Trying to fix the news

(To the tune of Me and Bobby McGee, by Fred Foster and Kris Kristofferson)

Ratings flat in Houston town,

Where thunder leads the rain,

Tried to find a way to “fix” the news.

Abrams sent the anchors home,

Then took off in a plane,

Took the Texas crew some time to find its way.

Feelin’ good was easy, lord, ‘cause the old ways had to change,

And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free.

It’s no surprise that The Tribune Company’s innovation guru, Lee Abrams, is not a fan of incremental change. “Why delay,” he says, “if something hasn’t been working.” Abrams shared his thoughts with us, the other day, about the upcoming “NewsFix” format that will compete in the Houston TV market, beginning this fall. The most publicized aspect of the new format-- Tribune’s KIAH is going to ditch its anchors and lead what it calls “a revolution” in TV news.

Anybody who has read this blog over the years knows that I share the view that the current model for TV news is in need of a fix. It’s been essentially the same since the 1970s. And the low ratings at KIAH hearken to another line from Me and Bobby McGee. “Freedom’s just another word, for nothing left to lose.” So with low ratings comes a lot of freedom. But an anchorless newscast will have to have characters and personalities to connect with viewers.

Successful television, perhaps more than any other medium, is built on characters and personalities. Every successful show, from Jersey Shore to Masterpiece Theatre, is rich with characters. For traditional TV viewers, the para-social relationship with anchor teams has been the foundation of viewer loyalty and success. Viewers often relate to anchors as family members or friends. So whom will viewers relate to on the NewsFix?

That’s a strategic question that requires creative answers. Unlike the movies or radio, TV is, in Marshall McLuhan’s analysis, a cool medium. We don’t watch in a darkened theater with focused attention or while driving down the road isolated in our car. TV competes with other distractions, which is one reason it has to be so character driven to be sustainable. So, an anchorless newscast will require thoughtful casting to generate meaningful connections with viewers. And yes, that can be successfully accomplished without a traditional anchor team.

Like any creative experiment, NewFix will probably strikeout a few times before it connects. Abrams believes that’s okay. In the current environment, successful news media entries need to have a grass roots feel and attention to breaking news This is particularly important for short form hand held delivery, actually more like radio than TV. For the TV part of daily news delivery, real people telling their own stories may offer the personality connection that will be necessary to sustain viewer loyalty with the absence of anchors. In many ways it is a casting challenge. Who gets to tell her story today and is it of ongoing interest? That’s the kind of question that might be appropriate at the new news morning meeting.

The other challenge will be how to connect on big stories. TV news is often at its life saving best during disasters. Houston is hurricane and thunderstorm country. Identifying the non anchor story-tellers for major storms will require preparation and a bit of training for the real life experts—not suit and tie observers but in-the-trenches-pros—who will take the place of anchors on major stories. Each market has the sort of articulate leaders who can jump in and offer real insight for those big news marathons.

Ultimately, a successful news fix will need creative producers who can work the latest technologies, but also have real news judgment to identify interesting story lines and the people who are affected. Flash without content will wind up like a September hurricane, very noisy with a lot of damage.

In the interest of disclosure, I’m not a disinterested observer. I’d enjoy working with Abrams and his team to make the NewFix a success. But unlike Abrams, I’m more a fan of incremental change than revolutionary overthrows. We agree that if something is not working it needs to be tossed. But to me the difference between success and failure is more like the difference between a major league hitter and somebody who spends his whole career in the minor leagues. As Hall of Fame hitter Tony Gwynn once explained on a Padres broadcast, what separates big league batters from the guys who never make it past Triple A is the ability to make adjustments, often small ones. You can try it without anchors, but the news needs storytellers with real stories to make it on TV.