my sports online and from ESPN, so I don't know, or care, who broke the Snyder/KSU story.
I don't have children and I don't go to church, so I don't care who's speeding in a school zone, nor what's changing in churches today.
I channel flip. I watch what grabs my attention. Sometimes it's because of a graphic, sometimes it's the topic of a story, sometimes it's because I'm lazy and don't want to turn the channel anymore.
I think the text at the bottom of the screen on 12 is too small now that they went HD. I think 10's logo is too massive; takes up too much room at the bottom of my TV. I think KSN needs to stop begging people to watch them by giving away bribes. I can see through things like that.
So to all you news people: stop. The viewers don't care as much as you think, and you damn sure aren't doing me any favors. I watch these newscasts because I have to; because I have no other option.
Sometimes I think this town would do better with just one news stations. And maybe that's the solution to everyone's troubles. It would fix the financial problems and cutdown all the "special" content each station tries to put down my throat.
Joe Viewer
Cut the Crap! What makes for a great (not just a good) TV newsroom? Certainly not arrogant staffers like some who post here. Yes, KWCH is the best in town, but it is by no means a great station and it seldom has a great product. It's impossible to get that without strong news competition. Neither KAKE, nor KSNW, nor the Eagle gives KWCH a run. KWCH is merely doing the minimum in a slick way. If you already believe you're tops, what's the incentive for doing real, hard-hitting investigative news that analyzes patterns of graft, corruption and the fleecing of the American consumer? It ain't happenin' on 12 or anywhere else in ICT. Get over yourselves. Shut your yaps and start doing some real news instead of fake, single-sourced pieces that change NOTHING!!!
No one is glued to their seats to see how we all covered a Pratt homicide. Please, people, let's find something relevant.
The 12 Troll is obnoxious, and many 12'ers have an attitude, but KWCH does dominate the ratngs.
It IS true the AM numbers are deceptive because CBS is simply not competitive in that time slot.
KAKE wins the 25-54 demo, in the Metro, in other newscasts, too.
The numbers that were posted, were not a lie.
Again 12 is a very strong #1...but they don't win every show, or win every demo, in the newscasts where they win total households.
Not dissing 12, just pointing out they don't walk on water over at Hillside.
KAKE has had strong Metro Numbers for 50 years. Thats not the story of the ratings. KAKE has alwaysbeen the spin meister of the market.
Truth is--they are getting trounced by KWCH and there's been no closing of the large gap in the past 5 years.
KAKE likes to brag about mornings. Guess what?? There isn't a single CBS affiliate in the country that does well in the AM....duh.
Joe Viewer makes all excellent points. He IS obviously trying to send a message to everyone here about the petty bickering and total lack of "big picture" tunnel vision that most here suffer from. The Murder/Homicide debate underscores his point.
At the same time, "Joe Viewer" is obviously not just a viewer. He is a keen TV insider who knows what it takes to win in Local TV.
I hope he continues to contribute. He understands VIEWERS needs and wants. Something the rest of you may want to consider.
Anon 4:22...If 12 won every newscast and demo (more than just AM...BTW) in the Metro then KAKE would have nothing to spin, right?
A "dominant" #1 station would.
So, if you do like KAKE's spin, win every newscast and demo, even in the Metro. Where most of the revenue is generated.
I'd be careful about saying, "There isn't a single CBS affiliate in the country that does well in the AM." There just may be a market that has a local product that beats Today and GMA. If so, your fact finder high ground starts to erode a bit more.
I said KAKE has always been "strong" in the Metro, I didn't say number 1.
More specifically, their numbers relative to the DMA are usualy higher. They also benefit from an older loyal metro audience which they've inexplicably pandered to with this "KAKEland" silliness.
I stand by my comments on CBS affiliates and morning ratings. I've looked at numbers from stations across the country (I confess in large markets)--and there is demonstrable underperformance in EVERY case in the AM relative to what the stations achieved overall.
Look, many people people like "Today", many people like "GMA", no one likes the CBS AM product.
To say that KWCH people have an attitude about them is total B.S. The majority of them are very polite & friendly people.
For the most part, people from all 3 stations get along well with each other. If you read some of these posts, you would think that everyone was at each others throats, which simply isn't the case.
Wichita has great journalists at all 3 stations & a lot of young people with very promising futures ahead of them.
Post a Comment