The Highway To (Cable News) Heaven
Ian at Fierce Highway agrees that our current cable news situation is intolerable. While I bitch and moan, however, Ian schemes and plans, and boy does he ever have a solution to my TV Dilemma — BNN, the Blogger News Network:
I'd be willing to bet that schools like the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern is right now educating an eager young group of intelligent journalists eager for the chance at a revolutionary new station, no matter the risk or the meager pay. It's a rough economy after all, and who's the most willing to risk it all than those without a whole lot?
Field reporting and in-depth investigation crews could thus be staffed out of J-School recruits. The editorial boards, then, would be made up from the blogging world. Some of us, myself included, might not be the best "reporters", but we're damn good at content choice and helping explore the issues involved in a story. Plus, there's nothing like a whole group of obsessive writers for focusing on content quality.
Area desks would obviously draw from the various types of bloggers out there: entertainment, politics, foreign affairs, military affairs, economics, human sexuality, etc.
I've even got a tentative board in mind:
CEO/President: Glenn Reynolds
CFO: Megan McArdle
COO: William Quick
Chief Legal representation: The Volokhs
Editor-in-Chief: Ken Layne
Head Anchor: Stephen Green -- he really belongs on the board, but, come on, can't you just see this guy doing not only the news but heading the prime-time opinion show?
Go
read the rest.
Three years ago Ian's initial piece alone would have been enough to secure ample venture capital. Damn this economy!
Between MSNBC's idiot programming, FOX's inept fact checkers, and CNN's raw evil, we, the decent, thinking people of the world, demand a new choice!
Posted by Captain Mojo at August 21, 2002 02:16 PM
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ian has a great point.
however, the inner skeptic has a voice.
we said the same thing way back before
cable had its place.
remember the days of no commercial
broadcasts? that was the pitch for cable
in the early days. ahhh, sans marketing.
the media arm race has left us here. it
may leave the major channels w/o a
news coverage (giving in to the cnn's)
eventually. the core of the issue is this:
money follows the majority of viewers.
and frankly, the majority of viewers can't
read the chi-sun times.
you can broadcast the secret to the
universe. if it happens to be done by
steven hawkins you may only reach 15%.
(no $) and if you dumb it down you get a
better return.
which leaves us in the same spot. OK
media coverage (better than it was) and
niche type stuff.
can i still get the branding?
