Last week, what was presented in mid-day by all-news WCBS as
an unusually lengthy “news” report, was nothing even close. It was a CBS TV
News promo poorly posed as news. Replete with sound bites, it was an
infomercial for the reprise of the late Edward R. Murrow’s “Person to Person.”
this time hosted by Charlie Rose and Lara Logan.
It was as insulting as, I suppose, it was inevitable. And
from what I’ve read about Murrow, he’d have been furious.
The ugly, transparent service to networks’ corporate
fatherlands — the kind that now so often reduces “60 Minutes” to a CBS shopping
catalog — has infected All-News 88. It’s as if the station is being forced to
surrender by its own generals, as if it’s an admission that the station is no
longer good enough to succeed by what made it successful.
WCBS-880 is growing top-heavy with desperate contests and
self-laudatory copy, all of it making less room for news.
Reports from reporters in the field seem fewer and less
newsy, unless asking motorists how they feel about being stuck in traffic and
dispatching reporters to Home Depots to check on the sale of shovels before
snowstorms passes for news.
A serious question. What do you think commercial News Radio should sound like? I agree that sometimes the incessant promos are irritating. And, my 60-year old sensibilities don't always match what a 23-year old reporter thinks is important. Should WCBS sound like the BBC or NPR? Not likely. Nor would I want that.
A serious question. What do you think commercial News Radio should sound like?
ReplyDeleteI agree that sometimes the incessant promos are irritating. And, my 60-year old sensibilities don't always match what a 23-year old reporter thinks is important.
Should WCBS sound like the BBC or NPR? Not likely. Nor would I want that.