What Local Journalists Can Improve Upon
Also, social media sees rise in calls for rebellion, and a virtual Beatles song that fans keep remixing
Kevin Benz is a news veteran, having served 35 years as an award-winning broadcast journalist, including almost 15 years as a news director. He has been a leader in a number of journalism-focused organizations, and now consults with newsrooms on how to improve. I asked Kevin to participate in this week’s Q&A after we had an email discussion about a previous Remote Notes newsletter. His answers are enlightening and thoughtful.
Image: Courtesy Kevin Benz
I recently called on the news audience to hold their stations accountable, and you pointed out journalists need to do the same thing. Explain what you meant by that.
First, you are so right. We need viewers to more fully interact with their local journalists. Community accountability only happens when the audience participates in the conversation, whether through the mail, email, comments on a story or a phone call. Of course that only works if local newsrooms are willing to listen. I’ve advised many newsrooms to consider launching (or re-launching if you remember FCC ascertainment back in the day) ascertainment programs. They can do this by listening to the audience — by heading out into the community, meeting your customers where they live, asking simple, open-ended questions and then listening carefully to what they say. It’s not hard to develop a program like that but it takes commitment.
This leads me to newsroom accountability. Recent newsroom research I’ve done suggests that the newsrooms need to do better holding themselves accountable for the work they produce. So often, we get a newscast done and then move on the next one without any real critical review of what we put on TV. I don’t mean the old “we clipped the mic,” “we misspelled a graphic,” or "we hit that video late.” I mean “how good were those stories,” “what did we miss,” “is this newscast a true reflection of what was happening in our community today,” “which communities did we serve well and which do we need to serve better?” These are harder questions that require critical thinking and review. Many newsrooms are now undertaking regular “newscast audits” that look at these issues internally.
In the end, we have a lot of data points we can use to review our work — both internally and externally — and we need to be critical of our work in order to improve it and to be sure that our journalistic values — what we stand for — are on full display in every story and newscast we produce.
Tell us about your experience leading newsrooms, and any initiatives you led in the digital space.
I’m a “recovering" news director after spending 14 years leading broadcast newsrooms. I started out as a photog here in Austin and then spent 10 years in Houston. I returned to Austin as a managing editor, then became an assistant news director, then was promoted to news director. After working in TV, I launched a digital magazine called CultureMap here in Austin and was editor-in-chief for several years.
What I have learned is that leadership is a skill that needs to be developed. There may be such a thing as a “natural leader” but I am not one of those.
What would your ideal newsroom and newscast look like?
A couple things here: First, a local newscast should “look” like the community it serves. What I mean by that is, number one, it should be a diverse newsroom that reflects the diversity of its community. Second, the local news should be, well, local. Newsrooms need to really know the community (see above - “community ascertainment”) and understand the pressure points, challenges and community celebrations in each neighborhood. We need fewer network packages, less generic national news off the wire and more local information.
Sidebar: Local news means local relevance. That cuts several ways. It means any national or regional news covered should be made relevant to that community AND news coverage sometimes seems local even though it’s not — like crime coverage. Covering crime is easy, but covering public safety and criminal justice is not. The community needs public safety and justice coverage a lot more than it needs to see every shooting and fire.
The newsroom needs a full blend of skillsets for every platform being served. Hoping an employee “gets” digital doesn’t get it done.
What does local news do best? Where is there immediate room for improvement?
This is the easiest question. Local news serves its community with information, education and accountability. Local news gives voice to those who have been screaming and not heard. Local news holds those accountable to whom society has given great power. Local news reflects the perspectives of all they serve. Most important, local news fights everyday to make the communities they serve better places to live, and improves lives in those communities.
We have not done a great job of this. We have inaccurately and unfairly portrayed those who have been marginalized and ignored. We have covered crime to the extent that our viewers believe they live in much more dangerous places than reality would prove. We have contributed to the polarization of our society by only airing the most extreme, loudest voices, forcing our viewers to take sides.
We improve by taking stock of what we are covering and how we are covering it; by making choices about where we go for stories and who we talk to; by fairly and accurately portraying the lives of ALL our viewers; and by helping solve problems rather than simply focusing on what is wrong.
Now that you’re consulting, you’re working with a number of stations. Can you share some information that has surprised you as you’ve traveled?
Every newsroom I’ve visited is trying to be excellent. The journalists strive for excellence and fairness and accuracy.
The constant problems I see do not lie with our journalists, they lie with outdated systems and institutional cultures that present roadblocks and challenges. We see systems that lead toward what is easy and fast rather than what is important and contextual. Institutions rely on numbers rather than feedback to measure success. Cultures lean on how we’ve always done it rather than aiming for innovation.
None of this is easy to fix. But the good news is, while we have damaged the trust we hold with our communities, they regularly tell us they believe in us and they know we can get it together. I know every newsroom wants to, but it takes courage to innovate, fail, try again, and commit to doing something that matters.
