Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 53

Chicago Tribune, Sunday, July 6, 1997 Section 5 9 For Marin, issue is more than TV She's troubled by media emphasis on marketing, target audiences 'f cally TV news means to viewers has been a discussion in newsrooms for many years. But she said there has been a trend of less give and take in newsrooms in recent years on what becomes news. "It's driven much more by consultants and general managers," she said. Marin said the Springer incident wasn't the first time that she's had to face a controversial situation in the newsroom. "You do the best with fights within your own system," she said.

"And some of those fights were being won." Despite the changes, Marin said she still believes in the news business, and admits that it is a imperfect process no matter what. She wouldn't discuss offers she has received, nor would she put a time frame on her next career move. Marin said she is carefully weighing her options, quipping that you can have only one cataclysmic event in a career. By Jim Kir Tribune Staff Writer Carol Marin may have made a statement about the state of local TV news when she resigned as co-anchor at WMAQ-Ch. 5 earlier this year.

i But your local nightly news is only part of the story, she says. TV news isn't the only outlet devoting less space and time to more important topics such as government and race. "I never limit the discussion to just local TV news," Marin said in an interview last week. "The problems in news are endemic to all parts. There is so much emphasis on marketing and demographics.

When you decide the target of the information before it's information at all, the news-gathering process is already perverted." In the race for increased circulation or higher ratings, news operations have increasingly turned to market research. And that research skews what eventually comes across as news, she said. And she sees it as a growing problem. "If it was a virus before, it is a full-blown epidemic," Marin said. "When you zone a newspaper, when you target a TV audience, then you start thinking what do women 18 to 49 want.

The problem I have is that it automatically narrow-casts. In the process, you begin to dumb down the news." Marin, along with co-anchor Ron Magers, left WMAQ in May after the station announced it was retaining controversial talk show host Jerry Springer as a commentator. Magers couldn't be reached for this report Marin said the episode opened up a "public avenue" for a debate about the problems in local news. And that, she believes, has been positive. "I and others around me were pretty awe-struck by the volume of the discussion in the last couple of months," she said.

Marin, who said that she is not a "purist," said that the discussion of what news and specifi ah (He pnoto, says she's Ron Magers and Carol Marin talk during a break in her final newscast at Channel 5. She bled by the effects of market research on the news. "When you decide the target of the before it's information at all, the news-gathering process is already perverted," she says, on because everybody's got to the point now of understanding that it doesn't draw viewers. It just doesn't unless it's very sensational and a very big deal. That's a different category." Bill Kurtis, a former longtime anchor at WBBM, said the problem in the industry is a lack of creativity and a fear of a programming format that is radically different.

"We tend to be like sheep," Kurtis said. "If somebody does something that works, the others follow. "Why should everybody be the same and look the same? One reason they are is they are all making money. There is no real incentive to change, and as long as they are making money, they won't change," Kurtis said. Northwestern's Dean disagrees.

The public reaction to Springer's brief and turbulent career as a television news commentator sent a clear message that TV will have to clean up its act Dean said. "I think you make a big mistake when you sell Chicagoans short by thinking that you'll make more money selling trash TV That was a shot heard round the world," she said. Its long-term impact, though, is yet to be determined. Price and Cheatwood say it will take time to build the trust of the audience, and changes will not come quickly. (simniam MIctmsl Wilmington Check him out before you head to the movies.

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Min. investment $7,995. Work 3-4 Hrs.Wk. Average Nat earnings A sonal feelings toward news anchors earning six- and seven-figure salaries, and the stations' orchestrated image campaigns portraying themselves as committed and community-conscious and the debate boils down to eyeballs. "I think the news is almost inconsequential," said Phyllis Kaniss, an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annen-berg School for Communication and author of books on local TV news.

"News directors will tell you that crime reports are relevant, but most people who watch don't even go near those areas. This is done for shock value'. "For anybody who studies local news, it is a sham," she said. "They are guided by market forces, and there is a big gap between what they really do and the image that they are trying to project" The audience is eroding. The most recent ratings at WLS-TV are down slightly from the April-May period five years ago 16.7 from 16.9.

