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Post by seeveebee on Mar 24, 2009 10:47:59 GMT -5
I thought the decline in Local Broadcast News quality and recent layoffs (especially at 7) created a nice opening for NECN.
NECN's response...switch the market's Top News Anchor, R.D. Sahl OUT of the main 6PM Newscast. Move RD to 7 PM and replace him in the coveted 6 PM slot with the utterly unwatchable Liberal Union Yacker Jim Braude and some foolish show called "BroadSide".
Yes, I felt like I was "broad sided" in my recent attempt to get "Real News. Right Now" at 6 PM.
"Real News, Right Now"? Yup. You HAD it at 6 PM with the legendary RD Sahl.
Now you have a condescending has-been Liberal fruitcake in what may be the most critical news time period of the day, babbling endlessly about how wonderful Obama is and what a joke the local and national Republicans are.
Is that Journalism? No. Its not even entertaining.
Is Liberal Talk now the signature of this formerly objective, non partisan news outlet? Are they trying to be a local MSNBC? Is this a political/positioning strategy?
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Post by newser on Mar 24, 2009 17:02:54 GMT -5
Of course, another way of looking at the news at 7 with R.D. is ... more eyes possible. The old 6 p.m. model for news is in my mind a thing of the past. More and more people seem to be getting home later, so 7 is really not a compromise as much as it may be an opportunity, and a reflection of the times.
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sp113
New Member
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Post by sp113 on Mar 27, 2009 0:57:00 GMT -5
Now you have a condescending has-been Liberal fruitcake in what may be the most critical news time period of the day, babbling endlessly about how wonderful Obama is and what a joke the local and national Republicans are. Is that Journalism? No. Its not even entertaining. Well, NECN has always seemed to do counter-programming. I remember for years NECN felt they could not compete at 11PM...with a traditional newscast....so they did an hour of sports. Might be the same effect at 6PM. Why would anyone watch NECN when every other local station is doing their signature(?) newscast? Maybe it makes sense to do something other than a traditional newscast. Maybe it makes sense to do some in depth look at issues to counter the 'headlines' that everyone else is doing. NECN's strength comes when the other local stations are NOT doing news...and NECN is there. |
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Post by seeveebee on Mar 28, 2009 9:17:14 GMT -5
sp, good point about counter programming.
But I THOUGHT NECN was effectively counter programming the soft/enterainment/weird stuff content of the Big 3 or 4....by doing "Real News. Right Now" at 6 PM??Isn't hard news their creed? Didn't RD fit the bill in spades??
Isn't that what they're trying to drive home in their promotional campaign???
So you take a product with RD at the helm, supported by an effective hard news marketing campaign......and you put some liberal talk schmuck in as an RD replacement in your Prime 6 PM News Slot???
Again, I feel like I've been broadsided as a viewer. I turned in the other night and witnessed a pathetic attempt at personality/editorial/humor. IN PLACE of the what WAS the best news content in the market from the top Journalist in the market.
I didn't need to see Braude babbling endlessly with the SPORTS GUY---about the SPORTS GUY's Politics (he TOO admited to being a Democrat/Liberal!).
This is nonsense. And on an Outlet that brands itself "Real News.Right Now:....its more than nonsense. Its incongruous and stupid.
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Post by BTVNadmin on Mar 28, 2009 10:24:00 GMT -5
Well, MSNBC just overtook CNN to rise to second in the cable news rankings in primetime, so even if you don't agree with the ideological bent, you must surely agree that there's an incentive to try a different format. CNN is to news what McDonalds is to hamburgers and Coca Cola is to soft drinks, yet they now find themselves at the bottom of the heap. They've got a hard righty in Lou Dobbs, an apparent lefty who pretends to be a centrist in Campbell Brown (a boring show with the world's worst title - "No Bias, No Bull" - which reeks of irony), and a broadcasting irrelevance in the shape of Larry King! So the only person left with a shred of credibility left is Anderson Cooper.
O'Reilly's showing tremendous gains because he's preaching to the choir in a new Democratic administration; Olbermann's doing slightly less well but is still challenging for demo victories (and while I enjoy his format, he does annoy me by virtually never hosting a descenting point-of-view), but the breakout star of the last few years has to be Rachel Maddow. She's not a traditionally-trained journalist. She makes her ideology clear, unlike Bill "No, honestly, I'm an independent" O'Reilly, but still welcomes guests from both sides and interviews them with a civility and an intelligence that I have yet to see anywhere else in cable news. Larry King was the last CNN show to fall out of the #1 slot when Fox were on the rise, but now, Rachel Maddow is threatening to make him a consistent third.
