Scripps - General Discussion

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 813]

2 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

 

Scripps did Candance wrong along with Esabella I don't get why they let both go and in Candance's case why did she return after maternity leave and then let go 2 weeks later I just don't get that. Couldn't Candance sue Scripps for letting her go like that.

I say yes.. Especially since they have a job posting for a met... She should have gotten Reece's spot, and send Reece to weekends as originally planned

[MediaZone4K 1741]

Probably discussed here already....What do you think of Scripps' concept of the neighborhood reporter?

 

It's an MMJ who barely comes into the studio. They're essentially given a company car and gear. They film  packages solo, then work out of a Starbucks or somewhere to put it together.

 

WWJ (CBS News Detroit) also utilizes this method according to a TV News Check interview with their newsroom heads. 

 

My take:

Pro: Having dedicated beats gives reporters opportunities to build contacts and an understanding of a particular community.  Not going into the office might spare you from experiencing the infamous toxic newsroom.

 

Cons: No in person co worker bonding/more isolation;  further cheapens the conditions reporters work under, jeopardizes the jobs of photojournalists, limited in studio time might equal less anchor opportunities for reporters. 

Edited August 23 by MediaZone4K

[MidwestTV 1191]

1 hour ago, MediaZone4K said:

Probably discussed here already....What do you think of Scripps' concept of the neighborhood reporter?

 

It's an MMJ who barely comes into the studio. They're essentially given a company car and gear. They film  packages solo, then work out of a Starbucks or somewhere to put it together.

 

WWJ (CBS News Detroit) also utilizes this method according to a TV News Check interview with their newsroom heads. 

 

My take:

Pro: Having dedicated beats gives reporters opportunities to build contacts and an understanding of a particular community.  

 

Not going into the office might spare you from experiencing the infamous toxic newsroom.

 

Cons: No in person co worker bonding/more isolation;  further cheapens the conditions reporters work under, jeopardizes the jobs of photojournalists, limited in studio time might equal less anchor opportunities for reporters. 

 

 

 

I promise you reporters are in the building more than you think, and they certainly aren't going to a Starbucks to work on their stories.

[MediaZone4K 1741]

On 8/18/2024 at 11:41 AM, MidwestTV said:

 

I promise you reporters are in the building more than you think, and they certainly aren't going to a Starbucks to work on their stories.

Are you sure? Because I was talking with someone who works a recruiter for Scripps and that's exactly how they described it to me.

Edited August 24 by MediaZone4K

[Howard Beale 20]

The Scripps “neighborhood reporter” is just a reimagined beat reporter or a bureau reporter from the old days.  What’s old is new again.  Whatever you call the concept, I think it’s a good thing because it encourages journalists to become specialists (for lack of better word) in the community they cover.  That usually leads to better stories.  The difference is whether Scripps will stick with the idea or ditch it.  And with the way the Scripps stock price has dropped?  The odds are more likely that CEO Adam Symson — the architect of the “neighborhood reporter” concept — will be out of a job and a new person will come in and change things up.

[doublejman69 121]

1 hour ago, Howard Beale said:

The Scripps “neighborhood reporter” is just a reimagined beat reporter or a bureau reporter from the old days.  What’s old is new again.  Whatever you call the concept, I think it’s a good thing because it encourages journalists to become specialists (for lack of better word) in the community they cover.  That usually leads to better stories.  The difference is whether Scripps will stick with the idea or ditch it.  And with the way the Scripps stock price has dropped?  The odds are more likely that CEO Adam Symson — the architect of the “neighborhood reporter” concept — will be out of a job and a new person will come in and change things up.

The whole goal for Scripps is to do almost all non-time sensitive stories (stories that can be done a Tuesday that can air on Friday). if it works, they will keep “neighborhood reporter” concept if it doesn't, they will do something else (half neighborhood reporter/half beat reporters). The one thing this does places more reliance on reporters so Scripps can ditch anchors and live news on many stations, both are really costly and is never coming back. 

 

If you really look at it, Scripps and CBS are probably the two most forwarding looking tv companies, the concept of watching on a tv at 6pm and 11pm a newscast with 2 anchors siting at a desk, a chopper, and 2 or 3 reporters doing live shots in darkness is dying very fast. Having reporters live at house fire or on a side of a highway reporting on a snowstorm doesn't translate very well at all on digital hours after it aired.  CBS and Scripps are going at it very different ways, CBS all live, Scripps almost nothing needs to be "live." it will be interesting to see which works in the future, but doing the same thing we have done for the last 40 years is on life support.

 

Edited August 19 by doublejman69

[Megatron81 213]

Adam is the next to go as he can't fire anyone under him anymore as he fired the COO a couple of weeks ago. Adam needs to go as tape news has been an epic failure in my opinion.