But WMAQ's ratings are down to 13.9 from 17.3, and WBBM's are nearly half of what they were 8.4, compared with 15.1 in 1992. Each rating point represents about 32,000 Chicago-area homes. The slippage has put a premium on attracting an audience for the 10 p.m. newscast That often means provocative programming crime, disasters, weather and celebrities. Because TV stations cannot tailor their broadcasts to specific audiences like newspapers can publish zoned editions they often rely on the provocative to attract the mass audience.

WLS, WMAQ, WBBM and WGN each sent reporters and camera crews to Rome last week to cover the Vatican visit of Archbishop Francis George. The visit had questionable news value, but the film footage of station reporters from the Vatican could be of immense promotional value. The message: Our person is there for you. That is a key element in the stations' efforts to build brand identity with their audience, searching not just for news but for market vate man, and certainly one whose private demeanor belies his professional image preaches the populist gospel of TV news. Sitting before the animated chaos of five television monitors in his NBC Tower office, Cheatwood speaks calmly, and with self-assurance.

"What I'm hearing from people who watch television for news is that we're not impressed with the sizzle anymore," Cheatwood said. "What we want from you is substance and content based on our community." The problems are many, he says: too much crime, too much hype, too much reporting from bureaucrats and government leadersand too little reportorial per "We're actually at an interesting crossroads now," said Hank Price, vice president and general manager of CBS-owned WBBM-TV. "A lot of people in the business are asking what local news should be. What do viewers want and where does It fit in the whole media mix?" Of course, talking about the problem is only a start This is no easy or quick fix, nor is there any shortage of doctors offering diagnoses. Critics charge local TV news is exploitative, moving ever closer to the famous New York Post headline "Headless Body in Topless Bar." The Northwestern study lamented the avoidance on TV news of education and race relations issues and its fixation with a daily diet of crime, disasters and inclement weather.

"Our study demonstrates that local news is moving away from difficult issues and issues important to our community," said Patricia Dean, who chairs the broadcast journalism program at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. "Unless there is a crisis or a national celebrity gets involved, we see little coverage of education or race relations." Some station executives, although acknowledging some editorial excesses, argue local television news is a critically important public resource, especially during natural disasters. Fran Preston, program director at WLS-TV, Chicago's top-rated station, likened the criticism in the report to questions of "have you stopped beating your wife?" Television executives, backed by national polls, point to a still-large and generally trusting viewing audience, one that has not declined to the same degree as those for national network news broadcasts or newspapers. Sure, it's slipping, but millions watch every day, they note. If it were as bad as studies suggest, the audience would not be what it is.

Strip away all the emotion the journalism, community's time-worn evocations of Edward R. Murrow's legacy, the warm and fuzzy per "unanticipated The Springer affair was a professional body blow to an executive who has a reputation for doing his homework before he acts. It seemed to contradict his own observation that each market is unique, and that generic newscast formulas have produced a stale sameness across the country. "Past history," he calls the affair. Timeo move on and build.

This is where it gets tricky. Having failed with the quick hit, the bold move to make Channel 5 successfully distinctive, Cheat-wood is now on a more difficult path to try to fundamentally alter local television news. Chastened but not disheartened, Cheatwood described as a pri News Continued from Page 1 several years ago by presenting itself as more respectable. The Springer affair has created an opportunity some would argue an imperative for both stations to distinguish themselves during the most competitive prime-time showcase, the 10 p.m. news.

Local TV news is a most peculiar American institution in that hundreds of individual hometown news operations deliver daily broadcasts that are strikingly similar in terms of appearance, delivery and content Despite local origins, it is much like entertainment programming, where imitation runs rampant TV news, as station officials will say, is the live, local link to your community. In its homogeneous way, it is alternately stimulating, spectacular, informative, superficial, irrelevant and just plain awful Proportions vary from market to market and station to statioa i The Consortium for Local Television Survey's study covering a four-month period found that in the eight television markets surveyed, 40 percent of the newscast's time was devoted to crime, criminal justice, calamity and natural disaster coverage. A recent Detroit News survey covering two broadcast weeks in Detroit in December and Januaryfound the four stations surveyed devoted an average of 43 percent of their time to general Crime coverage dominated in -both surveys, with 29 percent I "There is too much news that is the same. When you can turn on three newscasts at any given time "period and see absolute repetition, Ithen we are doing something wrong," said Joel Cheatwood, vice "president of news at WMAQ-TV, by NBC. "I think this is a -survival issue.

