NYT: CBS News Makeover, by Four Kibitzers (new ideas for network news!)

[DeepModem Mom]

CBS News Makeover, by Four Kibitzers
By JACQUES STEINBERG

Published: April 10, 2005


No one really knows how to develop a hit television show. How else to explain how a programming afterthought - the relatively cheap summer-replacement show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" - became a huge success in 1999, heralding the reality-TV revolution, while "Father of the Pride" - created by DreamWorks at a cost of about $2 million an episode - flopped last fall?

This is the lightning-in-the-bottle world in which Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS, has said he wants to reinvent the network's evening news broadcast, which has aired fundamentally unchanged for more than 40 years.

For years now, network news has been derided as outmoded and headed for extinction. But though the popularity and importance of the nightly news programs has diminished since Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings first went head-to-head in 1983, there are good reasons why the networks remain committed to them. For one thing, they give the networks and their affiliates broadly recognized identities, which entertainment programs can't provide. This is an important advantage over hundreds of cable channels....The broadcasts make lots of money....Why, then, would Mr. Moonves want to risk damaging his franchise?

Because no one is certain how long the economics that sustain the news will last. Over the past 25 years, the audience for the programs has shrunk and aged. One out of four people who used to watch them as recently as the early 1990's no longer does, and the viewers' median age is now about 60, according to Nielsen Media Research.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/weekinreview/10jacks.html?oref=login&pagewanted=all&position=

[Liberty Belle]

1. I like this suggestion:

People are watching news on the internet, and watching a lot of the news stories that are told throughout the day on cable, with a constant spin. Why not do a show where you get people who take the big stories of the day, tell them in headline form, and then say: "This is how Fox, MSNBC, The New York Times, blah, blah, all covered this story. This is how they got it right, this is how they got it wrong."

The big complaint from everybody trying to get information these days is: Who is the media? What are they trying to tell me? Who's actually a journalist? Who's actually a spin doctor? Who's a liar?

The show would be helmed by someone who throws questions each night to a panel of experts that is always changing, depending on the issue. This has got to be a nonpartisan version of looking at the media.

The name of the show? It's the logo of CBS - it's "Eye" CBS... It would be cool if, while the person is talking, the eyeball is rolling skeptically. .. If Fox or MSNBC kept repeating something over and over again, a host could say, "Now we've said this five times, but apparently someone's not listening."


:kick: All-- write to Les Moonves and tell him these are great ideas for shows you'd love to see! Young whippersnappers especially needed here. :-) :kick:

[dcfirefighter]

2. That would be AWESOME n/t

[johnfunk]

3. Don Hewitt's right!

"To get a younger crowd into the tent I would offer viewers a thought-provoking Andy Rooney-type columnist at the end of each broadcast."

And, with apologies to my pals at Comedy
Central in general and The Daily Show in
particular, the man for the job is


Lewis Black, baby!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. PERFECT!

A ratings bonanza, IMO --

[VegasWolf]

14. Sorry! Gotta be Jon Stewart!! n/t

[Newsjock]

5. It's being done now in Canada

Anyone with an eye toward "reinventing" the news in the U.S. should look to Canada's CBC and their nightly show The Hour. This program is hosted by 31-year-old George Stroumboulopoulos, a former VJ whose intelligence and wit got the better of him and took him over into the world of news.

George is knowledgeable and cynical, and he's got those modern good looks that scream telegenic. (Although, personally, I'd lose the nose piercing, but hey, I'm just an old fuddy-duddy.)

George runs through the top news at a "mile a minute" pace, and he does in-depth interviews on the big stories. Moreover, he does special explainer pieces to present the basics of key stories in about a minute, for those who haven't been keeping up.

If I had to compare "The Hour" to anything in the U.S., I'd say it's a cross between "The Daily Show" and "Nightline." A show like this in the U.S. would be unlike anything else that's on now, and it would be a winner in its target audience. And I seriously doubt that no network has the cajones to try it. That's a shame.

Here are some video clips from "The Hour" that give a good taste of what it's about:
The opening to his first show
George talks about the report on WMDs and Wolfowitz (with one of those explainers, about the World Bank)
A closing segment about Darfur
10 minutes with Lewis Black (!)

[patricia92243]

6. "Young people multi-task. " I'm not young, and my TV is on while I play

here on my computer, and both my dishwsher AND washing machine are going full throttle.


Us oldies multi-task too!

[napi21]

8. Thanks for the plug Patricia. I'm not young either, and

not only do I multi-task, but my favorite news show is TDS. I watch Jon every night, and so do quite a few of my older friends.

I'd love to see one of the major networks do a news show as described above, A skeptical look at the news you're told is one of the big drawing cards of TDS because Jon makes the same remarks about those stories that we do. "I'm smiling now as I write this thinking of all the bits they play, and Jon says "and he said WHAAAAAAAAAT?"

Let's hope that really is in their plans.

[Bhaisahab]

12. is that multi-tasking or energy wasting?

i dont want to be too critical patricia, but doesn't it make sense for you to switch off the tv while you are at the comp and vice-versa?

[Dover]

7. I thought the news networks 'cost too much'? At least that is what

the networks have been complaining about...and is their main excuse for moving into more of a 'news as entertaiment' mindset.
Format/presentation changes aside, will they spend money on GOOD investigative journalism? The Daily Show and programs of that ilk are really just commentary on the news that has already been gathered. Who will actually gather the news, have the foreign bureaus and spend the big bucks to put reporters where the action is happening, and allow them to actually INVESTIGATE?

[Moderator]

9. DeepModem Mom

Per DU copyright rules
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Thank you.


DU Moderator

[johnfunk]

10. BUMP! Good article. Now Les...

... hire Lewis Black, dammit!

[UpInArms]

11. facts and credibility

"(Young people) like to really hear facts....Two things CBS News doesn't have right now are young people and credibility."

How 'bout when someone is lying, they don't just report the sentence as news, but do some freaking factchecking and say - that was a freaking lie?

How 'bout telling exactly who the AEI is, instead of just putting their spinning rightwing mugs up there and letting people think that they don't have an agenda?

[Roland99]

13. And turn the nightly news into a 60- or 90-minute broadcast

Fuck Wheel, Jeopardy, and Inside Edition...get some in-depth reporting during prime time.

[high density]

15. Honesty and facts would make a great start.

An insightful anchor would be a major plus as well. The three choices we have now at 6:30 are pretty damn sad.