[TheRolyPoly 1902]

WPTV turned 70 yesterday and went all out for it, including bringing back a legendary anchor, even if its just a short interview.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iE4e-uiZ4g&ab_channel=WPTVNews-FLPalmBeachesandTreasureCoast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLkWIARPPoY

[MediaZone4K 1741]

On 8/19/2024 at 12:33 AM, doublejman69 said:

The whole goal for Scripps is to do almost all non-time sensitive stories (stories that can be done a Tuesday that can air on Friday). if it works, they will keep “neighborhood reporter” concept if it doesn't, they will do something else (half neighborhood reporter/half beat reporters). The one thing this does places more reliance on reporters so Scripps can ditch anchors and live news on many stations, both are really costly and is never coming back. 

 

If you really look at it, Scripps and CBS are probably the two most forwarding looking tv companies, the concept of watching on a tv at 6pm and 11pm a newscast with 2 anchors siting at a desk, a chopper, and 2 or 3 reporters doing live shots in darkness is dying very fast. Having reporters live at house fire or on a side of a highway reporting on a snowstorm doesn't translate very well at all on digital hours after it aired.  CBS and Scripps are going at it very different ways, CBS all live, Scripps almost nothing needs to be "live." it will be interesting to see which works in the future, but doing the same thing we have done for the last 40 years is on life support.

 

The beat/neighborhood reporter concept is fine, I'm just not a fan of the multimedia journalist role. From First-hand experience MMJing sucks. You can't focus on wrting the story or contacting sources because you're also juggling driving, filming, ingesting, and editing all in a 4-5 hour period.

 

To Scripps' credit, they have raised salaries to compensate for the increased responsibilities that MMJs have. But the growing roles of a reporter without the aid of a cameraman is a large reason why turnover is so high and recruitment seems to be struggling industry wide.

 

I'll give Scripps its credit for trying something new with Scrippscasts, but I don't think what they're doing is particularly great.  They are stripping broadcasts down to the bare bones in order to create a cheaper product.

 

One of the biggest draw factors to television and news is personality. By removing the anchors from the broadcast and replacing them with a generic Scrippscast filled with interchangeable reporters,  you get rid of that major element.

 

Yes, we have to experiment with formatting, but I hope Scrippscasts aren't widely adopted across the industry.

Edited August 23 by MediaZone4K

[Howard Beale 20]

I’m old enough to remember the hand-wringing that occurred when KRON-TV in San Francisco publicly embraced the MMJ concept as a cost-cutting move.  After all, one-man-bands were for small-and-cheap markets, not top-ten markets!  But look what happened in the following two decades.  MMJs are everywhere, even in New York City (and I’m not just referring to NY1), and they’re not going away.

 

Other broadcast companies will follow Scripps’ lead if it means saving money.  That includes anchor-less newscasts, pre-recorded newscasts, etc.  This kind of cost-cutting may very well hurt the business.  But the people who drove the metaphorical Titanic into the metaphorical iceberg don’t seem to care.

[MediaZone4K 1741]

On 8/23/2024 at 3:11 PM, Howard Beale said:

I’m old enough to remember the hand-wringing that occurred when KRON-TV in San Francisco publicly embraced the MMJ concept as a cost-cutting move.  After all, one-man-bands were for small-and-cheap markets, not top-ten markets!  But look what happened in the following two decades.  MMJs are everywhere, even in New York City (and I’m not just referring to NY1), and they’re not going away.

 

Other broadcast companies will follow Scripps’ lead if it means saving money.  That includes anchor-less newscasts, pre-recorded newscasts, etc.  This kind of cost-cutting may very well hurt the business.  But the people who drove the metaphorical Titanic into the metaphorical iceberg don’t seem to care.

There's almost no incentive to go into the business now. Not too long ago if you hated MMJ-ing you could work to become an anchor. Now they're getting rid of anchors!

 

Scripps' evergreen/documentary style story method is reminiscent of Spectrum News. They are well shot and rich with graphics.  I love that Spectrum newscasts are not all shootings/stabbings and fires. Their reporters have also said it's not a constant grind working for them. But IMO Spectrum Newscasts are also not particularly interesting either.

 

Yes, CBS's digital first concept is forward thinking but CBS stations are also lagging behind other O&Os in several markets. Something is not translating to the audience.

 

A lot of what's dubbed forward thinking aims to make local newscast look like an airport/waiting room news feed like CNN Accent Health. 

 

IMO a good medium is filming visually appealing packages that would translate to the internet, and having a heavy online/social media presence. It's also ditching unnecessary live shots and allowing reporters more time to craft decent stories. Scripps has done some of that. Forward thinking is NOT saddling reporters with more responsibilities ans scrapping on air personalities.

Edited August 24 by MediaZone4K

[LiveFromHere 1]

I applaud Scripps for trying something different. Emphasis on the trying part. I just question the well of reporting talent. I fear it’s drying up. Fewer people want these jobs - a daily slog of MMJ’ing across ever-expanding newscasts, plus social media duties. If you want to still tell stories but make money and keep your sanity, you go corporate. If you want to be on camera, you become an influencer on social. Look at what Scripps is turning: neighborhood news has a why-should-I-care quality. Unless it’s your neighborhood. Making people care means finding characters and relatable facts, widening your storytelling sweep to bring in all your audience. Which takes skill. Which I’m not sure you’re getting from people new to the business or from non-traditional broadcasting backgrounds like school teaching or newspapering. Again, admirable for Scripps to be trying. But much of what they’re putting on the air or publishing is … rough. Stylistically. Editorially.

