TV Journalism & Programme Formats54of management is to attract viewers with a pretty or flamboyant anchor. one
that lacks a solid foundation, you're setting up fora disconnect within the newsroom and with the audience. The reality is many stations don't care.
The main anchor needs to be the most respected, most widely read, most knowledgeable and most experienced person in the newsroom. Still, building and maintaining relationships with the community will at times need to be as much of or more of a priority than reporting. It means becoming apart time journalist and part time Rotarian.
The main anchor should be on a first
name basis with every mayor, every police chief, every business leader,
every top level educator, every legislator and other significant official in the market. They should ride in every parade, kiss every baby,
and shake every hand, much like a successful politician. My father-in-law used to be mayor of our town and could be reached by journalists anytime, day or night, even going so far as to give local reporters his cell number. The main anchor should be that accessible to people. For those "big J"
people reading, this is far from journalism in its truest sense, but I don't think TV news is that anyway this is another debate fora future post. In the end what you have is someone who is an important part of the community. someone who truly has the public's trust and whose work connects all kinds of people.
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