Changing the idea of the “Celebrity Broadcaster”
Lou Dobbs
Lou Dobbs abruptly quit CNN Wednesday night on live TV in a near-Howard Beale-worthy rant. And that has put me in the mind to ask: “Do we even need name-brand broadcasters?” Yes, Fox News has proved a few names can be good for ratings. But on the local front, these people have become ridiculously expensive. Fox 25 and Butch Stearns are parting ways. I don’t know what Butch makes, but I’m sure his salary was the issue (he tells the Herald “…the reason I was let go was not performance-related). We talk a lot about how the “reporters aren’t the story,” yet that’s exactly how they are treated. I think it’s positive that we’re in a climate that’s more willing to focus on news and less on names. Yes, that change has come about as a result of budget issues, but it’s a welcome one.
Charlie’s manifesto for Native News includes some bold ideas. Note that, among them, is not “let’s pay anchors a ton.” Let Dobbs throw a fit – we’re trying to refocus on the news here.