TV news

[jenk]

I thought that I didn't watch network news because the signal-to-noise level was way too low. But this article in Technology Review by former Dateline correspondent John Hockenberry has numerous good points too. On To Catch a Predator:

Dateline's notion of New Media was the technological equivalent of etching "For a good time call Sally" on a men's room stall and waiting with cameras to see if anybody copied down the number.

On watching trends:

I knew it was pretty much over for television news when I discovered in 2003 that the heads of NBC's news division and entertainment division, the president of the network, and the chairman all owned TiVos, which enabled them to zap past the commercials that paid their salaries.

On "edgy" programming:

Entertainment programs often took on issues that would never fly on Dateline. On a Thursday night, ER could do a story line on the medically uninsured, but a night later, such a "downer story" was a much harder sell. In the time I was at NBC, you were more likely to hear federal agriculture policy discussed on The West Wing, or even on Jon Stewart, than you were to see it reported in any depth on Dateline.

Oh, and there's the bit about how GE owns NBC and does lots of business with the Bin Ladens. Could GE help Dateline get an interview with the Bin Laden family? Oh. Dear me. No.