Edited August 24 by LiveFromHere

[channel2 912]

CBS seems to be trying to pattern their whole group on KCNC and their revived WWJ news department. Unfortunately for them, the big-market glamour stations have been spinning their wheels in the mud for ages, and the CBS O&O group has a long history of not being particularly well-run. They try to pattern the group after WCCO or KCNC but the glamour-market stations can't seem to wash off the stains.

 

I've been discontented with the CBS O&O rebrands precisely because people talked them up as though they would bring about world peace, and I don't like how the likes of KCNC and WCCO get lumped in with WCBS or WBBM, but the fundamentals of the approach are solid.

[MediaZone4K 1741]

On the theme of Scripps & CBS "forward thinking"... WPTV News Channel 5 is now deemphasizing the channel number and simply referring to itself as WPTV News in reporter sigs outs. My inference: digital-first mentality/irrelevance of tv signal positions.

Edited August 26 by MediaZone4K

[TheRolyPoly 1902]

Scrippscast has arrived at WTVR Richmond. Its Noon and 7:30pm newscasts are its first casualties and just by watching this, you can see why this kind of format is no good.

 

 

[ScottSchell 313]

7 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

Scrippscast has arrived at WTVR Richmond. Its Noon and 7:30pm newscasts are its first casualties and just by watching this, you can see why this kind of format is no good.

 

 

Yeah I absolutely hate it…. trust me KJRH has been doing scrippscast for a few months for the 10pm newscast the first part is live with some top stories live weather and live sports the rest is taped. Then the 4:30am is all taped except for weather.

Edited September 5 by ScottSchell

[LexTVandRadio 416]

21 minutes ago, ScottSchell said:

Yeah I absolutely hate it…. trust me KJRH has been doing scrippscast for a few months for the 10pm newscast the first part is live with some top stories live weather and live sports the rest is taped. Then the 4:30am is all taped except for weather.

Not a fan of this either... but I believe WLEX has been doing this since early Spring.  4pm, 11pm. 12:30 (which is now Scripps News on the Scene). Weekend evenings and was told the 7pm is next. 

[MediaZone4K 1741]

8 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

Scrippscast has arrived at WTVR Richmond. Its Noon and 7:30pm newscasts are its first casualties and just by watching this, you can see why this kind of format is no good.

 

 

The only thing I like that Scripps is doing right now is the cinematic style of shooting with their newscast packages. It feels slower than a traditional newscast but still a shot well.

Edited September 5 by MediaZone4K

[ns8401 857]

They really need to go back to letting style and content decisions be made at the local level. They can control the budgets still but each station knows more about how to connect with its area than some suit in Cincinnati. 
 

If they decided to do hard news emphasizing breaking news and investigative stuff it would go a lot farther. The business doesn’t need to be reinvented. It needs to get back to the way it was 20 or 30 years ago. And a lot of that is style and writing. That stuff is nearly free. 

Edited September 7 by ns8401

[mrschimpf 2166]

I will never understand how they completely missed this cost and crew efficiency opportunity;

 

Tonight in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, there were skeletal remains found and it's likely those of a child that went missing this winter. You have WGBA in the market, while WTMJ gets some coverage in the county, but certainly not in Two Rivers. There is absolutely nothing happening at 10pm in front of the Two Rivers Town Hall.

Most stations would either just mention that they're waiting for new details and send nobody out, or have someone pre-tape a report in front of the town hall for the 10pm because the only news broken is literally contained in a sheriff's department Facebook post. WBAY did send their reporter devoted to it out live, but she has been with the story since day one and you would expect she'd want to be live for any piece of breaking news arising out of it. That move I won't question.

 

Guess what the Scripps station did?

 

If you said that they both wasted gas, reporters and crew and made them wait out football, and then go live after the game's end just to say 'we know just as much as the sheriff's Facebook post', with WGBA's reporter at Two Rivers Town Hall and then the WTMJ reporter at Two Rivers City Hall...you must be a Scripps station (WTMJ) that doesn't trust their sister station (WGBA) enough to report the story in a coordinated live shot simulcast on both stations.

 

I know WGBA has really cut back, but I think they'd still know how to time a live shot with 'TMJ. That way, they didn't needlessly go 75 miles north to just read a Facebook post and get some generic 'oh I hope they found them' interviews with locals just because your station's ego is that wounded if you had to depend on your sister station to report on it.

 

I'm just shaking my head; this is beginner's stuff and they've been sister stations for twenty years now. I'm less mad at WGBA here than WTMJ because the former did have an interest in being there, but either way, this isn't a good reflection of Scripps even able to get one of their prime stations to stop treating their sister like a red-headed stepchild.