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Re: “On TV News, Sweeps and Sensationalism

When I started in television news (1977), local news was not widely viewed as a profit-making venture. It was an obligation imposed on stations by the FCC in order to retain their license to broadcast on the public airways.

Somewhere along the way, newscasts became enormous profit centers for local broadcasters. Because stations control 100% of the commercial inventory during their own news programs, and because they have more control over the quality (and presumably the level of audience) during those programs, it became possible for local news programs to generate a disproportionate share of the station's revenue. It was at about this time you started to see morning news, noon news, hour-long evening news, etc.

When local news became a potential profit-monster, it increased the pressure on all stations for news ratings, upon which the advertising prices are based. Consultants like Magid and Audience Research & Development began to troll the country with sample five-part series on tape, urging their clients to duplicate successful series from other markets during sweeps months.

It ain't necessarily so that TV stations practice shoddy journalism during sweeps. It is true, however, that the pressure to produce grabby, promotable stories during sweeps is enormous.

Posted by Mark on 05/21/2013 at 8:12 AM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

@Jim Collins: Find one factual error in the link from the Cato Institute. You can't. You won't. Of course you didn't read it and won't read it because you're lazy. You're still wishing all the idiocy about Wall Street was true. Most of the Wall Street blame traces back to Democrats blowing smoke to obscure the roles played by Dodd and Franks which most of the news media refused to air - didn't fit their agenda. And gee whiz, why don't you still live in good old California? Tennessee wouldn't miss you at all. There is nothing that links California's problems to their referendums. As far as ranking the states, you do have a source for your own financial rankings, right? Oh, you don't? Why am I not surprised? Why do you bother to argue when the facts make you look like an idiot?

Posted by xray on 05/21/2013 at 8:07 AM

Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?

Nonsense, the Tennessean does plenty of stories on Muslims.
Just the other day I saw one about a couple of them set off bombs at the Boston Marathon and one of them left a note saying that Allah told him to do it. Then I saw another one where they were killing Christians by the thousands in Nigeria. There were another couple of stories about a couple of female Muslims convicted of raising funds under false pretenses in Minnesota and sending the proceeds to terrorist organizations.

1 like, 0 dislikes
Posted by davidlongfellow on 05/21/2013 at 8:02 AM

Re: “On TV News, Sweeps and Sensationalism

We need a @HuffPoSpoilers for the local news twitter.

Posted by Greg H on 05/21/2013 at 7:49 AM

Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?

I didn't realize Betsy was a paid staffer at the Tennessean.

0 likes, 1 dislike
Posted by Kosh III on 05/21/2013 at 7:19 AM

Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?

Yawn. Bitching about "the Christians" is like bitching about the rain. It makes good conversation but means nothing.

0 likes, 1 dislike
Posted by OhtheIroney on 05/21/2013 at 6:40 AM

Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?

So Betsy, instead of whining about what the Tennessean is doing or not doing, why not do the article you think they should have done?

0 likes, 1 dislike
Posted by Bill Arp on 05/21/2013 at 6:27 AM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

>>Not that its my job to do your googling<<

A) *I* didn't make the claim CA was well off.

B) Your link won't work for me, it freezes on my computer.

Posted by bobsguns on 05/21/2013 at 5:49 AM

Re: “Boy Scouts Polling Members About Gays

All pederasts are gay. That is a fact. Read this column about what is happening in our military: http://bit.ly/YIUmTf

We now have more men raped by men than women raped by men. The future of the BSA?

Posted by Richard M. Swier on 05/21/2013 at 5:47 AM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

>>as trolls like bobsguns<<

Go fuck yourself, Mr. Allen. Just because many don't drink the libtard Kool-Aid doesn't mean we're trolls. Once AGAIN a libtard proves free speech is only what a libtard agrees with.

Did I mention you could go fuck yourself?

Posted by bobsguns on 05/21/2013 at 5:45 AM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

The Cato Institute, xray/zoombah/gasttheMIA/vladtheoozriddledleeper, is THAT your source? That is akin to consulting Dr. Joseph Mengele about medical ethics! Your previous Wall Street article is based on OPINION from the business (investment) perspective. Considering government is NOT a business, but a service based NOT FOR PROFIT, their POV is rather skewed. That being said, admittedly California (where I have lived also in the past and operated a business for 3 years) is having financial difficulties. In NO small part due to it's extremist Direct Democracy concept, ignoring the benefit of a Democratic-Republic.

