Your Local Newser Fights Zombies, Loses: It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Just Another Day in Local News: Green Screen, Lip Sync, Zombies, Shotgun
At one point in my career, I was proud of achievements like network liveshots. I'd call my family and everyone I could think of: "put a tape in the VCR!" (Yeah, this was a few years ago)
Today, I'm proud of fighting zombies. Seriously.
If you ever get a chance to work with the gang at College Humor, don't ask for details. Just show up where they tell you (it may be a slightly strange and possibly illegal "studio" in Williamsburg, say) and do what they tell you (pull the shotgun from underneath the anchor desk and pump it, but make sure you stay in frame when the zombie bites you, say). The end result will probably be one of two things, or more likely, both: funny--and viral.
Such is the case with my work as a "Channel 9" news anchor in the latest College Humor take on the local news biz, which involves too much good stuff to try and explain here. Just watch, and enjoy. Oh, and remember: the reason it's funny? Because it's true.
A few lessons learned about doing zombie videos: they don't move fast, and they don't look strong, but when they toss your lifeless body off the anchor desk, expect bruises and the possibility of a bent cufflink (even if they did put padding on the floor where they thought you might land.
And zombie makeup? Yeah, that does not come out of suits or dress shirts, so think twice about wearing your good stuff to the next zombie news shoot.
Just sayin'.
How Local Newsers Can “Crush It”
Drinking Wine with Gary V: Watch the Whole Interview on Vinitrek.com
I can clearly remember the first time I saw Gary Vaynerchuk online. I wish I could say I knew immediately that this guy was going to big, but truthfully, my reaction was "is he nuts?" And I went about telling everyone to check him out. That, in a nutshell, is how Vaynerchuk says the web works to build your brand. And for journalists, who've long been told to do a good job and leave the promotion to the promo department, Gary V's lesson is critical.
I've just read Vaynerchuk's book, Crush It!, and found it filled with useful information and ideas on surviving--and thriving--in the new digital world we're all competing in (whether we want to accept that or not). [I've added the book to the picks you'll find in the Amazon box on this page, and your copy is a click away, at a bargain price--and yes, Amazon will kick a few cents back my way to help keep the LocalNewser empire watered and fed.]
I knew Vaynerchuk's book would have a lot of talk about hustle and drive and passion, but I was surprised at how much time he spent talking about journalism: "everyone who is screaming that journalism is dead because newspapers and magazine are folding is insane," he writes. "The old platforms are in trouble, but that's the best thing that could happen to journalists...the good ones, anyway."
And let's face it, if you're here reading my ramblings, you've got to be one of the "good ones," right? Well... you're ambitious and unafraid to look the future straight in the face and to try and figure out how to work with it instead of digging your heels in and trying to fight against it. And Vaynerchuk believes those of us willing to to do the hard work now will be richly rewarded. It's--to sound a bit Gary V-like--go time. This is the opportunity of a generation to re-create what local news is and how people get the information they truly want. It's a chance for us to redefine what it means to be a local newser. And maybe it means finding a far more satisfying way of doing the job that we can't help but be attracted to.
"All talented journalists have to do is take advantage of the technological and cultural shifts that are sinking their media platforms like leaky ships, go into business for themselves, and crush it," he writes, and then follows up with a fascinating list of ideas on how journos can collaborate, create companies, and produce a new kind of journalism (and perhaps make a fortune in the process, if you create a concept that takes off). It's a worthwhile read, and I encourage you to put it on your list to Santa right now.
One of Gary V's ideas is, essentially, building an All-Star team of known local journalists who get out from under their old media roof and start working together. It's a lot like an idea advanced by Michael Rosenblum, who suggested that star journalists (and if you're halfway decent at the local news game, I hope you've made a name for yourself in the community--essentially built your brand along with your equity in the tv station) should gather together and pool their talents, taking on projects (assignments) and being paid to do so. "Nowhere is it written in stone that journalists must be perpetually poor," writes Rosenblum (who, should you get a chance, you absolutely must hear speak in person). "The world of journalism has been overturned by the Internet Revolution. There’s an opportunity here to reorganize the way our world works. Let’s seize it. Time to own the product and take care of ourselves."
