Calling out mistakes publicly: delivery is key

by Beth Johnson | Mar 12, 2015 | Anchoring, App Articles, Political Hotbed, Smart Alliances

A common issue I coach producers on is how to handle it when an anchor decides to “call out” mistakes in front of the staff. Too often, producers have to sit and listen to anchors going off on the set about something that did not work. The comments are often not...

The People Who Should Be Treated Like Kings In A Newsroom, But Often Aren’t

by Beth Johnson | Mar 6, 2014 | App Articles, Political Hotbed, Smart Alliances

Recently a management team called to talk about how frustrated they were searching for some key positions in their newsroom.  They were fresh out of ideas to look and wanted to brainstorm ideas.  You might be surprised what positions we discussed:  Satellite truck...

The Interns Are Uprising! But Is It Their Loss?

by Beth Johnson | Jul 17, 2013 | Political Hotbed, Smart Alliances

The interns are staging an uprising. And many big media executives are sweating. Charlie Rose has already settled a lawsuit against his production company. FOX Searchlight lost a case and is appealing. Now MSNBC and “Saturday Night Live” may have to go to court. Each...

A Shift In Accuracy: Who needs to have your back.

by Beth Johnson | Mar 13, 2013 | App Articles, Political Hotbed, Smart Alliances

Recently I was struck by conversations I was having with a series of news directors who are looking for morning EPs.  Each mentioned, the line “the morning show sets the tone for the day.”  No, this isn’t a new concept.  Morning producers all over the country are...

How to carve a niche, even when stations do not showcase talent wisely.

by Beth Johnson | May 30, 2012 | App Articles, Producing, Reporting, Smart Alliances

Die hard journalists hate when you suggest anchors are performers and newscasts are shows.  Truth is there are some lessons we can learn from these “entertainment” terms about making the most of talent, both on camera and behind the scenes.  I am constantly shocked at...

How to pitch, and pull off, stories in producer driven shops.

by Beth Johnson | Apr 19, 2012 | App Articles, Producing, Reporting, Smart Alliances, Writing Help

I got a huge response to our article about decoding producer driven shops.  (If you missed it, check out “Producer driven doesn’t mean absolute power”).  So now let’s talk about what kind of stories managers want to showcase in producer driven shops.  First...