Thanks to Kevin Benz for taking the time to answer our Q&A. You can find out more about his work at KevinBenz.news.
NEWS AND NOTES:
OPEN CALLS FOR REBELLION ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Ever since the FBI descended on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last Monday, some members of the far right have taken to social media to call for outright civil war. Of course, Trump-owned TRUTH Social is jam-packed with these threats. And there are videos on TikTok from, mostly, white, middle-aged men who are threatening to overthrow the government and install Donald Trump as president. One user on Twitter put together a thread of a bunch of these folks, some of whom understand the law better than others, making outright threats to the government, Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Biden and the judge that signed off on the FBI’s early morning search.
In the days leading up to the Jan. 6th insurrection, there were similar threats on social media, and the feds were criticized for not paying closer attention. This time, the FBI has taken note. FBI Director Christopher Wray last week said:
“I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement … Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”
Wray was right to be concerned. On Thursday, August 11, a Navy veteran attacked an FBI field office in Cincinnati, and was killed in a shootout. He had posted a number of pro-Trump, anti-FBI messages that indicated he was willing to die for his beliefs.
DISNEY OVERTAKES NETFLIX IN STREAMING WARS: Disney now has more subscribers than Netflix, according to Disney’s own quarterly report. The Mouse House reports it has 222 million subscribers to its OTT channels Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar, Hulu and ESPN+. That’s compared to Netflix’s 220 million subs. However, Netflix still leads the way in revenue, as its subscription pricing is higher than Disney’s. Writes Variety:
Netflix takes issue with comparing Disney’s subscriptionsto Netflix’s subscribers. According to the way Disney tallies its streaming numbers, one household that takes the Disney Bundle — with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — is counted as three separate subscriptions. A much better apples-to-apples comparison would show Disney’s unduplicated streaming subscribers (i.e., households), but that’s a figure the company does not disclose.
I agree with this assessment. It’s not the number of subscribers that matters as much as actual revenue, and on that front Netflix is still the leader.
PRICE HIKES COMING TO DISNEY+ AND HULU: Get ready to pay a little more if you’re a subscriber to Disney+ or Hulu. According to the same Variety article mentioned above, Disney+ is increasing its rate for its premium, no-ad service by 38% to $10.99 a month starting in December. Meantime, Hulu is also upping its fee. The service will increase the price of its advertiser-sponsored plan from $6.99 a month to $7.99. Hulu will also up its fee for its ad-free service from $12.99 a month to $14.99 a month. Remember when everyone wanted their cable channels à la carte? Turns out, it’s no bargain.
SPOTIFY TO TWEAK ITS LOOK: Spotify is changing its app’s home page to give users the option to make it more music OR podcast oriented. Right now, the podcasts are delegated to one line, labeled “Episodes for you.” But Spotify wants to give you the option of having a full list of podcasts, so it’s making a change. It’s subtle, but you’ll see two buttons on the top left: one for “Music” and one for “Podcasts & Shows”:
If you don’t hit either button, nothing changes. But it’s clear what the strategy is. Spotify wants to increase its podcast listenership, and this makes it a full-fledged podcast app that also provides music, something that takes two apps for Apple users to accomplish. It’s a smart strategy that gives you control and doesn’t force change on anyone that doesn’t want it. The new app is rolling out now for Android users, and will be available to iOS users in the future.
LINKS AND LIKES:
THE CURIOUS AFTERLIFE OF A JOHN LENNON SONG: In 1996, the three then-surviving Beatles “finished” two John Lennon songs - “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” Lennon had recorded these on a home cassette recorder and the audio quality wasn’t great. What many people don’t know is that there was a third song they considered attacking, 1978’s “Now and Then.” However, the song had a “hum” in it - an electronic cycle sound that made it unusable. But technology evolves, and life … uh ... finds a way. An anonymous user posted a finished version of the song, which set Beatlemaniacs on an ongoing adventure to improve it.
IMAGE: Fan Art
There are many versions of the song on YouTube now, some even by live bands. My favorite is a 2017 cut that uses most of that original first fan version and cleans up Lennon’s vocal. It’s every bit as good as the two “Threetles” songs from 1994, and Lennon’s voice is absolutely haunting. There’s a new, “Lennon Only” version that completely cleans up his vocal and piano, without the rest of the “band.” The Beatles’ estate doesn’t seem to crack down on these public mixes, and I salute them for that. It’s appropriate that the last Beatles song belongs to the people.
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BEYOND THE REMOTE:
WE BECAME A CULTURE WARS BATTLEGROUND: Remote Notes is a non-partisan newsletter, but our Facebook post last week on “The Candidate’s Seven Deadly Sins” sure true a lot of political vitriol. Although the book was written by Dr. Peter A. Wish, who advised the Romney campaign, it gives good advice for politicians of any stripe. But on Facebook, it was clear people didn’t read the article. We had the usual partisan comments and anger. However, we also had some good discussions, and I think that’s what most people want.
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