[Kzyxtalk] Budgets & news

[doug mckenty]

For me Christina Aanastad is, and has always been, the obvious replacement
for Annie Esposito.  She worked with Annie, was trained by Annie, and
willing to do the job at a price KZYX can afford.  People in this community
love her, she is well connected in this community, she understands the
issues that are important to this community.

She should have been the news director at KZYX for the last five years and
we should not be having this conversation because our news department
should be kicking ass, just like it is at KMUD.

Can someone tell me why it's not?

Doug

On Friday, February 21, 2014, Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net> wrote:

>  Rick, you're absolutely correct about the difficulty of filling Annie's
> shoes.  It took two full-time news people to make it work after she
> retired.  Annie was a superstar.
>
> Brooksher voiced his frustration at the difficulty of filling a half-hour
> with local news when he was here.  It's not an easy job, and it is made
> more difficult by the fractious nature of our community.
>
> Money really is the root of the problem though; it's extremely difficult
> to attract and retain someone with the expertise and talent to fill a
> half-hour, much less a full hour, 5 days a week, with non-partisan local
> news.
>
> Cheers,
> Tim Bray
> Albion
>
> On 2/20/2014 9:48 PM, Rick wrote:
>
> I think the reason that KZYX can't sustain a 50-minute local news program
> is simple: Not that much actually happens out here in Ruralland. Only Annie
> Esposito could make a 50 minute news program work and sadly Annie, as we
> all know, has retired. (Come back Annie! Come back!). Sadly, nobody has
> been able to fill Annie's shoes and those were some big shoes to fill. But
> maybe the new news guys could take a page or two out of Annie's program and
> emphasize local human interest stories and the connectedness that makes
> Mendocino unique.
>
>  Tim, there are days out here in Ruralland where nothing, and I mean
> nothing happens and that is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Because
> the squirrel that has been raiding my birdfeeder gets run over doesn't mean
> that this is news. The current program of "if it bleeds, it leads" is
> interesting I suppose but not really sustainable. Just taking police
> reports and reading them over the air isn't really journalism in the
> Mendocino spirit if you ask me. Maybe the story behind the story might help
> fill the minutes. Hmmmmm.....
>
>  For instance, there was a recent story about a man being eaten by his
> dogs beside the road. Yuck. But definitely news. However, isn't there maybe
> a less sensational story behind the story? Like about poverty and vicious
> dogs maybe? Or maybe about how this could happen in a civilized country
> like America, or maybe who the man was, or.... You know, like journalism
> and an actual story that would interest people. This would fill the
> minutes. Of course this would take time, investigation, writing and would
> cost money. But maybe it is more about journalism than it is about money?
>
>  Rick
> Little River
>
>
> --
> Oak & Thorn <http://oakandthorn.wordpress.com>
> Facebook: Oak and Thorn
>
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