Bill Carter writes about CNNs coverage of MH370 in the NY Times today, and concludes: Mr. Rosenstiel [Tom Rosenstiel, chief of the American Press Institute] said the overall CNN strategy of feeding the hunger of viewers for every detail of a hot story was unquestionably sound practice. “If I were running CNN I would say the audience is never wrong,” he said, adding: “You could make a pretty good adventure movie out of this event — and I’m sure someone will.” In the area of cable news, there is an essential principle that takes precedence over all others as it relates to success - success meaning ratings and therefore revenues. That principle is that the marketing concept of the channel is the overarching guidepost, and that programming and talent and production are driven by the marketing concept. This is obvious with channels like ESPN and Nickelodeon. But it also applies to news channels, and its why the Fox News Channel experienced an astonishing growth period in the early years. Youre thinking the big marketing concept was to pander to conservative viewers, and I would add, having been a primary architect of the channel, that from the start it was an intentional masquerade to brand the channel as fair and balanced. Rupert Murdoch had tried that trick before. One year and $17 million in story production alone was spent on a network news magazine, Full Disclosure, co-executive produced by Andrew Neil and David Corvo, filled with stories with a Conservative bias referred to in house as contrarian and meant to be presented as objective. However...this was not the initial overarching marketing principle. The fair and balanced farce came late in the startup, only shortly before the channel premiered. And here is the point Im making with regard to Bill Carters column and CNNs success with MH370. The original concept, the concept that I built the business plan along with Mark Pearlman, Jack Abernethy and Russell Epstein around, was as follows: that at any moment when a viewer tuned in to Fox News Channel, she would find us in the middle of an intense discussion of the single issue most pressing in the mind of the viewer...or to use Av Westins term...the burning question. This was cheaper than what CNN was doing at the time, and met with Roger Ailes approval, and subsequently Rupert Murdochs. If a cable news channel doesnt immediately engage the viewer with a burning question upon tune-in, its not competitive. In terms of production, that means lots of live talking, barely any tuning-in in the middle of a field piece on health or anything not captivating. Wall-to-wall coverage has a long history of success. Why its an issue now is curious, when a jumbo jet simply disappears.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 16:01:35 +0000
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