Sharing News?

[Head Janitor]

Anyone seen this?
Local television station groups owned by Fox and
NBC have formed a news service to share video taken at news events
like crime scenes and press conferences.
The venture, announced Thursday, will operate initially in
Philadelphia, where it was tested, as well as New York, Chicago,
Los Angeles, Dallas and Washington. Those are the markets where
both companies own stations.
Executives at the Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media
portrayed it as a way to save money for local news operations,
which have been hit hard recently as heavy advertisers like
automakers have been pulling back spending.
"We're sending the same people and expensive equipment to cover
the same stories and bring back the same pictures day in and day
out," said Jack Abernethy, CEO of the Fox group, which owns 27
stations in 18 markets nationally.
Abernethy and John Wallace, president of NBC Local Media, said
the move would not diminish the journalism at the local stations.
Instead, it would free crews at each station to cover more stories,
they said. News directors could still send their own reporters to
events involved in the shared coverage to get their own take on the
stories, they said.
The footage will also be made available for sale to other media
in the markets, including newspapers, radio stations and digital
news outlets, they said.
The competitors will consult each morning to decide which
stories could benefit from the shared resources, they said. NBC
Local Media owns 10 local stations across the country.
"We hope this will be a model for the entire industry,"
Wallace said. Source: AP

Sounds like a bad idea to me. What's your take?

[The Fedora]

wow... I mean, wow.

[east coast producer]

I don't know what the story means by it's also being tested in New York. The broadcast stations as well as the cable outfits have been sharing video for some time.

[adam & doctor drew]

slippery slope.

sending people and "expensive equipment" out to to cover stories and bring back video is the cost of doing business.
if you can't afford that, then close up shop.

and it never fails, a money-saving maneuver is always presented under the guise of "it'll free up crews to cover more stories" (ask some of the VJ stations how that's working out).
I'd love to see a boss say, just once, "ya know what, we're doing this 100% to save money."

[overthehill]

Sounds to me like this is a case of business people making journalism and coverage decisions without taking into account the implications for the newsrooms themselves.

Makes me think of Sinclair's Newscentral, which several years ago Sinclair business execs would tell you was destined to be THE model for news at Sinclair stations. Yeah right.

[NYC Street]

This sounds like a local news version of NNS, the tape sharing consortium formed by Fox, ABC and CBS. The only difference here is that instead of just sharing what tape stations get, they seem to envision a single assignment desk structure for multiple stations.

It has some seriously troubling implications for crews, and is one more threat to the ability to gather news.

Imagine going to a story and having only one crew between two or three reporters. How do you get the exclusive interview or shots? Using your own hand held camera?

This is what happens when bean counters take the place of managers with news experience and judgment.

[Diplomat]

I don't have a problem with sharing tape per se--I've done it at several places throughout my career.

But as NYC says, this could result in a centralized assignment desk. Not good because it cuts down on competition. Without competition, the product is likely to suffer. And it would likely mean fewer jobs.

As for who gets the exclusive--well, the competing reporters can (literally) slug it out while the photog rolls. Both stations would, of course, get tape of the slugfest.

[The Thrill]

One shooter for multiple crews? Double the photogs' pay ASAP!

[Produce man]

One shooter for multiple crews? Double the photogs' pay ASAP!Every ND reading that just spit scotch all over their keyboard and went into hysterical laughter.

[The Thrill]

Every ND reading that just spit scotch all over their keyboard and went into hysterical laughter.

Yeah, I know. Makes me a sad panda. :mad:

[Another side]

slippery slope.

sending people and "expensive equipment" out to to cover stories and bring back video is the cost of doing business.
if you can't afford that, then close up shop.

and it never fails, a money-saving maneuver is always presented under the guise of "it'll free up crews to cover more stories" (ask some of the VJ stations how that's working out).
I'd love to see a boss say, just once, "ya know what, we're doing this 100% to save money."

"Executives at the Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media
portrayed it as a way to save money for local news operations,
which have been hit hard recently as heavy advertisers like
automakers have been pulling back spending."

Are there ANY proposed changes, past or present, to the way current TV News is gathered, that would meet with your approval? Any?

[s'news]

They could also have one person write the stories for the stations.

[LAWEATHER]

I don't understand why this is a problem.
So NEWS stations want to share helicopters.
They have been doing it in L.A. for years and if it saves your butt from getting tossed out the door, why do you care?. They all the shoot the same video and in recent years we have watched the results when they get to close in the air. Better safety, keep jobs. Enough said....

[adam & doctor drew]

"Executives at the Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media
portrayed it as a way to save money for local news operations,
which have been hit hard recently as heavy advertisers like
automakers have been pulling back spending."

Are there ANY proposed changes, past or present, to the way current TV News is gathered, that would meet with your approval? Any?

sorry, I'll check with you next time before posting.

[s'news]

They could have one person anchor the news for all the stations.

[snoozeroom]

First Coast News has been doing this in Jacksonville for a while, now... one newsroom and one broadcast for both the NBC and ABC stations. It works well for them.

[Another side]

sorry, I'll check with you next time before posting.

That would be fine.

[Sparky]

I'm not sure if Another Side and I are on the same page but what I read here in some of the responses to the story is denial, denial, denial. The news biz as we've known it is a thing of the past. There are going to have to be some drastic measures taken if local stations will even be able to continue providing news content on a variety of platforms. Gone, however, is job security no matter who you are, what you do and how long you've been doing it. You can rail against the changes and charge that news content will suffer as a result but that is the least of anyone's worries who controls the purse strings. Drastic times call for drastic measures so instead of criticizing some of those drastic measures I suggest you make yourself more valuable and indespensable at your shop, not complaining about how you don't like change. That will get you nowhere because nobody cares. This is survival mode time, not time to be thinking about that big jump into a big market where you'll finally make some big bucks. Those days are over. Welcome to a new world ... and no, it ain't Obama's fault.