It is said by men everywhere that there is one way to be woken up in the morning that surpasses all others. I disagree, it is overrated and annoying. I prefer a cup of coffee in the morning. Whatever. So today we awoke without the horror of an Elgum-TNT in our rear view mirror and unusually, something to look forward to on a Friday.
As always, my job is to present an honest unbiased retrospective as we digest yesterdays TNT. The reviews came in by the fans and they were glowing. Fan favorite Sarah Lane kept to the Lgum-format so as not to humiliate the current host and in so doing stayed classy for San Francisco. This editorial decision highlighted what a talented host can fix and what a talented host can not fix within the current confines of the TNT structure. The energy was high with lots of pep by Lane and equally perky co-host Hu, they made the broadcast easy to listen to. Jason, who can get along with anyone, was noticeably happier having Lane in the captain’s chair. A particular remnant of the new-and-unimproved-TNT remained and held the broadcast back. An unassailable issue with having journalists as guests is….. they can suck.
TWiT did not invent broadcast news programs and something learned long ago was that not every great writer is a great guest. The Beijing correspondent was boring and again, not every guest can be resurrected with a good host. Peter Kafka is one of my favorite writers but when he appears on TNT, it feels like my fingernails are being pulled out using a rusty pair of tweezers.
Next Issue: Selecting and covering the in-depth story(s) on all tech news shows is paramount and where Merritt of Daily Tech News Show shines. This one facet is what breaks or makes shows. The key, finding what to talk about. This is why preparing a news show is not just summarizing headlines.
As an example, let us examine the story of the new social network Ello. So what? What is interesting? A new social network that doesn’t want to do ads, is that it? The host/producer preparation must be to hone in on what people will want talk about, what the buzz is, and start that conversation. This is why Elgum preparing a show alone at 4AM, without someone to bounce things off of and see what is interesting is a monumental mistake. Another thing Merritt would do is monitor the IRC to see if something he missed got the audience abuzz. This is why a consistent everyday co-host, preferably in studio, is the best option. Back to Ello and finding an interesting angle to discuss with your guest: How can any new social network overcome the problem of not being where the people are, is it even possible to succeed or is Facebook the foreseeable undisputed champ? If Ello flourishes will they be able to turn down billions of dollars in ad revenue, can any human do that when push comes to shove? Basically, the hosts job is to find one of the quintessential talking points.
It is certainly to early to tell how TNT will fare in 2015 and who knows if late sleeper Lane will have them dump TNT and keep TN2 when the Gum departs Petaluma. It is silly to speculate but I am betting the 5’0 blond is up to the task.
Update: Based on comments, author changed ‘Broadcast Journalism’ to ‘Broadcast News Program’
I gave up watching. I was hoping I would see Lane shine as a discussion moderator but instead got a boring correspondent in china droning on forever. Also Sarah sounds like a “Berkeley Hummer.” I was hoping she had worked on that these past 10 months. Having not watched the show in forever I didn’t know that the format has changed so poorly. I’ll give hervanother try if they change the format.
David» Quote comment
Never liked her on-air delivery…in addition to being the queen of Berkeley Hummers, she just sounds bored at times.
Pibb» Quote comment
“Berkeley Hummer.”
lol
George» Quote comment
Got to say that while you state that TWiT didn’t invent journalism it is a long long stretch to say that what TWiT does is journalism. What they do is really the Mike Elgan “Yellow Journalism” it’s pure Hack work. They take the work of others and hatchet it up and spit it out as if it were their own.
This is why I don’t worry that much if I miss a TNT because Gum really is the master of this form of work. That is all he has ever done. Though when he writes he takes other people’s work hashes it up and spits it out with his own personal biased slant on it.
I’m sure his kids were the product of a friends semen that he stole and used on his wife. LOL. That is the level of hackery and theft of others work that this guy does.
Admittedly he invites the people that wrote the original work on (though 9/10 these people are hacks that stole the work from another and rebranded it as their own with a biased slant added) but it is still taking other people’s work.
A true reporter goes out there, into the field and finds the news. That is ‘reporting’. #Gum etc claim to be reporting the news when they are merely ‘news models’ i.e. moving mouths that send the message out so the grubby reporter that is not good screen material can be kept in the back room out of sight and out of mind. The only exception is that TWiT does not even present it in a coherent easy to digest format.
In fact that is one of the reasons that I have started subscribing again to DTNS. At least it is being read and discussed and all present have taken the time to understand what the story is about and form an educated opinion.
There is nothing worse than listening to Gum and his garbled shit talking that is most times irrelevant to the issue he is supposed to giving the opinion and most times that opinion was not wanted and definitely not asked for. He merely uses these moments of opinion to Troll a company that he doesn’t like.
When you are presenting the news at least one of those people needs to have a complete understanding of the story and that one person person should not be the person should be the ‘main’ person. For example take Tuesday’s with Elgum and his bumchum the “Content Czar” the pair of them know diddly squat and they spend more time talking about their personal opinions about businesses that they don’t like and how the hell can you have ‘breaking news’ as being a new feature on Google Fucking Plus! If that is news to the world then the we are in a sorry state!
Anyway, what’s that today, 3rd rant for the day! I’m on a roll people. Though they all have the same theme.
Burntheadbob» Quote comment
When you watch any local news broadcast you’re always seeing people reporting on other people’s scoops and stories. In my opinion the job of broadcast news is to:
1) give you a summary, in case you missed anything,
2) add value by either commentary, discussion, or even jokes.
Richard yes» Quote comment
You people are not comparing “real” journalism to what these hack’s do on TWIT are you..
George» Quote comment
Yeah I don’t think TWIT has ever really done journalism (in the true traditional sense). They are in the business of broadcasting punditry. They problem is they used to be good at it.
David» Quote comment
TNT was MUCH better today. First full episode I watched since Tom left. Sarah was on her game.
David» Quote comment