Good news actually gets good ratings

Post #294,850

10/19/07 12:26:45 PM

[link|http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/10/14/news_flash/?m|Boston.com]

But a study published earlier this year - the most exhaustive ever conducted of local television news - suggests that the industry has severely underestimated its audience. In an unprecedented survey, a team of researchers under the auspices of the Project for Excellence in Journalism studied the minute-by-minute Nielsen ratings for newscasts from 154 local television stations over five years, more than 33,000 news stories in all.

What they found is that quality sells. The sensationalism of late-1990s WHDH, the study suggests, does bring good ratings. But well-done, substantive TV news proves just as popular - and often earns even better ratings.

A detailed study of ratings shows that high quality news actually edges sensationalism out for ratings. The article does sensibly point out that quality costs and is more difficult. But I think the result is interesting in itself.

Jay

Post #294,853

by imqwerky

10/19/07 12:30:30 PM

Praise the Lord and pass the remote control :-)

Smile,
Amy

Post #294,895

by static

10/20/07 8:59:22 PM

I hate to say it, but "well, duh!"

This is why programs like Panaroma and Four Corners win awards and viewers and are around a long long time. (Pity I can't think of a US show like that. :-/)

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation started ramping up it's news advertising a few year ago. They were promoting the fact that they do more than sensationlist headlines, which is, of course, true. IMO they didn't need to improve: they only needed to tell people how they were better. :-)

Wade.

Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

· my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] ·

Post #294,898

by imqwerky

10/20/07 9:27:57 PM

"60 Minutes" comes to mind

It has been on the air since 1968.

:-)

Smile,
Amy

Post #294,903

by static

10/21/07 2:26:00 AM

I did think of that one.

But if it's anything like the Australian "60 minutes" then it's largely sold out to commercial sensationalist interests years ago. Which is a shame because the journalists are generally quite good at their craft.

Wade.

Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

· my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] ·

Post #294,907

by imqwerky

10/21/07 8:24:50 AM

US version is still good

It's probably the only news show on a major network (not PBS or cable) that still has credibility left to its investigative journalism team.

Smile,
Amy

Post #294,902

by Another Scott

10/20/07 10:01:48 PM

There are a few good US shows.

Most of them that I can think of are on PBS or C-SPAN:

[link|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/|Frontline] (Documentaries).

[link|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/|Nova] (Stories about science and technology).

[link|http://www.pbs.org/newshour/|News Hour] (Nightly news during the week).

[link|http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=NM&ShowVidNum=10&Rot_Cat_CD=NM&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=365&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=365|Newsmakers] (Interviews by a journalist of a person in the news).

[link|http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=RWH&ShowVidNum=4&Rot_Cat_CD=RWH&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=100&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=365|Road to the White House] (Coverage of candidate appearances without commentary. It's just like being at an event.)

[link|http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=AC&ShowVidNum=7&Rot_Cat_CD=AC&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=100&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=100|America and the Courts] (Coverage of speeches by judges, interviews, etc.)

But most TV news in the US is garbage. :-(

Cheers,
Scott.

Welcome to IWETHEY!