Cynical move on NECN's part - maybe - but they've already got Braude in-house, and given that they've got four other sources of local competition, they might as well try something different. It's not going to set the world on fire, but I don't think that's meant to be your point. Far be it from me to impugn your politics, but I can't help feeling your analysis would be different if it were Howie Carr or Jay Severin in the host's chair rather than Jim Braude. The ideological slant may leave a bad taste in your mouth (and you have every right to feel that way), but from a TV point-of-view, it makes a lot of sense.
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Post by chrisnh on Mar 28, 2009 19:27:53 GMT -5
Braude is just a more polite Keith Olbermann, and it's a toss-up whose ratings are worse: NECN's or MSNBC's.
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Post by seeveebee on Mar 28, 2009 20:15:16 GMT -5
So BTVN Admin, are you saying that NECN is positioning itself as a Liberal editorial voice as a specific strategy to counter objective news coverage? Just wondering.
BTW, Deval Patrick's numbers have plummeted to among the lowest in history and Obama is around 50-50 way below what Bush/Clinton/Bush started out at.
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Post by BTVNadmin on Mar 29, 2009 7:47:05 GMT -5
Chris,
MSNBC just OVERTOOK CNN (the behemoth of news!) in primetime! I'm really not ideologically one way or another (British Conservative, American Democrat), but it really annoys me when people ignore a substantive point merely to make a less substantive political one - of course MSNBC's ratings are better than NECN - they're better than CNN's, for God's sake.
And Seeveebee,
I do think, in answer to your question, that it's deliberate positioning, but that it stands SEPARATE from their objective news coverage and doesn't claim to be as such. As long as they make the delineation clear, I have no problem with it. If they blur the line, I'm right there with you (which is why it annoys me when Olbermann refers to his show as "this newscast" - it isn't). I will agree with you, though, that Deval Patrick sucks. Finally, on Obama, don't distort the facts. It's not anywhere near 50-50. Gallup's latest numbers at 1PM EST yesterday were 62-29.
I'd make exactly the same correction if we were talking about President McCain.
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Post by seeveebee on Mar 29, 2009 14:39:27 GMT -5
Good points, BTVN admin. Let me just add, I would find it 100% equally wrong if NECN planted a Conservative voice in the Chair at 6 PM. Its not News. Its some one TELLING me how I should interpret the News--with a SLANT. Shame on that approach--Liberal OR Conservative.
On a less important note--I should have been more specific on Obama. SUPPORT for him personally is in the 60's. But support for his policies have dropped from the 70's to the 50's. Not shocking given the controversial nature of bailouts, etc.
Either way---go back to putting the COMMENTARY and EDITORIALIZING back on Prime time or later.
Give me the NEWS at 6 PM.
C'mon NECN--the Net affiliates in the market are doing quickie fire-of-the-day, car wreck-of-the-day. dirty house-of-the-day, and Madonna sightings.
Gimme REAL NEWS. RIGHT NOW. Watch your own Promos and deliver the goods.
Hold the Olbermann-Lite stuff for later.
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Post by seeveebee on Mar 30, 2009 11:27:52 GMT -5
If you're gonna play the ideological game, make sure to get the "right side".
From today's ShopTalk:
"The TV sets in the White House may not be tuned to Fox News Channel, but the favorite channel of the previous administration is riding high in the age of Obama.
So far this year, the network with the "fair and balanced" motto has widened its lead over its 24-hour cable news rivals, averaging more viewers in prime time than CNN and MSNBC combined.
Since Barack Obama took office, the network's prime-time average is up 30 percent over last year.."
From The New York Times.....the Top 3 Talkers are 1.) Bill O'Reilly...2.) Sean Hannity....and 3.) Glen Beck
NYT:
"Mr. Beck, an early-evening host on the Fox News Channel, is suddenly one of the most powerful media voices for the nation's conservative populist anger. Barely two months into his job at Fox, his program is a phenomenon: it typically draws about 2.3 million viewers, more than any other cable news host except Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity, despite being on at 5 p.m., a slow shift for cable news"
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Post by BTVNadmin on Mar 30, 2009 13:09:06 GMT -5
I never denied the popularity of the right-wing guys. However, MSNBC has indeed overtaken CNN, which may demonstrate that taking an ideological approach, regardless of whether it is left or right-leaning, is a way to up your numbers. Fox is so far out in front of the other guys (with the exception of a few demo victories for Olbermann) that it doesn't even bear comparison to the others. That said, MSNBC are doing well, and whether you like him or not, NECN wants to use Jim Braude to get them a piece of that same kind of action.
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Post by cambridge on Jun 1, 2009 11:04:53 GMT -5
where is ally donnelly
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Post by waianae on Jun 2, 2009 8:24:15 GMT -5
Ally Donnelly is on maternity leave.
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Post by cambridge on Jun 2, 2009 15:22:15 GMT -5
think she's coming back?
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Post by wonderwoman on Jun 4, 2009 11:08:27 GMT -5
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