Bruised Egos, Fresh Narratives And The "End Of TV As We Know It"

Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp points us to the reaction of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times to all the frenzy surrounding Vice President Cheney's hunting accident last week. As the White House press corps hammered away at Scott McClellan after the news broke in that smaller-market outlet, the paper's editor, Libby Averyt, had a different take in a column that ran on Sunday:

While the White House press corps seemed stunned that the Caller-Times broke the story on Dick Cheney's hunting accident, our local readers expected it.

And we were glad to meet their expectations. Frankly, the newsroom had some difficulty understanding what all the hubbub was about last week. As national newscasters asked repeatedly why a local newspaper first reported the story instead of the White House press, we kept asking, "Why not?"

We all heard our newspaper and this community falsely described as "Podunk" and "small town," clearly proving that some of the national press had failed to do their homework.

The national press doesn't corner the market on great journalism. It can happen in any community, and as our readers here know, it frequently does.

Back to the national front, CJR's Paul McLeary has found the new hot narrative making the rounds – Iraqi veterans now running for Congress. But after going through the mounting accounts, McLeary observes:

So there you have it: Veterans Run as Democrats, the go-to story of February to date, and one we bet gets picked up more and more as time goes on. Only problem is, no one seems able to agree how many there are actually running. The counts by the Times and the Post puts it around 50, which jibes with "Band of Brothers 2006," a group of vets running for Congress this year as Democrats, which lists 50 candidates on its roster. But how many of those served in Iraq or Afghanistan? We don't know. "Ten"? "About a dozen"? "At least 14"? Hey, reporters have never been big on numeracy.

Television has an inspiring past, ripe with innovation and popular culture influence. Since its coming of age mid-20th century, generations of TV viewers happily embraced their broadcast experience. For the industry, making a connection with consumers was a pretty straightforward, one-to-many experience...until recently.
Today, audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented, splicing their time among myriad media choices, channels and platforms. For the last few decades, consumers have migrated to more specialized, niche content via cable and multichannel offerings. Now, with the growing availability of on demand, self-programming and search features, some experiencers are moving beyond niche to individualized viewing. With increasing competition from convergence players in TV, telecommunications and the Internet, the industry is confronting unparalleled complexity, dynamic change and pressure to innovate.