Ask some of the long-tenured reporters and anchors (and directors and producers, etc.) who've lost their jobs over the last eighteen months what being a good and valued employee gets you. At best, they wait until the week after Christmas to fire you. At worst, your own boss never even bothers to speak to you--your agent gives you the news, the security guys walk you to the door. (Cardboard box included FREE!)
I don't know about you, but I'd much rather work my ass off and Crush It--not for them, but for me.
Great interview on the book's release with Gary Vaynerchuk and my good Brooklyn pal Dan Patterson at ABC:
For some tips on avoiding the traps on a restaurant wine list...and a great find from Portugal for under $15, check out our Vinitrek interview with Gary V.
Local TV News: “Burn the Place to the Ground”
Michael Rosenblum
Michael Rosenblum believes local television news as we've known it for decades is dead. News directors, station managers and broadcast group owners "just don't know it yet."
Rosenblum believes the only way to make the video storytelling model work--profitably--is to cut costs far closer to the bone than any old media company's going to be willing or able to do.
Rosenblum's got a unique perspective on the health and well being of local news: he has designed news operations around the world, and here in the U.S., he helped create NY1 in New York and Al Gore's Current.
Through his consulting company, Rosenblum Media, he's consulted with major international television companies like the BBC on transitioning their field operations to a "VJ" model.
Rosenblum sat down with LocalNewser's Mark Joyella at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (though he's an adjunct professor of communication at NYU) to talk about why television stations simply won't innovate, even if it means their own ultimate collapse.
LocalNewser: Michael Rosenblum on the Death of Local News from Mark Joyella on Vimeo.
In addition to his consulting and teaching, Rosenblum's company, Rosenblum Media, produces programming for cable networks including Showtime, Discovery, TLC and National Geographic. Rosenblum also operates Travel Channel Academy and the New York Video School, instructing thousands of students in the techniques of telling stories as VJs.
NBC’s “Adventurous” New Take on Local News: Not Local, Not News
I've argued NBC has an interest in local news, and that NBC may have an interest in destroying local televisions stations with an elaborate, Bond villain style effort involving local "NBC" branded news websites (at times even competing with non O&O NBC affiliates) and through the we'll-kill-your-late-local-news-if-we-have-to-ruin-primetime-television-to-do-it plan to unleash Jay Leno on NBC stations from coast to coast.
And now comes Daily Connection.
As first reported in The New York Observer, NBC's "soft-launched" a new 3 p.m. "local" news show on WRC/Washington. The beauty of this new idea in local news? Well, it's only local if you consider 30 Rock to be part of the Washington market, and it's only news if you consider rehashed NBC content to be "new."
Here's the spin, as NBC's Matt Glassman hurled it at Felix Gillette of the Observer: "The beauty of this show is that it's got content from all over the NBC Universal platforms." (Anybody else developing an allergy to the word "platform?") Ah, content from various platforms. What a great way to say repurposed crap.
Glassman's WRC's senior producer of content (that's a title at a local station now? so cost-cutting means lay off reporters and save the senior producer of content? I guess, in a way, it all makes sense--if you get rid of local journalists creating true local "content," you probably do need a senior producer of content to find junk that's already been used and fill time) and he's a driving force behind Daily Connection.
How does this revolution in local news work? Here's the takeaway:
"According to Mr. Glassman, every day, producers in New York comb through the myriad stories that have aired or are about to air across the range of NBC Universal TV and Web properties--including NBC News, the Weather Channel, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC sports, NBC mobile, etc.--and pick out a handful of breezy stories to repeat on Daily Connection.
Producers in New York then compose and edit the news elements and send the package to a control room in Washington D.C. From there, the local station takes over.
Every day, WRC-4 assigns two members of its newsroom, from a rotating cast of anchors and reporters, to host Daily Connection. Typically, the hour of programming begins with a brief bit of live (or live-to-tape) news about the day's big story--Congress debating a health-care bill; a shooting at Fort Hood etc.--and then segues into a playful hour of effervescent news stories largely tailored to female viewers.
Here and there, WRC-4 producers sprinkle in fresh content, such as a recent, original interview with NBC artist-in-residence Jon Bon Jovi. But for the most part, the majority of the news comes from repurposed material that has already appeared elsewhere in the NBC Universal universe."