1 like, 1 dislike
Posted by Jim Collins on 05/21/2013 at 2:44 AM

Re: “Is There Really That Large a Market of Men Who Are Afraid They're Bad in Bed?

I call you a jerk because you're a jerk. Period. Don't care if you like it or not. We're not friends.

0 likes, 1 dislike
Posted by Pete Wilson on 05/21/2013 at 12:39 AM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

@More cowbell: The bankers didn't ruin the economy, the freakin government did. The bankers were dealing with cards from the government's deck. Read this (takes ten minutes): http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj30n2/cj… It's factual and it follows exactly what I learned day by day watching CNBC (money channel) during the meltdown. (CNBC was good about reporting facts and keeping spin out of their summaries.) When you get done reading you'll have an equivalent of a Masters on the meltdown. I can't believe all the BS people believe about the causes and effects of the situation. Of course, you may want to stay dumb - many do - but that's your prerogative. P.S. Million dollar bonuses have nothing to do with the situation. The banker's compensation may piss you off but the bonuses were contractual - legal - obligations. Unlike GM and GMAC, Wall Street bankers have paid back TARP money with interest.

@OMFUG: I lived in California many years and referendums have nothing to do with their current situation. Check out that link I provided in the previous comment and you'll see that nearly all the badly run states are blue, blue, blue and nearly all the well run states are red. Maybe there's a message in the order of their listing. Hmmmm....

1 like, 1 dislike
Posted by xray on 05/21/2013 at 12:36 AM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

Very good analysis, Chris Allen, I would rather have the ignorant fools from our legislature making sophomoric stabs at representative government than host referendums.
Gee... California has slipped from 6th in the world's GDP in the 90's to 11th, between Canada and Australia. I'm not worried about them, most of the places going bankrupt are dumps anyway.

Posted by OMFUG on 05/20/2013 at 11:29 PM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

And why are retiring government workers hurting the economy? Because when the bankers ruined our economy, they ruined their pensions. They ruined the government investment that funds the pensions. The economic near collapse did a lot of damage to municipal coffers. Aside from that, the pensions would be fully funded. Nice try, though.

0 likes, 1 dislike
Posted by more cowbell on 05/20/2013 at 10:51 PM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politica…

Not that its my job to do your googling, Bob.

Posted by more cowbell on 05/20/2013 at 10:47 PM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

Commenters keep making comments without checking and hoping others don't check. Here's a link from NBC (there's other sources ,too): California ranks LAST in "best run states." Texas? Number 13. Tennessee? Number 12. There's a half dozen cities in California declaring bankruptcy or at least crossing their fingers hoping to avoid it. The main reason? Retiring government workers. Retiring UNION government workers. And in Los Angeles the world is upside down. Democrat contenders for Mayor proposed tax breaks to attract new businesses. Shazamm!!

http://best-run-states.247wallst.com/

1 like, 1 dislike
Posted by xray on 05/20/2013 at 10:07 PM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

Actually, California is not broke. They do have a lot of debt (and so does Texas by the way) and some serious problems though. The problem in California, as trolls like bobsguns and others who breathlessly post on Pith ignore, is far more complicated. Their system of government was created to be a direct democracy where any changes (such as taxes) go directly to the people in the form of referendums. It's frustrated both Republican and Democratic governors. There are simply no easy fixes in that state. Contrast that with Texas, which is not the free-market haven that "conservatives" makes it out to be. Governor Perry has doubled that states debt and has had to appropriate nearly their entire "rainy day" fund to make it appear that they are a fiscally prudent state. But Texas doesn't have a referendum system. But they still manage to mostly kick the can down the road for some future Governor and legislature to deal with.

1 like, 0 dislikes
Posted by Chris Allen on 05/20/2013 at 9:04 PM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

>>CA has a huge surplus right now<<

Cite your source as ALL of the news media is reporting CA is broke, broke, broke & Gov. Moonbeam is raising taxes like there's no tomorrow. If you have proof otherwise, then by all means, trot it out.

Posted by bobsguns on 05/20/2013 at 8:20 PM

Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?

CA has a huge surplus right now and is giving it to the schools. FYI, Bob's Guns.

3 likes, 0 dislikes
Posted by more cowbell on 05/20/2013 at 8:18 PM

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