What's the first touch point for your brand on a daily basis? For increasing numbers of local television stations, that answer is "an app." More than many newscasts and probably way more than your website, the app is a growing point of contact for consumers. So who is producing app content in your newsroom? Chances [...]
Most people don’t shock easily anymore, not after a decade of beheadings and school shootings and families murdered in their homes and wall-to-wall coverage of airplanes intentionally being flown into mountains (or vanishing altogether). This week, as we learned the details of the murder of WDBJ’s Allison Parker and Adam Ward, we felt shock. And [...]
Imagine if viewers tuned in to your newscast and saw a complete hash -- random soundbites, video from news conferences, click-bait video, a reporter’s story from two days ago and a weather forecast recorded six hours earlier -- all jumbled together for no apparent reason. Well, guess what? That’s probably what they get from your [...]
I love the Fourth of July. It’s become the second most important holiday on our family calendar, behind only the Christmas/New Year week, which is often more work than fun. But Independence Day, in addition to forcing us all to take pause and consider our freedoms, is about family, tradition and fun in the sun. [...]
One of the interesting things about starting a new job is learning how the team works as a unit. As I wind down my first week at CJ&N, I’m delighted to report that the spirit of creative collaboration thrives here. This group works together to attack challenges and issues with a freedom of thought that [...]
Come on. Really? Reporters taking selfies at murder scenes? Smiling reporters in front of tornado damaged homes? News teams posing with guns pointed at the camera with a smile on their faces. A producer posting a tweet hoping police will use real bullets on protestors. A post from a newsroom with wrong information because they [...]
"Watch our morning news and you could win a trip to England." "Watch our 6 pm news and you could win a cruise." "Watch our 11/10 pm news and you could win a mortgage or a $1,000 a week." Topicals have now been replaced with spots that remind me of car sales folks. Come in, [...]
When I went out for lunch today something caught my eye as I drove by my local cable company: a Brinks truck backed up to the front door (I’m not kidding). They were about to cart off another load of money, some of it probably mine from a monthly three-digit cable bill. I’ve never been [...]
How do you like your burgers? Chances are your answer isn’t “Like McDonald’s makes them.” Last week’s news had two burger stories that speak volumes about local news, too. First, the CEO of McDonald’s got himself “McFired” for slipping sales and lack of innovation. Second, Shake Shack had a huge public stock offering, instantly making [...]
We’re not talking about spies, James Bond look-alikes or the NSA. Nope. It’s a little known tool on Facebook. Facebook continues its exponential growth as an important tool for newsrooms to alert users of breaking news and weather — especially weather. Our research shows users increasingly depend on stations to provide weather information, especially severe [...]
