Annie Mame

as you already know, I have tons of opinions on this topic, but in a nutshell I would look to leveraging different technologies for a more integrated/seamless experience via TV or web.

I’d also bring back the belt-mounted microphone.

Smart, very smart, and oh yes, that microphone…what a riot.

I watched and got sucked into all the nostalgic new “technology,” especially the hands free mic. But I also got sucked into the openness of Garroway who had no apparent agenda. I find today’s news topical at the local level and horribly subjective at the national level. I spend a lot of time Googling different sources, but frankly get frustrated. Ann, I like your “news travels first on Twitter.” I would like to see a technology as fast as Twitter yet reliable as the original Today team. We’ve come a long way from paper teleprompters, thumbtacked pictures, analog world clocks, smoking editors, and hand made graphics. So give me news from a choice of sources that focuses on major bullet points rather than repeating talking points and cover a lot more stuff that’s going on. If we want more, we click for more. Perhaps it could be as targeted as “like” on Facebook. Sorry for the rambling, but I was watching the “news.”

Ken, this is excellent, just excellent! Thank you!

You ask how to create a modern newscast and then ask how to pass along narrow-cast, niche information within that sort of broadcast. Maybe the question should be what will viewers watch and what will keep their interest?

How about trying the combination of: intelligent conversations and information from those who are credible journalists and “real people”; interactions between those two types; and finding a way, in the face of all the social media challenges, to maintain journalistic integrity.

“Today” worked because it came across (and still does) with a genuine and original “personna”, gave people what they hadn’t seen before; reached an audience who felt the show offered them comfort, stability, attitude reinforcement, and personal caring. If you can’t describe your newscast’s “personna”, then you don’t offer a focus point for the audience you want to reach.

As for the technological footprint, don’t let the tail wag the dog. Bells and whistles are meaningless unless they support the content and information, not overwhelm it. If you want to utilize new technology and social media as part of the news mix, then work at delivering the content in those media formats, not via the old-fashioned electronic ways.

Thank you so much for this response, it it open and frank and on the money. Thank you for taking the time to write this. Are you in journalism?

Ken, I don’t think you were rambling (btw, love your website and pics) – it’s a legitimate wish-list which can happen right now, but only on the web side of the equation. Once our devices converge and are fully integrasted, I think you’ve hit it on the head.

D-53, I ove what you’re saying, but I think, like me, you’ll continue to be disappointed, until there is a return to a market for quality vs. impressions / click throughs, for example.

Ann, I forgot to add one more item to my original post – there should be no studio set, because there should be no studio for this – you should set up shop in the locations you’re trying to promote. modern gear is so cheap now, it’s do-able. Wait – you already ARE doing it here on Annie Mame w/ your iPhone.

“Today” needs to be just that, reflective of today…using the technologies that exist to reach people wherever they may be on any of the available platforms. The content needs to be about connecting people and integrating their conversations for the better. News can be targeted to whatever market one wants to reach. The commitment to content is vital, as the use of all the technology apps in the world will not make any difference if the content(ingredients) are not fresh and locally sourced. The setting will never be as important as it once was as the new news will represent the ever changing voices of the contributors. The contributors will revolve and change as the subject matter does with each new topic of importance. The news should feed us and inspire us to be great and to build better lives, families, and communities! I personally stay away from information and environments that “poison” people. This is so full of potential and opportunity.

I think outsourcing journalism to a cohort of niche ‘experts’ is a way to expand news, but control content. I imagine the list spanning from car mechanics to scientists.

Eric, you’re right on the money.

Inform, dare to inform viewers outside of the cookie cutter model.

Entertain. On occasion, bring in the most iconic figures from art and culture that you can find.Blow the viewer away the quality of guests. Have live performances, on occasion and whenever possible.

Create motion with and through emotion. Example: Highlight a well run business that is loyal to our community, give them a spot when they are looking to hire employees, or feature how they strive to retain the ones that they have. Also, feature a cause, how folks can become involved, and how they can benefit by becoming involved.

I sense a collective technological burnout in our society-we are twittered, facebooked, emailed, text messaged to the point of numbness, a nation of transfixed drones. (Did people wait in lines, overnight for days on end, outside, to buy new t.v.’s in the fifties?) By all means, keep a presence in these platforms and inform the viewers, in brief, on how to find the show’s presence on those platforms, but keep the emphasis on the content, not on the crawl. Offer the viewer an oasis, a place where truthful information and cool, hip entertainment from a cross section of, our community, and (to the highest possible degree) the world can be found. Don’t be enslaved to the new technologies. Dare to confront them, in the context of putting humanity first before technological trends. That is a show that I would be excited to watch.

T.V. is in dire need of freshness. The hero’s journey always begins and ends at home-a place that we have strayed much too far away from. Your instinct to post the first Today show is right on the money.

Peter, thank you for your posting, I love your thinking.

“Today” is one of those rare television traditions that’s lived on and on. “20/20″ is another.

What I think will sometime happen is that the public will begin to tire of the information overload that we’re currently faced with (given internet, cable, etc.) and return to relying on trusted news-givers who have information-rich programs of interest.

Ann, I love this topic and can’t wait to hear more from you and your supporters; about how we can perhaps find the best of our ever-increasing media “universe.”