Proposing marriage live on TV: yea or nay?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=370005899736903

Add this to the pile of "things you won't see a newspaper do."

Seriously. I watch the local TV newscast for....TV NEWS!

Full disclosure: I have a beef with this guy anyway because I think he is unprofessional when it comes to dealing with people on his work Twitter and just watching him on TV makes me shake my head most of the time.

But aside from that, I think this is a waste of time and is self-serving (same goes for when they announce that a anchor has a kid and shows the baby or someone gets married, etc.). That time you are wasting could be another highlight or story that matters.

 

The chances are very very low that they would use the time for a story that matters anyway, so who gives a fuck. Anyone who watches local news forfeits the right to complain about what's on it. Same deal with SportsCenter.

 

Two things:

1) You won't see a newspaper do it because it wouldn't work in the print format. Don't kid yourself; that's the sole reason you wouldn't see it. Any moral high ground dissolved into the sea year ago.

2) I HATE shit like this. And as a TV newscast producer, you would never, ever see a proposal on my air. The on-air proposal is reviled in my shop, and I think that's pretty common. I suspect that newsroom has an average age of about 23, because that stuff won't fly in most places.

 

Also, regarding the "anchor's new baby" vo -- local TV is just a different animal. People feel they have a relationship with the local TV people, and they want to see stuff like that. I realize that sounds like self-serving bullshit, but it's absolutely true.

Years and years ago, I went to visit my grandmother. Her sister lived a few doors down. For two days I heard them talking about Shellie, and what a sweet girl she was, and on, and on. Had no idea who they were talking about. Turned out, it was the weather anchor on their favorite station.

 

Really? So we can't demand a better product? That seems like a defeatist attitude.

With SC, yeah, I get your point...but local news? You can always change the attitude of local news. Complain and don't watch if you don't like it.
Now, of course, I am using a facebook post to show this, so that means they are PROMOTING it, that's what irks me most I think (and tends to be the "self-serving bullshit" that it is).

PCLoadLetter: I was a weekend sports anchor in a mid-market station along with being a GAR in a small market before I jumped into print, so I have seen my variety of "playin' to the folks watching" and this just ticks me off to see this...especially since this is a bigger market than I was in. (I am guessing the age is higher than 23 though, this is a 2nd or 3rd place type of market, not a beginners place. I also think this station is No. 1 after the latest book).

 

Sadly, I doubt it's a 3rd market spot for most anymore. I'm in market 13, and most of the hires lately are in their second jobs. Wasn't that way a few years ago. We have a reporter who graduated college in 2010. She's pretty damn good and you'd guess she was more experienced... but again, that wouldn't have happened a few years ago.

 

Wow. That is sad. I guess I should have thought of that, I've been out of TV full-time for almost a decade, so I am a little behind on how things roll now.

 

Too many people in the business think people watch the product (or read the product) for "them." I understand the need for TV people to "develop a relationship" with the viewers - there are more jobs in the biz that depend on that than on solid journalism chops. But yeah - it bugs me too, kind of inconsiderate. I figure when it comes to "dream engagements" live TV ranks pretty close to the bottom.

 

Let's just consider the divorce rate for first-time marriages in the US, which I believe is around 40 percent. How does it look when anchor marries after proposal on TV, and then divorces three years later? That alone is worth a big "nay" from any thinking producer, let alone any other factor.

 

I can understand from a journalists standpoint you all not being in favor of this (or the birth announcements, etc.) but from a viewer standpoint, what's wrong with the viewers getting to see a more human side of an on air personality? We've got to have some feel-good stuff every now and then. I don't see a problem with the viewers/readers getting to see a small, personal glimpse, if the personality is willing to share.

 

If someone would have demanded a better product 40 years ago the path might have been different, but local news has always been fluff, essentially useless to anyone who can read a paper. This stunt is completely in keeping with the medium's traditions.

 

You have a point there. It is either death of fluff. So I guess I don't have a problem with a marriage or a birth, since they both fall somewhere in between fluff and death.