You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
Ratings.
It’s everything in the TV business.
It should be about the journalism.
It’s about the ratings.
It should be about holding the powerful accountable.
It’s about ratings.
It should be about righting wrongs and helping little old ladies across the street and finding lost dogs.
It’s not.
It’s about ratings.
I am reminded of that every day.
What’s tonight’s lead in?
That’s how every news meeting starts.
They want to know if its Castle or Gray’s Anatomy or Nashville.
Would it matter if it was Matlock? or Andy Griffith? or Dawn of the Dead?
The real question they want to know is whether women are watching.
And because they think women are watching, they want a news story that they think women will watch.
Do women like Vampires?
They do?
Then we need a vampire tie in.
Why?
Because we desire women demographics.
Why women?
Because advertisers like women.
They have disposable income and often run the household budgets.
It ain’t Edward R. Murrow’s journalism anymore.
So it comes down to what is a news story that women will watch?
That’s highly debatable. How narrow-minded are you? do you have a crystal ball?
I don’t look at the TV Guide each morning and then look for stories that fit the lead in.
I seek news of the day and hope that it’s enough to make it into the newscast.
I am frequently told that women don’t watch crime.
Really? I wonder?
If they don’t then who watches all these crime shows on TV?
Who buys the home alarm systems and locks the doors twice before bed?
Women are concerned about home security and prowlers in the neighborhood and the creepy guy in the van down by the river.
So often these stories get scrubbed for something that people think is pink and dainty and female oriented.
What is that?
Cosmetic enhancement stories? A new boutique coming to town? Breast feeding in public outrage?
When the news of the day is no longer relevant unless it is flavored with estrogen, then the news you watch is tainted.
The product has never been pure. But now-a-days with the advent of social media infusion and overbearing consultants and constant tinkering, the news you watch is a diffused with rose petals and hair spray.
And even when it seems like a must cover, that isn’t always the case.
A girl is abducted and killed.
What does she look? Is she ugly? A street urchin? A prostitute?
No coverage.
Is she blond and beautiful? A student? Someone the news leaders relate to?
Team coverage!
Ratings are measured by the minute.
What were people watching at 9:45pm till 10pm.
What happened at the top of the hour?
Did people stay to watch the estrogen flavored broadcast, or did they flip the channel to old episodes of The Odd Couple?
That’s the question the next day?
If the ratings held or went up, the news managers want to reproduce that effort.
What did we lead with? Let’s do it again?
And when they put the same type of nonsense in the lead slot again, it fails.
Why?
Because the Earth has spun once on its axis and everything has changed. The lead in is different, the viewing audience is different, and the esoteric ratings winds have changed.
Still the news managers will guess what to lead with, rather than lead with the story of the day or the best story of the night.
It’s just more complex than that.
It’s the anchors, the promos, the stories, the color of the set, the viewing habits, the fickle winds of broadcasting.
Trying to predict the news or cater to an audience is a sure-fire way to miss the mark.
Predicting the news is like guessing the lottery numbers. You might be right, but chances are good you will be holding a worthless piece of paper at the end of the night.
Ratings. They pay the bills. They frustrate the hell out of me.
Life’s Crazy™