As an industry, if I we don't pay attention to that, ithen we will be unnecessary in a very short period of time." Continued from Page 1 fame, was selected in late April to do commentaries on the 10 o'clock news. News anchors Carol Marin and Ron Magers quit in protest. Springer's controversial career as a commentator ended May 8, after only four days, arid Channel 5's ratings dropped. Cheatwood, who does not bear the sole blame and perhaps, some say, not a majority of the blame for the Springer fiasco, does not want to talk about it other than to repeat the company line from NBC that it was "a mistake" and "a miscalculation" that produced an Test ing opportunities. This is the cold, hard work of marketing and selling amid heavy pressure from Wall Street to turn quick profits.

The passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act prompted an unprecedented television station buying binge, leaving buyers with heavy debts and expectations of profit margins ranging from 30 percent to 50 percent "There's a lot of pressure to make money," said Tom Wolzien, broadcast media analyst at San-ford C. Bernstein Sons and a former local and network news producer. "And it's a lot cheaper to do cop stuff and chase ambulances. Only the names of the dead people change. A lot of these newscasts seem like they could be automated." Both Price and Cheatwood agreed there is too much crime coverage.

"The main reason you see so much crime is that it is easy to cover," Price said. "When you talk about 30" percent of the newscasts being crime, most of those crime stories are not relevant to people's lives or of any interest to them at alt" But it's not just crime. Cheat-wood said the industry has long been enthralled with technologynamely satellite delivery systems that deliver a consistent daily stream of interesting film to air. "As TV people, we are far more fascinated with our toys than our viewers are, and we use them far more than necessary," he said. The challenge will be to change the editorial mind-set the instinctive desire to follow the sirens.

Although WBBM has departed from its hard, tabloid format that was such a ratings disaster, it like other stations relies on crime Price said crime stories will not be dropped but will be put in their proper perspective. "I dont think it makes sense to cover it unless it is relevant to people. I think people who say TV is infatuated with crime and wants to put more crime into it are wrong," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to put more crime spective and context, not enough investigative 'pieces. Popular anchors are not the key; it's relevant content With crime reporting, he said, "We have a responsibility not to present a small slice of the pie as the norm of the community, and that has been sorely lacking." He added: "We need to start paying attention to the issues that are not necessarily the headline grabbers.

The public is saying we want news and information that is pertinent to our lives." Little of Cheatwood's editorial content thinking, though, is evident on Channel 5 newscasts. Most of the changes have dealt with camera angles and other presentation aspects of the newscast. Good Eating Wednesday i i Television stations, like newspapers, magazines and other media, face the tricky challenge of attracting and holding a fragmented audience while still retaining credibility. It won't be easy, said Sanford C. Bernstein's Wolzien.

"The real question is whether the economics of the business will be such that you can make money doing quality," Wolzien said. "In a world in which you carry huge amounts of debt payments it has become more and more difficult for companies to tolerate anything less than higher and higher returns. What you're seeing is tawdry and voyeuristic, but it's cheap." On the day Cheatwood spoke, the U.S. Senate approved a tax cut that included a $500-per-child tax credit and the Supreme Court ruled the Brady gun control law violates state sovereignty rights. At 10 p.m., Channel 5 and 2 and 7, for that matter led their newscasts with lengthy live reports from the Taste of Chicago food fest "We have made baby steps.

We have done things that are very small in nature," Cheatwood said. "I'd love to be able to say that a year from now you'll be able to turn us on and say 'Wow, they're absolutely different' (but) you will see steps taken that will take us into a level of local coverage that has not been present" 6et in game. Every day. Sports USED OFFICE FURNITURE (630) 844-2441 Kitchen Connection Our award-winning staff welcomes you to the Test Kitchen with easy to follow recipes and instructional photos. lira 7 I I I I I I Short Term.

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