So there you have it. A local show that's produced, for the most part, by skimming feeds and who knows what in New York, and then sent down the pipe to DC, where a "content producer" finds some way of selling the junk as a "local" story. Wait! Didn't we do an interview with a guy who once was in the Army? So everybody wins. WRC fills time without spending money or putting local journalists on the street, and NBC wins by ultimately diluting and destroying the concept of "local news."
It reminds me of a morning years ago when I was sound asleep in my apartment in Savannah, and got a call from my news director. He told me, in colorful terms that there had been a screwup (not the word he used) and that there was no scheduled news anchor for the morning show. (The show that started in about an hour) I showered and ran to the station to find I had about fifteen minutes to prepare the first news segment. (This was a show that had no producer--the morning news guy wrote the stuff, edited the tape, and anchored. I had no chance.)
Solution? I grabbed the feed tape that had been rolling that morning, printed the scripts and handed the tape to the feed room. "What do we do with this?" I said to cue it up to the first story, roll it, and when it was over, I'd read the intro to the next story. And so on.
The newscast was a disaster. I led with a national package, and then artfully pivoted to a weekend movie review. And then it was pretty much downhill from there.
In a way, I guess I was a pioneer. I created Daily Connection a full 18 years before NBC did. Only difference: I was mortified, and they aren't.
If you want a taste of the cutting edge local journalism they're doing at Daily Connection, check it out:
View more news videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video.
The Future of Local News: Available Today. Watch this Space.
It's so easy in the run-and-gun world of local news to be far withdrawn from the academic and wonky talk of the future. Especially now that you don't get to tool around in the station car with your photog trying to sneak off to the mall to get a little shopping done while "checking out a tip." These days, your photog's got his own story to shoot, write and edit.
But trust me. While the managers in your newsroom may be telling you it's belt-tightening time and that Action News will find a way to survive the bleak times and return to Number One, there's an army of creative media gurus (many with exactly no background in the Way We Do Things) who are redefining what local news may look like for consumers five years from now, ten years from now, or, in some spots, this afternoon.
In my tireless pursuit to keep you ahead of the curve whether you like it or not, I'll be rubbing elbows with these forward-thinkers today in New York, at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where some of the brightest minds of new news modeling will gather at a forum--okay, a "HyperCamp" as the kids call conferences these days--entitled "New Business Models for (Local) News."
I'll report back to you here on what I discover. But hey, in a get-your-feet-wet experiment in new news models, why not join me at the HyperCamp right now? I'll be on Twitter and sending out the best stuff I can shoehorn into 140 characters. Follow me at @standupkid for live updates through the day. And I'd love to get your questions as well to direct to some of the smarty pants speakers. (As soon as I know the hashtag for today's event, I'll tweet that)
I'd love to have some LocalNews readers with me for this. It's our future that's on the table. There's no reason not to get excited about it. And since your news director insisted that you tweet all damn day, why not make it work for you?
Why I'm Questioning My Career, Questioning Myself, and Perhaps Unfairly Angry at Alan Ball
Alan Ball: Unfair, Yes, but It's All Your Fault
Alan Ball probably doesn't even know I'm angry. I mean, why would he? But I can't shake it. See, I loved "Six Feet Under," and have always considered Ball to be one of those unpredictable, bold, and truly brilliant storytellers that are just so rare in film and TV today. When Ball's new show, "True Blood," hit HBO, I watched, and thought it was amazing. Weird, funny, unforgettable.
So why am I mad? Oh yeah, sorry. Well, since I left my nice warm reporter's job in Miami at WPLG, I've been blogging away and engaging with new media gurus and pondering a digital future--all from my perch here in Brooklyn. Exciting, rewarding, but financially draining. I've put in hours freelancing at the New York Post, and started work on a new online channel devoted to wine and travel that will launch this summer, but as for the bottom line, well, it's been tight.
