I'll Teach You to Be a Good Reporter ...

Newspaper Death Watch unearthed this gem of a TV anchor and field reporter debating each other's professionalism on air. Play nice boys.

ABC News Ready to Trim 300 Newsroom Jobs

It's not a newspaper-related jobs cut, but it's pretty big.

ABC News is ready to cut its news division by as much as 20 percent -- or 300 jobs -- and radically reorder the network’s traditional approach to news gathering, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

The Times, citing multiple unnamed sources, says the network will restructure the labor-heavy newsroom from top to bottom in favor of a leaner, more nimble operation, because of pressures caused by a drop in advertising revenues.

Journalists who survive the restructuring will be expected to both produce and shoot their own stories, acting as “one-man bands,” Matea Gold of the Times writes, a model increasingly being adopted in television news.

The process is expected to begin Wednesday morning when employees receive a letter asking for volunteers to take buyouts and leave the company. Newsroom employees have heard that the network is seeking to shrink the newsroom by as many as 300 positions, about 20% of the 1,400-person staff. If not enough employees volunteer to leave, layoffs are likely to follow.

For the last month, the newsroom has been rife with rumors about the cutbacks, which are poised to be the most dramatic reshaping of ABC News since Roone Arledge revolutionized the division by recruiting a team of high-wattage anchors and launching new franchises during his 20-year tenure as news president. Anxious staffers are not only fearful about losing their jobs but also are apprehensive about, if they remain, how the restructuring will affect their ability to chase big stories and swarm major news events.

ABC executives are internally casting the belt-tightening not as a retrenchment but as a repositioning. By streamlining news-gathering operations now, officials hope to stave off repeated cuts in the coming years. They contend that a smaller news division does not mean a less competitive one. With technological advancements such as hand-held digital cameras, the news division can now dispatch one person to cover a story that once required a correspondent, a producer and a two-person crew.

News organizations large and small have been forced to let go of staff and reduce expenses in the last few years to cope with a drop in advertising revenue caused by the global economic slowdown. Earlier this month, CBS News cut at least 90 positions, shuttering its Moscow bureau and significantly shrinking its staff in Washington, London and Los Angeles.

ABC News has also trimmed staff in the last few years, but this round of cuts is the biggest in recent memory, network sources said, surpassing the 125 positions that the news division lost in 2001 as part of companywide job reductions by corporate parent Walt Disney Co., when correspondents such as Sheila MacVicar and Morton Dean left the network.

The industrywide financial troubles have been felt keenly at ABC, whose flagship morning and evening newscasts remain in second place in the ratings behind NBC. “Good Morning America,” the main revenue generator for the network, has fallen 10% this season in the 25- to 54-year-old advertising demographic.

Dave Westin, ABC News president, released this memo:

Over the past several years, we’ve seen a lot of changes — changes at ABC News and in the news industry overall. I’m proud of the way we’ve responded both to unexpected transitions in our programs and to the economic realities of our business.

We’ve adapted quickly and effectively and — above all — put our audiences first. Our programs are stronger today than they were ten years ago. This is a credit first and foremost to the men and women at ABC News.

But all of us are good reporters. We can see that our entire society is in the middle of a revolution — a revolution in the ways that people get their news and information. The digital age makes our business more competitive than ever before. It also presents us with opportunities we couldn’t have imagined to gather, produce, and distribute the news. We can have great success in the new world — but only if we embrace what is new, rather than being overwhelmed by it.

The time has come to anticipate change, rather than respond to it. We have a rare opportunity to get in front of what’s coming, to ensure that ABC News has a sound journalistic and financial footing for many years to come, and to serve our audiences even better. But we must move boldly and promptly. In the past, we’ve sought out less expensive ways to replicate what we’ve always done. The time has come to re-think how we do what we are doing.

To that end, we anticipate that between now and the end of the year ABC News will undergo a fundamental transformation that will ultimately affect every corner of the enterprise. We will be guided by one central principle: In everything, we will ensure that we put our audiences first — providing them with first-rate journalism covering the things that matter the most to them in ways no one else does. And, we will do it with a business model that ensures we will be here for our audiences for many years to come.

The transformation will have six basic components:

1. In newsgathering, we intend to dramatically expand our use of digital journalists. We have proven that this model works at various locations around the world. We believe we can take it much further;

2. In production, we will take the example set by Nightline of editorial staff who shoot and edit their own material and follow it throughout all of our programs, while recognizing that we will continue to rely upon our ENG crews and editors for most of our work;

3. In structure, we will combine our weekday and weekend operations for both Good Morning America and World News;

4. In special events, we will rely upon our program staff through the day and night to cover unexpected events and marshal personnel from across the division to cover scheduled events;

5. In newsmagazines and long-form programming, we will move to a more flexible blend of staff and freelancers so that we can respond to varying demand for hours through the year; and

6. Overall, we will eliminate redundancies wherever possible.

An essential part of this intended transformation will be extensive training in the new technology — whether in the field or in-house. This is an extension of the digital bullpen training we’ve undertaken already, but it will be on a scale that we have not seen before. This training program and changes it will make possible in all of our operations will make ABC News the place to work in the digital age. We won’t just be preparing people for the new world; we will be living in it.

When we are finished, many job descriptions will be different, different skill sets may be required, and, yes, we will likely have substantially fewer people on staff at ABC News. To ease the transition, we are offering a voluntary separation package to all full-time, U.S.-based, non-union, non-contract employees. Information and details of the program will be sent to your home address in the next few days. The response to this voluntary program will determine the extent to which we will need to make further reductions. I encourage everyone to talk with their supervisor if they have any questions.

