American History Final Paper

Part 1

You are the news director of a local television station. The city council has just voted to close city parks 3 days a week to save money. Meanwhile, a major celebrity has died. The park story has greater effect on your viewers, but the celebrity death will get bigger ratings? Which do you make your lead story and why?

This poses an interesting dilemma. On one side you have an obligation to the viewers to keep them informed about important news in the community. On the other side there is pressure from the network to keep rating as high as possible because of the effects this has on the company’s bottom dollar. While the story about the celebrity death has a higher rating value it does not impact the community directly, whereas the park story does. Knowing that the celebrity death will be reported by both major and local networks across the nation gives the network the ability to put more emphasis on the park story and uphold it obligation to the community. Both stories can share the spotlight and I do not think this will affect the networks ratings in any way. The celebrity death is a story of the moment that will fade in short time and this is something that must be considered. The park story affects the community directly and will have a lingering effect. There is also the potential for follow up stories about the park. For example, if the community fights this decision and the situation changes then the network will need to cover this in a follow up story. The public might be angered if the initial story had little emphasis because of another story and then was a lead story in a follow up report.

I would put the park story as the main story considering the direct relationship it has with the community and the potential for follow up stories. This will also satisfy our obligation to the community to keep them informed about important news and events that relate to the community. The celebrity story is important, but for different reason. I would...