teodoro1188 said:
Perhaps its just me, but has anyone else noticed the lowering of quality of nearly every aspect of 11 Alive's newscasts? It's not just "small market", its just plain bad. The graphics have gone down the drain, the music is horrendous, their newer talent is less than stellar, and the news they deliver is overly soft. What has happened? I used to love this station, but now I can barely stomach it. It looks like they still have amazing people working for them, but they are not being utilized to their full potential.
I really hope things change. They've lost me as a viewer for now.
The graphics and music are the same on all Gannett stations under corporate mandate thanks to CEO Greg Dubrow (WXIA's GM in the 90's that fired John Pruitt and Johnny Beckman). Gannett saves money by not having to pay royalties for the music (Gannett owns the copyright), and the graphics system makes it where a five-year-old can create graphics so that all of the local experienced graphic artists can be fired. The changes are beyond control of local WXIA/WATL management. (WAGA is also under the same corporate graphics/music mandate as well).
There are a few points to mention (that have already been mentioned over and over and over again like a broken record).
1.
NO ONE can beat WSB-TV as long as John and Monica are still there. It sounds like WXIA/WATL management knows this, and are going the differentiation route (If they can't compete on par...they will offer an alternate product with unique qualities that will attract a different audience that does not like what the #1 station is doing).
2. It takes money to make money. Gannett (and News Corp and Meredith) are publicly traded companies, who have (greedy) shareholders that want their precious dividend every quarter. To pay out a bigger dividend, you need bigger profits. To get bigger profits, barring a change in other factors, you cut costs. The more you cut in costs, the bigger the profit. Simple ECON 101. On the other hand, Cox is private. They can take the money that would go to greedy shareholders, and invest in their product. Ever wonder why WSB-TV anchors go to Africa for specials? Cox's investment shows. They are able to keep Monica and John, because they have the resources to do whatever to keep them. Keep in mind the economic crisis has thrown somewhat of a kink in things, but not as much as one thinks. The shareholders of the public companies still want their $$$$$.
3. One victim of cost cutting is people cutting and resource cutting. They lost Flip Spiceland as a result. Former reporter Blair Meeks gave a speech accepting a regional Emmy just after he quit WXIA explaining that he quit because Gannett was putting profits first. A host of others, including WAGA's Doug Richards (who has a great blog about Atlanta TV news at liveapartmentfire.com), WGCL's Rich Noonan, and a host of others have thrown in the towel and quit (Noonan was actually fired, but he quit the industry as a result). WXIA now has its reporters shooting video (including Jon Shriek, who has been with WXIA since 1980), and also has made their website producers on-air reporters as well (Michael King and Chris Swiggert).
4. The concept WXIA and the other Gannett stations are doing is designed for the Web 2.0 world we live in now (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) where interactivity is a must. All forms of old media must harness the power of the internet in today's world. WSB-TV still hasn't fully embraced the blog yet (althought they are on Twitter and Facebook). WXIA even has gone to the extreme of webcasting their news meetings for everyone (including competetors) to see, and even taking suggestions from viewers during the meeting. It seems to me that WXIA is listening to their audience...while WSB-TV is listening to the research and the tradition.
5. The average age of the audience is in their 60's. Sad but true. Older audiences develop a loyalty to certain things, and in the case of TV news it is WSB-TV. WSB-TV could make whatever changes they want, and still have their audience. If the audience is so loyal, they could potentially replace the news with kittens playing with yarn and still be #1. So, if so successful, why change? No reason to mess with success. WXIA and the others have to try to play catch up. WXIA, even with the resource limitations they have, has decided to listen to their audience, and create the product they created.
It is a complicated formula that involves many things. At least Atlanta has choices for news. Consolidation has caused many markets to go with only one or two news options.
I WAS NEVER A FAN OF 11 ALIVE NEWS. WSB-TV HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY CHOICE.