Any voluntary separation offers for union-represented employees will be in accordance with our obligations under the applicable labor agreement. Whatever changes we make overseas will be done in compliance with local laws and, where required, include management consultation in advance.

Throughout this process, I will keep you informed of where we are and where we are going with the transformation. Tomorrow, I will discuss this on the 9:30 call, and we will be holding meetings with various groups of staff in New York. Kate O’Brian and I will be in Washington next week to explain what we are planning in person and to take questions. Either Kate or David Reiter will be travelling to the bureaus in the coming days to do the same.

I won’t pretend that all of this will be easy. But I do truly believe that it will be good for ABC News. I believe in this institution. I believe in its mission and in its future. As always, I will need your help in making sure that we are as strong as we
can be for many years to come.
Thank you.

Blog or No Blog, Olbermann's Taking a Beating

I've been struggling with my health lately, so I'm behind the times on this note (and the whole blog actually). But I thought I'd share this.

Here's Keith Olbermann defending his ratings last week:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Olbermann doesn't have nice things to say about blogs, and the people who use them to gather information for their own publications. I must say I'm guilty of that, as I have a regular job, a family and not much time to make independent phone calls to sources. I just don't get paid for this.

But Olbermann does. The funny thing about his show is that it's usually just a rehash of the Daily Kos. Basically, I've stopped watching Olbermann because I have usually read most of the materials hours ago ... on a blog.

Be that as it may, here's the latest cable news ratings, from (I'm sorry ... the blog TV Newser).

If you look at them, Olbermann is having his lunch served to him in both the 25-54 demographic and the total viewer demographic. Now, I know it's a blog, but the source cited is Nielsen.

In January, Olbermann fell behind Nancy Grace! The numbers were as follows: The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 983,000; Nancy Grace Headline News 282,000; Countdown With Keith Olbermann MSNBC 263,000; Campbell Brown CNN 233,000.

$1 Million Winner on 'Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?' Is Criticized for Appearing

My fifth-grade daughter loves this show, and we use it as a teaching night in front of the television. Last night, Georgia State school superintendent Kathy Cox, a Republican, became the first $1 million winner on the FOX TV series “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

She answered the question: "Who was the longest reigning British monarch?" to win the $1 million. She did a great job in thinking it out.

She said her winnings will be donated to three schools: Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon; Atlanta Area School for the Deaf in Clarkston and Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring.

The show was taped last month, and she watched it with a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at a restaurant/bar in back home in Georgia last night.

Not everyone was pleased, as Jeffry Scott of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains:

When word got out that Cox was on the show, critics said she was risking her own reputation and that of the state school system. What happened if she missed a simple category such as Second Grade Animal Science? She got that right, too.

Despite the win, she took some political heat. State Representative Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna) ran an ad on the show Friday night criticizing her for being on TV while students are struggling in crowded Georgia classrooms. That brought boos from the crowd.

Here is Teilhet's ad:



Earlier, the paper reported that the criticism had become a sore point with education advocates:

“The budget is in meltdown, the CRCT is a mess and you have a superintendent in Hollywood taping a game show,” said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, an advocacy group. “It gives new definition to the word frivolous.”

MyFoxAtlanta.com reported that Cox accepted the invitation to go on the game show because it is family-friendly and promotes education. "During my tenure as state superintendent of schools, class sizes have been lowered, a more rigorous, relevant curriculum has been implemented and students have more options for learning," Cox said in a written statement. "The 24 hours I spent filming '5th Grader' certainly did not distract me from that important work."

Reports said she used her own time off and funds to go to Los Angeles to appear on the show. Quite frankly, it's sad when politics creep into a game show.

Here are the 10 questions and the answers:

1- What is the first month of the U.S. calendar year that has exactly 30 days? (1st grade measurements) $1,000

2- True or false: crawfish are fish. (2nd grade animal science) $2,000

3- How many times does the letter “D” appear in the following word ... The word in question is grandma’s daughter’s little girl. (2nd grade spelling) $5,000

4- What is the two letter abbreviation for the word doctor? (1st grade English) $10,000

5- The U.S. Naval Academy is located in what city? (4th grade social studies) (Dr. Cox taught social studies for 15 years). $25,000

6- Costa Rica borders two countries. Nicaragua is one of the countries. What is the other? (4th grade world geography) $50,000

7- Which of the following foods contains no natural protein 1- whole milk 2- pure sugar 3- raw eggs (3rd grade health) $100,000

8- Which of the following is NOT an official language of Switzerland 1- German 2- Italian 3- Spanish (3rd grade cultural studies) $175,000

9- What is the name of the following painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch? (5th grade art) $300,000



10- Which commanding British general surrendered to American troops in Yorktown in 1781? (5th grade U.S. History) Cox did a peek to Olivia’s answer but ignored it. $500,000

MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION (she gets no help from her fifth graders and gets no cheats, plus once she sees the question, she must answer. If she got it wrong, she would have dropped to $25,000). The topic: world history. The question: Who was the longest reigning British monarch?

ANSWERS:

1- April
2- False
3- two (granDDaughter)
4- dr (Not M.D.)
5- Annapolis, Md.
6- Panama
7- pure sugar
8- Spanish
9- The Scream
10- Lord Charles Cornwallis
$1 million answer- Queen Victoria (for 63 years)