"Deconstructed" Newscasts - The wave of the future?

In the past few years a new style of what I call a "deconstructed" newscast appeared on the landscape. It combines traditional stories in a new format. Some of the formats feature a "editorial debrief" newsroom meeting. Often these ape or mimic the style of TMZ (I'm not a fan). Also some of these newscasts feature VJ instead of traditional journalists with a cameraman. Some newscasts have little or no on camera talent. In the case of KIAH-tv it features only "The Voice" which narrates the news cast in a similar style to TMZ's announcer. An entire channel called TOUCHVISION (hate the name) which is not local news, uses the graphic/audio/visual idea to convey news. I really like this approach as it seems more thoughtful than the screamy TMZ-style clones. Here are some examples of the current deconstructed newscasts on air.



WWOR - 9 New Jersey - dumped their traditional newscast for a something a little bit different. Have a look at their High Speed Chase segment. This heavy follows the TMZ format but with traditional stories...usually. These newscasts dont heavily offer crime or celebrity stories as your might think from the newscast style. This will give you an idea of the look and feel of the newscast.


KIAH- 39 HOUSTON - This is the dumbest stupidest program on tv anywhere. I hate everything about it. This seriously goes after the TMZ look and feel right down to the voice-over guy. Hate it hate it hate it!


WJZY 46 CHARLOTTE- Fox recently bought a struggling Charlotte and dumped their affiliation with long time affiliate WCCB and created WJZY their new owned and operated station. To me it seems FOX is going to use this as an experimenting ground to see what works and if they call roll it out nationally. They dumped the traditional set and use the newsroom as the set. It has the "editorial meeting debrief" for some segments but its not heavily featured. The "deconstructed" feel for this newscast is seen by the non-traditional camera-use in studio. They also use VJ's like Chasing New Jersey. There are some things about this one I like and some things I hate. There is some things traditional about it, but it sorta tries to do things it shouldnt, because they cant pull it off. The opening music and graphics =mess. The graphics are a joke. The newsroom needs a bit of colour.



TOUCHVISION -NewsChannel currently screening in CHICAGO & MILWAUKEE
This one is hard to describe. Its an actual channel that is currently a digital sub-channel, not a cable channel. Its partly run by Chicago Indie station owner WCIU and is featured on its stations in Chicago and Milwaukee. The newsroom is based in Chicago at WCIU. This one I like. It hard to describe, as it a channel rather than a single program. But bascially its features short segments that are constantly updated. Some have voiceovers, whilst some dont. They cover a variety of subjects. Its nothing like the TMZ-style mess on the other versions. This is actually a bit more thoughtful in its approach and supremely worth watching. Though sometimes I wonder about their music selections .
Watch live stream http://touchvision.com/


CEO Interview - interview - interesting

Not really a fan of these 'deconstructed' news programmes from what I've seen of them. They kinda feel incomplete and lacking some of the polish that an anchored programme has. It's probably saving some money on studio sets and anchors, but I can't help but think that those savings may be eaten up in employing extra editors and graphics designers.

I agree with cityprod. They are really missing something. I think news needs formality. And my god, those clips demonstrate exactly what I hate about American presentation!

Oh, when it comes to presentation, these aren't bad. There are far worse examples of excessive presentation than these, including Fox News Channel. There's a FOX affiliate in Florida that is one of the worst for excessive presentation in local news, and that uses local news anchors rather than the deconstructed style.

I know - these only scratch the surface of the over-the-top presentation that we see so much of from America. These are still truly awful though...

Ah, WSVN Miami, they look like a bloody OTT Sports broadcast on acid.

Thats the old open here is the new open. I call it the phaser gun open. Its like being shot at:


Here is the current theme being used. Created by possibly the only in house composer for any tv station in country. The themes typically use a Miami Vice style feel.
http://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/#3,1,1644 remember to click the music note to play.

Before we get off topic too much let me comment on WSVN. Whilst WSVN is the creator of all things tabloid for local news. I proudly tip my hat to them. I give them kudos to the highest degree. I know that sounds weird. Let me explain. WSVN might look cheap and OTT to UK eyes. I agree its OTT. But for a local station its probably one of the most highly produced local newscasts in the entire country. Alot of what you see is produced in house. Music, graphics, etc. Believe me that is HIGHLY HIGHLY unusual. They produce by far more news that most stations in the entire country. They have the biggest news team in Florida. Far bigger than what is needed for the market of that size. Production wise there are lot of bells and whistles employed by WSVN. Yeah its a lotta razzle dazzle and flash, but its Miami. They have perfected news as entertainment. I know that sounds weird. But its what they have done for 20 years. Everyone derides WSVN, but I simply cant because production-wise they do what they do VERY WELL. If you are going to do a tabloid newscast, then do it well. WSVN makes no qualms about being tabloid. They dont claim to be the PBS Newshour. Dozens of stations across the country and the world (PROSEIBEN 7 Germany Im looking at you) have tried to copy WSVN and have failed. As Dolly Parton would say its costs alot and takes alotta work to look this cheap.
Its funny to say, but WSVN is MUCH calmer not as tabloid as they were in the 90's
check this out:



Now back to the topic at hand. Deconstructed newscasts. Im someways I would class the old EuroNews in that way. For obvious reason you would only get voiced over reports, hardly anyone ever in vision. TouchVision reminds me of a more youthful version of Eurovision.

You should probably just start your own blog.

Having taken a second look at these 'Deconstructed Newscasts', I have to say I think New Jersey's 'WWOR' is the best of these. I believe it would be the only one who's ideas could work in the UK. I'm wondering if the newly Viacom owned Channel 5 might try something like this? There's no way in my opinion that BBC, ITV, C4 or even Sky would try this with their News programming unless proven to work by someone else.

WWOR Ratings disaster continues for Chasing New Jersey. One of the stupidest concepts in news. Ratings drop more that 60% for previous traditional newscast. Idiots.

Read this
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/fox-chases-young-viewers-in-the-last-place-on-earth-youd-expect-to-find-them_b127775#more-127775

Bring back Brenda Blackmon. (Check out the open at 5:53) "Straight From the Street!" LOL!!! The reporters used to actually say that phrase when they signed off doing live reports in the field. Lolz!

Unfortunately, The only way for WWOR to have a proper news department again is if the FCC's investigation into WWOR is finished and we learns of their findings. For those who don't know: Following Fox Television Stations shutting down the once-acclaimed My 9 News Department, Senators in the regions were imploring the FCC to either force Fox to give up the station or the revocation of either its waiver to operate two stations and two newspapers (WNYW/WWOR under 21st Century Fox and WSJ/NY Post under News Corp) or WWOR's license.

(I'm clearly a bit late to this thread)

Most of these examples make me quite glad of the UK's rather staid approach to news broadcasting. That said, I appreciate that not all viewers do, and that a bit of a more exciting approach is needed to get the younger viewers in.

The TouchVision clips remind me of EuroNews - which doesn't have in-vision presentation out of necessity, because it's going out in umpteen different languages. Were their 'No Comment' sections just ways to pad out the end of the wheel and/or give the voiceovers a bit of a breather?

These have also made me miss BBC Three's 7 O'Clock News. It was pacey and didn't take itself too seriously - but still covered the day's main news, so you didn't come away feeling stupider than you did before you watched it, as I sometimes do with American news programmes.
(IMO it was at its peak when Eddie Mair presented - but there seems to be a dearth of clips online. Anyone else able to track one down?)