If It Bleeds It Leads …

With a tip of the hat to Steve Ross who did the morning round-up today at Speak to Power, we find a story by Smart City Memphis on what would happen if local news was more positive.
I encourage you to read the whole thing first and then come back here. I’ll wait.

The term of “if it bleeds it leads” has been on my radar since I started working in news, which initially was in radio broadcasting. People are voyeuristic by nature when it comes to devastating news. It’s been that way historically. An example would be that when we see a wreck on the interstate, cars will slow down to a crawl to see the accident. Was anyone killed? Was someone hurt?
You know where I’m going here.
News rooms in print and broadcasting has been cut so severely in recent years that beat reporting is all but gone. Yes, you still have political beat writers from all over the state at the legislature, you have business editors, because business stories can bring revenue into the industry and sports, because sports sells. Those beat reporters though of earlier days are basically nonexistent. Reporters and other newspaper personnel are handling blogs, which have created a new beat for lack of a better word, in their spare time. Smaller papers have had reporters writing about business one day, a county commission meeting the next, covering fires and local crime stories the rest of the time and then still build the paper. Believe me, I did this for years.
If we want positive news, news organizations are going to have to make a commitment to it and you will find that, in the online world at least, that people go searching for the “sexy” stories. By that I mean the ones that have a tabloid quality to it many times. I saw on Twitter on Tuesday that Austin’s newspaper website had a hell of a time handling the traffic after Joseph Stack committed what has been termed taxicide
. There is also a depression of sorts happening in this country more than just the obvious financial aspect of what is happening. It’s “easier” to look at the negative. When MSM looks at Tiger Woods as a moral barometer for a nation, it’s strange. He’s a golfer who screwed up. He didn’t apologize to the nation on Friday. He apologized to his sponsors.
In this same vein, let’s look at niche publications and websites that we find now. From parenting and society to real estate/community magazines, it’s common place to see these publications at the front of restaurants, convenience stores and the list goes on. Small audiences most likely but they are still alive and kicking and folks pick them up to read when they are having their breakfast. Print is expensive though and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next five years with them.
On a positive note though, this is a time of reinvention. SCM asks a good question that do we want more positive news? I think yes. Although the word hyperlocal is a bit too broad at times, I think you will find established news organizations taking to the blogosphere to get more news out more quickly in a local, specific environment. I believe you will find nontraditional alliances in the future between entities that you might never have thought about, working on community efforts because everything is local when it is said and done.
Yes, if it bleeds it leads, but the market is glutted right now with bad news. There are opportunities here right now, but it’s just going to take some smart folks who are willing to take a chance to find the balance between blood and victory.