Mega TV station billboard fail

Oooops, sorry, anchorpeople!



This got some head honchos suspended: http://gawker.com/5413981/television-news-reporters-just-cant-catch-a-break

 

Suspended? I'm surprised some people weren't fired. Wow.

 

I have to say, I'm flabbergasted the GM and News Director were suspended over this. I tip my had to the ownership group that will go after the people in charge instead of the grunts of the newsroom.

Pretty easy to understand how this could happen, really -- it's not like the person who sends out the Twitter update has a image of how it's going to look on the billboard before sending it out. There's no reason that it should send up a red flag beforehand, but it obviously is hilariously bad in the final version.

On a related note, as someone who works in a newsroom that's a bit Twitter-obsessed at the moment, I don't get the point of twittering something like "3 arrested in gang rape." It's not particularly compelling information, and it's not something that's going to attract viewers. There are a few people at my shop who send out headlines like that. Seems like a waste.

 

In theory, doesn't sending a tweet like that draw attention to the Twitterverse (or at least the part that would care about the area you're covering) and draw them in for further updates, either through Twitter or the website? If they know you have something on a major event, they might follow through with you, particularly if they heard it from you first.

And since we're in the neighborhood:

 

An interesting news tweet does... but I don't think "Three Arrested in Gang Rape" is drawing anyone anywhere. Nobody is driving down the freeway, glancing at the billboard, and thinking "Man, a gang rape? I'd better hurry home to get the details on that!" It's just ugly and sad.

 

Never gets old.

 

On the billboard? No. But if they're reading Twitter feeds at home or work or the gym? Quite possibly.

Of course, havaing a Twitter billboard does pretty much ensure that whoever does the tweeting has to use proper grammar and spelling and not talk about their weiner. So score one for the billboard.

 

I could see that every day. And *still* laugh every time.

 

This has nothing to do with Twitter and everything to do with miscommunication.

 

Uh... The person doing the tweeting should be doing those things anyway.

 

Note that on the Twitter feed, not the billboard, there's probably a link to a full story as well, which you obviously can't see on the billboard.