Why TV News Sucks, Pt. 3

A TRAGIC WASTE OF MONEY AT CBS NEWS

Yesterday’s New York Times had an 8-page, four color insert all about how great The New York Times was. It extolled their great reporting from all over the world. The back page of the insert was devoted exclusively to their VIDEOJOURNALISTS!

A new kind of reporter who carries their own small digital video camera…

And these are no 23-year olds, but real, New York Times reporters, working in video.

Mazel Tov.

Now, here is a radical idea:

Katie Couric, anchor for The CBS Evening News, gets paid $14 million a year to (let us be honest) work 22 minutes a night reading what someone else has written for her.

Suppose we took that $14 million and instead hired 100 New York Times quality videojournalists, at $140,000 each. (Anyone here want the job? Hands down).

Suppose each VJ now had to produce just one story per week.

That would give CBS Evening News 5200 packages a year – very high quality packages, from a cadre of the best video equipped journalists in the world.

Now (stick with me on this one…), The CBS Evening News is on 5 nights a week. Let’s say they run 5 real packages per night. That means they have a total appetite for 25 packages a week. 100 packages a month. 1200 packages a year. That barely puts a dent in our Katie-purchased 5200 extremely high quality news packages per year. Where do they others go?

They go to feed the web, video on phones, or maybe just some margins so our journalists can have ‘freedom to fail’ once in a while.

For the price of Katie Couric’s salary, CBS Evening News could field the most powerful and dynamic television reporting team in the world. They could enter the new world of non-linear, web driven, online, VOD news and conquer it. Own it! They could, in a stroke, become the Digital Tiffany Network (so to speak), and set a global standard for video reporting and journalism.

They could…..

Do you think Katie looks better in the pink dress, or the blue one. And what have they done with her hair?

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 30 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.

2 Comments
  • David Martin March 06, 2007

    While Katie may not be the answer she might not be the problem. Perhaps this is more than a simple casting issue. For CBS to break out of third place palpable differentiation will be critical. What’s needed here is nothing short of radical game-changing innovation. Your suggestion is exactly the kind of forward thinking that deserves a fair and candid hearing. Rather than fighting for a share of the past CBS should be competing for the future.

  • Leon Weinstock March 06, 2007

    Incremental amazing