Television news is another area that used to be roped off from the profit motive. When Walter Cronkite died last week, it was odd to see news anchor after news anchor talking about how much better the news coverage was back in Cronkite’s day. I thought, “Gee, if only you were in a position to do something about it.”
But maybe they aren’t. Because unlike in Cronkite’s day, today’s news has to make a profit like all the other divisions in a media conglomerate. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to see the CBS Evening News broadcast live from the Staples Center for two nights this month, just in case Michael Jackson came back to life and sold Iran nuclear weapons. In Uncle Walter’s time, the news division was a loss leader. Making money was the job of The Beverly Hillbillies. And now that we have reporters moving to Alaska to hang out with the Palin family, the news is The Beverly Hillbillies.
via Bill Maher: New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit.
There’s that old TAANSTAFL thing again. Now that news has to make a profit, and you can’t charge for the news itself, you get advertisers to pay for your news. What you get is the news slanted the way the advertisers want it.
Which is fine if it’s also the way you want it. But it seldom seems to be, at least not for me.
So what can we do about it? Byron Alley says that charging a premium for some parts of the news or other services might be a workable option. What do you think?