How is any of this Alan Ball's fault? Sorry. I'm getting to that. You see, I've been swimming in the ice cold water of New York's media world, where there are lots of journalists on the verge of hypothermia, but not many rescue boats with warm blankets. Nobody's hiring. And the gigs that come up--the interesting ones--well, they don't pay. (You know that "next financial model" stuff we've all been talking about? Yeah, well, the folks out there experimenting and trying new things...they'll let you in on the proverbial ground floor, and you'll feel connected to creativity and the thrill of maybe discovering a new way of telling stories, but the cell phone bill still won't get paid.) And that brings me to Alan Ball.
I've tried everything. I've met with marketing and ad agencies, figuring a good storyteller is a good storyteller, and reporters know how to boil things down and explain them, and the good ones really know how to write, right? Well, try telling that to someone even at a funky SoHo marketing shop. You get this odd stare and head tilt, as if they were a puppy that's just heard a strange sound. "But... you haven't worked at an agency..." And they can't get past that.
Oh. Rats. Alan Ball. Sorry. I'm getting there.
A friend who was unceremoniously dispatched from his reporting job at WNBC recently shared his experiences finding work as a talented reporter and writer in this environment. He thought to himself, "if there's one thing I know how to do, it's look into a camera and talk." He's found work doing commercials and acting.
HBO's True Blood: I Coulda Been a Star
So there I was a week ago in the oh-so-strange world of waiting my turn to audition for Alan Ball's "True Blood." The new season's in production, and one of the characters is a news anchor who does a weekly segment on vampires. Now, like my WNBC friend, if there's anything I know how to do, it's be a news reporter or anchor. I wouldn't really be "anchoring" so much as "playing one on TV." (And I wasn't the only out-of-work local newser who had that idea. Scanning down the sign-in sheet for the HBO audition session, I noticed five well-known names who were also giving the fake news a try)
While I have no real acting training, I thought I sounded just like an anchor during my audition. The casting agent sent me off with a cheery "have a great weekend" and a reminder to leave my phone number so they could reach me over the weekend if I got a callback.
And you now see where this is going. No callback. And I'm left to wonder: am I not even qualified to pretend to be a journalist now? I can't pass for one in fiction? I must admit it had me questioning everything, from whether I'd ever hold a mic in my hand again as a reporter, to whether I could hold out long enough for my inroads into new media to finally produce a paycheck.
Or, I could just blame Alan Ball.
And Now, It's My Story to Tell As Well
My Last Liveshot for WPLG
Last night, toward the end of WPLG/Miami's 6:00 newscast, I did a live package on Twitter, the hot social media platform, and how the station intends to use it to engage viewers.
I'd been pushing to make Twitter a bigger part of the newsroom's daily life for a few months, after seeing the power of the site to connect with people in Miami and around the world; many with excellent connections, ideas, and stories. I also believe that getting up to speed with Twitter makes local tv newsers more competitive in an increasingly difficult economic environment that's putting so many talented people out of work.
Fittingly, my story on Twitter was my last as a reporter at WPLG. I wasn't laid off, and I wasn't fired. Last fall, I approached my news director, Bill Pohovey to ask out of the remaining two years of my contract. I had no new job, and no issues with the station. I've been proud to be associated with WPLG and Post-Newsweek, and have benefitted from working alongside some of the most amazing journalists in the business, both in front of, and behind the camera. My decision was personal: I'm getting married.
My fiancee, Tiffanie Wong, also has a TV job she loves, as a technical director at CNN in New York. That's home for both of us, and despite months of trying to sell a Brooklyn girl on the South Florida lifestyle, it became clear I would be moving. And so, on Friday, I will. I'm packing up and heading North, two dogs and a cat in tow, and becoming one of the many reporters, anchors, writers, producers and managers who never imagined a climate like this--more stations firing than hiring--but facing the cold reality of it. I don't know if yesterday's story will be my last, not just at WPLG, but period.
Getting a Taste of Multiplatform Reporting on a Bus to the Obama Inauguration in DC, with WPLG Photographer Mario Alonso
New York's going through a horrific period of layoffs and cutbacks, and as my fantastic agent has put it to me bluntly, there isn't any work, and there is a phenomenal amount of talent sitting on the sidelines ready to jump at anything that opens up.
