“Our headlines will be ripped from social media,” says Albie Hecht in his first interview after being named to lead the channel. A possible slogan: “We’re not the news. You are.” HLN Executive Vice President Albie Hecht HLN In the world of cable news networks, HLN is the low-talker, barely audible over screaming competitors Fox News, MSNBC, and even sibling network CNN. And while HLN sometimes produces decent ratings — usually tied to coverage of a salacious legal trial — two things it doesnt generate for parent company Time Warner are respect and profits on par with those of its other cable networks. But the unconventional new executive chosen to head the channel tells — in his first interview since taking the job — that he plans to radically re-imagine what used to be called CNN Headline News. Instead of battling for the traditional news viewer, Albie Hecht has chosen what may be an even more difficult fight: repositioning HLN around social media in a bid to attract young viewers who currently dont watch news on TV at all. Younger consumers have a very different perception of what news and information is, said Hecht. For them, news is really made in the palm of their hands, in the iPhone prayer position. But they want every update in real time and non-stop and thats the space that is not on TV. Our headlines are going to be ripped from social media. Hecht spoke over salad and sandwiches at one of the great temples of cable news, the Time Warner Center overlooking Manhattans Central Park, where the three TVs in his office are tuned constantly to HLN, CNN, and ESPN. The traditional cable news audience hasnt grown in years, leaving HLN and the flagship CNN fighting a bloody, often-losing battle each night with Fox News and MSNBC over the same one million swing viewers aged 25 to 54. While viewers tend to flock to CNN for breaking news coverage and Fox News and MSNBC attract audiences on opposite sides of the political aisle, nothing really defines HLN. It has found a bit of a niche with courtroom coverage of sensational trials such as Casey Anthonys, but as Brad Adgate, vice president of research for Horizon Media, said: How many trials of the century can you have? What Hecht aims to do is package and present news culled from the media young viewers are actually consuming. While its competitors will be mining newspapers and magazines and broadcast news for headlines, HLN plans to instead curate blogs, Facebook and Tumblr posts, YouTube videos, tweets, and memes to give the things that are being traded and shared on the web a home on television. (HLN will also, of course, be active in creating and pushing out new content to various social media platforms and on tablets and mobile devices.) There is no one place someplace where all of this news that you share on the web is available, said Hecht, who was dressed corporate casual with a collared shirt and blazer, his silver hair matching the color of his wire-rimmed glasses. By giving it a home, and saying clearly to the social media generation that this is for you, come here, when you watch TV, watch us, I think thats going to be a very exciting development for them and for the media. That means talk shows on HLN, for instance, will now feature guests whose Tumblr just blew up or who created a viral video instead of the latest author shilling a book or actor promoting a movie. Instead of featuring the typical analysts or pundits, guests on commentary shows will be pulled from social media. The strategy is firmly rooted in the belief that television is still the medias most powerful star-making machine, and that the ultimate goal of all web stars is eventually to become TV stars. Put another way, HLN basically plans to program in part to a generation of American teens who, according to a recent study by youth research firm the Cassandra Report, not only want to be famous, but also believe that they will be one day. Indeed, one of the potential tag lines Hecht is toying with for the network is, Were not the news, you are. HLN is already defining itself in Google searches as a national television network that focuses on the must-see, must-share stories of the day. It is a culture consumed by sharing and publishing about themselves and in their own little social circles they are famous, whether it is because a celebrity retweeted them or a prominent person followed them, said Jason Hirschhorn, a former colleague of Hechts at Viacom and Chief Executive of media aggregator ReDef. I expect a tremendous flow of those kinds of people making their way onto the network. Hechts makeover plan dovetails nicely with the mission of CNNs new president, Jeff Zucker, to broaden the definition of news on CNN with programming that skews away from hard newscasts and towards more general interest non-fiction shows built around sports, food or documentaries featuring recognizable personalities like Rachel Nichols, Anthony Bourdain, and Morgan Spurlock. (Zucker and Hecht share a common bond over their love of documentaries.) Or, to use another network as a reference point, Hecht is trying to modernize HLN in a way that mirrors how the History Channel both redefined itself and made its programming more contemporary under the History made every day rubric. Hecht, 60, took an unconventional path to his new job, and he wasnt exactly watching Nancy Grace when Zucker first called him about HLN last June. At the time, Hecht, who was still euphoric after his Oscar win for producing the documentary Innocente, was on his way to Thailand to begin production on a new film. Jeff wants to see you, Zuckers assistant told Hecht. Zucker, the former CEO of NBC Universal, was calling to pick Hechts brain about what to do about HLN, the bastard step-news network he was now overseeing after being named President of CNN Worldwide in November 2012,. While the two didnt have a personal relationship, NBC under Zucker had invested in Hechts independent digital production company, Worldwide Biggies, and Hecht at one point took part with other NBC executives in a brainstorming session about how the network could develop a kids and family business. In a prior life, as President of Entertainment for Viacoms Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, and TV Land, Hecht helped usher in the era of SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. On the other end of the demographic spectrum, he also created the testosterone-heavy Spike TV. But that was the past. Hecht left old media and cutthroat corporate politics in 2007 to launch Worldwide Biggies, which in addition to producing digital entertainment programming for kids also featured a non-profit documentary film unit focused on issues impacting childrens well-being around the world. Though getting back into corporate life was further from Hechts mind than Thailand at the time, after two 90-minute meetings with Zucker he agreed to sign on as executive vice president of HLN. It was kind of like The Godfather, just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in, said Hecht, who has been on the job for about 120 days. View Entire List › Read Full Article on goo.gl/wZ7yZD
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:00:28 +0000
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