[BC] "Breaking News" Interruptions

[Bernie Courtney]

On 12/29/06, Alan Kline <akline at netins.net> wrote:
>
> Ignoring the disrespect to Mr. Ford, you're still missing the point.
>
> If you're running a news organization, then you've got to make the
> commitment to *be* a news organization.


A network is no longer just solely about news, but also entertainment.


CBS is using the slogan, "See It
> Now. Any time. Any where". If you're going to use a slogan like that,
> then by gosh, when news happens, get on top of it.



I'm sure the AP store was on the cbsnews.com web site minutes after it
broke, so you could have 'see it now, anytime, anywhere'


The network has the
> people and the resources to do it. What appears to be lacking is support
> from management.
>
> How many times have you heard a radio station play the intro of a new
> record, and then tell the audience, "For the rest of this record, tune
> to WXXX". Easy. You haven't. Stations are not in the business of sending
> their audience to the competition, and neither are networks. There's
> enough audience erosion as it is, without encouraging it.


But radio often runs  a :60 news update at the top of the hour, if people
want more information they either go online or  turn on a news station  to
get the rest of the story.

Am I suggesting that CBS should have pre-empted the rest of Letterman to
> go wall-to-wall with this? Of course not. A brief interrupt would have
> been enough.



The crawl was more then enough IMO.