My friend and former WNYW colleague Jodi Applegate jumped at a job anchoring the news at News 12 on Long Island. Asa Aarons, forever a consumer reporter at WNBC, has hired on at NY1. Jobs that once would have been "beneath" us are now seen as life rafts in seas that threaten to swallow us up.
It's scary. My agent calls to "check on me" and tell me that no, nothing much is happening. (Other than clients being laid off and let go) I troll the job listings and send resumes, and find lots of not much. I send resumes anyway, sometimes sending applications to listings that sound digital and interesting, even if I don't fully understand what it is that the job entails.
And at the same time, I'm excited. The business is changing. I can stay in my comfortable, well-compensated job, wait for the wave to hit in Miami, and lose the woman I want to marry, or--I can take the leap. And the net, as they say, will appear.
WTNH's Ann Nyberg: One of the Smart People
I am so damn curious where I will land. I don't think it will be at a television station. I don't know that I'll even be on camera. Fortunately, I've never been one of those get-a-reversal-and-a-two-shot-walking-down-the-hallway-and-make-sure-I-get-my-facetime reporters. I'm a storyteller. I just love telling good stories. And more than ever before, I believe storytelling's not in danger. Local tv news the way I've always known it is. For years I've had the job of my dreams, meeting people, crafting packages, and getting to air them on TV. Every day a different challenge. Now, I think my dream is evolving, as much as my life is.
Will I end up in PR? If I can't find a paycheck, I'll definitely look into it. Will I try to shoot my own stories and find an audience for them? You bet I will. Will I keep a close watch on the smart people I'm meeting on Twitter and elsewhere--people like Ann Nyberg in Connecticut and Matthew Roberts in Denver--to see which way they think the wind is blowing? Oh you can bet your life on it.
And I'll still be right here. I'm loving writing about this career I've had--and one way or another, will continue to have--and how it's changing, at times so painfully. The blog (oh Lord, if only I could get paid to write all day!) will grow and be a place to share not just how others are responding to being out of work, but now, how I am, too.
I hope you'll be here with me. I know this is going to be interesting. And hey, no matter what happens: I got the girl!
Life Calls--Even at the Worst Time to Leave a Job in Local TV History (Photo of Tiffanie and Me by Anna Kuperberg/See more of Anna's amazing work at www.kuperberg.com)
Thanks for Stopping By
There's a lot to talk about in the local tv biz these days, and most of it's rather depressing. In a sense, that's what prompted by lovely fiancee to suggest, just two weeks ago, that I put up a blog to talk about what's happening: the scary stuff, but also the inspiring things that are right around the corner for those of us who are willing to experiment, be flexible, and believe.
5,000 Page Views Makes My Dad So Proud of Me!
Apparently, I'm not the only one. In two weeks, this blog has had over 5,000 page views, and today, on a lowly Saturday, more people visited than on any other day: nearly 500. I am humbled--and excited. I've heard from a lot of smart, insightful people and gotten to make connections in this business I didn't have before. I've been mentioned on sites I respect, gotten notes from well-known names who stunned me with word they'd been reading my stuff, and my baby blog even got a mention in the mighty New York Post.
I believe that if we share ideas, and stick together, we'll not only get through this, but thrive.
So thanks for stopping by. And please, pass the word to anyone who might want to join our conversation.
Obama Bus Blog Creates Viewer Interest, But Does It Miss the Story? (Literally-I Mean, Are We Missing It?)
One Obama Bus Breaks Down, Forcing a Passenger Relocation--and Delay
The details of our epic bus ride from South Florida to--well, Washington supposedly--have been detailed on WPLG's website, justnews. In nearly 30 hours on the road, WPLG/Miami's intrepid bare-bones crew of reporter Mark Joyella and photographer Mario Alonso have riden in a cramped bus attempting to file packages via DV cam and aircard-equipped laptop, with limited results, followed by a string of road trip rough spots, including an ill-planned search for a restaurant "just off the highway" near Savannah, GA, followed by a blown compressor aboard the crew's bus (result: no heat, just an ever-more-frigid interior temperature), a tire blowout overnight in South Georgia, and finally, a snowstorm in the Carolinas that ultimately coincided with the failure of the Obama Bus' windshield wiper motor. The last event forcing a third of the 130 Floridians bound for the inauguration--including Mark and Mario--to squeeze into the remaining two buses, now running against the clock.
