Casting Characters

In his blogs on Why Local Newscasts Are Getting Easier to Ignore, Bruce Northcott talks about how there are no characters who deliver the news. The truth is, there aren't many Bill Bonds out there any more, and those people that do have something to say probably have their own cable shows. There are some who are willing to take chances, but they don't always have something interesting to say.

There are few people who can and do know when to color outside the lines. If that person exists in your newsroom, it's important to give him/her license to do it. And you must have a producer, director and production team on board to support it. If the producer is yelling "wrap, wrap, wrap!!!" in the IFB of someone trying to make a point, the likelihood of that being a real moment is greatly diminished.

And this is where life isn't fair... just because you give one anchor the license to be a greater voice, doesn't mean you have to give that freedom to everyone. That's how newscasts end up with those comments after stories that are trite, or cross talks that are inside and "optional," because they're about the anchors and not about the issues or the stories. Not everyone can pull it off.

If I were casting the players for a station, there would be at least one character - a leader with a voice. (Ideally, you'd have one for each daypart.) And that leader would be smart - smart enough to know when to push the format aside and have something to say.

- Laura Hernandez