The most recent mileage sign: Washington: 161 Miles. The time: around 10 a.m. The math: Not. In. Our. Favor. Even if you were just trying to cross the city line by noon, when Barack Obama will put his hand on the Lincoln Bible and be sworn in, it'd be tight. But the city is locked down. Entire sections of the Capitol area are now off limits due to extremely large crowds, and friends have reported to us waits of up to two hours to board sardine-packed Metro trains, which remain the only way into town, since vehicular traffic--including Obama Busses--can't drive in.
What makes all of this interesting from a local newser point of view is whether WPLG's low budget effort will actually have a bigger return with the misadventure... the humor of the blog effort (and we're getting some amusing "we're pulling for you" emails and Tweets, along with many snarky comments about bus rides, slow drivers, and incompetent local news crews) has taken on a life of its own that may be more powerful, ultimately, than seeing yet another package amid the crowds in Washington.
If we miss the Inauguration altogether, can we go directly on to the expense account lunch at Hawk and Dove?
Obama Bus Blog Reveals Limits, Laughs of Going Guerilla on the Big Story
The "Obama Bus" in an iPhone Pic Filed by Joyella
Photographer Mario Alonso and I set out at 6:30 a.m. Monday for Washington to cover the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th President. We don't have credentials, we don't have a hotel room, we don't have satellite time, an uplink truck, a fiber link--we don't really even have a "plan." What our station did send us off with was a check for $360--payment for two seats aboard Charter Bus #007... one of a fleet of three carrying a group of 130 South Florida Obama supporters to Washington to see their candidate sworn in today.
So far, our backpack/guerilla efforts have put Mario and me in both the "hero" and "goat" position. We blogged and Twittered for several hours as the sun rose Monday, and even filed a video story from the bus, shot on mini DV, imported into a Powerbook and Final Cut Pro, and than uploaded via an air card. The 30 second clip took nearly an hour to file, but it was in the newsroom in Miami in time to be the second story at noon, and that earned us raves.
Ah, how quickly they forget. With the "Obama Bus Crew" filing "packages" from the road, producers and managers back in the newsroom fell immediately back into the "we have a crew on the scene mentality" and began asking that we send tease video... and even calling at 4 with ideas on "elements" for the "6 o'clock package." Well, as you might have guessed, there never was a 6 o'clock package. As the bus rolled through rural South Georgia, cell service was diminished at best, and the :50 clip we'd intended to feed made slow to no progress for more than 90 minutes until it became clear the video would not be in house in time. We did a phoner.
A stop for dinner outside Savannah landed Mario and me in a Houlihan's restaurant--with Wi-Fi. Success! Heroes again! Not only did we feed the 6 o'clock "story," we ran outside, shot nighttime standups for an eleven o'clock story, and did interviews and shot fresh cover video... all quickly uploaded, then downloaded in Miami thanks to high speed wireless.
Since then, the Obama bus convoy was sidelined by a shredded tire... and then a failed compressor that turned the interior "heat" to ice-cold air conditioning. Passengers--and us--bundled up and contemplated tears. The windshield froze over, and the bus driver had to pull off I-95 to deal with the problem--all shot on DV and snapped on my iPhone, enabling me to file pics and write up quick blog posts to combine with phoners for the morning show. Ah, convergence!
What will happen in DC? Who knows? I veer back and forth between hating this assignment and loving it. Please share your thoughts!
Mark Joyella and Mario Alonso Aboard the Obama Bus
standupkid on twitter
- Could not connect to Twitter
Recent Comments
- Sasha Cohen on Former KSTP Newsers Set to Battle in Court
- Stephen on Larry Mendte: “I Wish I Never Met Alycia Lane”
- Jen B on Larry Mendte: “I Wish I Never Met Alycia Lane”
- TBD - WJLA - Hyperlocal - Poynter | LocalNewser on The Ticket to Web Heaven? Use Your Call Letters
- Tweets that mention Larry Mendte - Wish I'd Never Met Alycia Lane - Philadelphia | LocalNewser -- Topsy.com on Larry Mendte: “I Wish I Never Met Alycia Lane”