For Immediate Release                                                         
Nov. 8, 2004

Contact Burt Rutherford  

"WHY DO THEY DO THAT?"  EXPERT DESCRIBES HOW REPORTERS WORK

             If you have ever, while watching the evening news, found yourself shaking your head and asking why reporters do what they do, Bill Zucker is your guy. 

            At least he was for some 500 cattle feeders attending the 2004 Annual Convention of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association (TCFA) this week in San Antonio .  Speaking on "Understanding and Working With the Media," Zucker answered many of the questions that viewers and readers have about reporters.

            He knows of what he speaks.  Zucker spent 16 years as a television and radio reporter and producer before turning his expertise toward helping others understand and successfully complete a media interview as director of media practice with Burson-Marsteller in Chicago .  Drawing on his work with the beef industry and helping cattlemen prepare for media interviews, Zucker shared some tips with cattle feeders. 

            When a reporter calls for an interview, cattle producers are often concerned about what the reporter wants.  "He or she is looking for the real side of a story," Zucker said.  "If there is a story about cattlemen suffering from a drought, they want to see what that looks like.  They want people in the industry to help them paint the picture of the broader trend they're reporting on." 

            Secondly, he told cattle feeders, reporters are looking for something new and for an exclusive story.  "And from you, if you are going to be part of their story, they want pithy quotes backed up by colorful, powerful examples.  They want to know how you feel and they want you to help them paint the picture of why you feel that way." 

            Zucker said he is often asked why reporters choose the stories they do.  "More and more, it has to do with their audience," he said.  Just as a feedyard has an "audience" in their customers, a television station or newspaper publishing company has a paying audience to consider. 

            "Now it's a little less direct," he said.  "The journalists are meant to be independent and write stories based on what their journalistic integrity is telling them.  But at the same time, they have to sell newspapers or TV commercials."

            As a result, Zucker told cattle feeders, news organizations pick their stories based on consumer research.  "Ultimately, they need to build an audience.  It's no longer looked at as a public service."

            Putting that in terms of the beef industry, Zucker said cattle producers often ask why reporters only want to talk to them when something bad has happened, rather than tell the good story about what's happening in the beef business. 

            "More often than not," he answered," in the eyes of a viewer and the eyes of a journalist, news is something out of the ordinary."  For example, Zucker told cattle feeders that thousands of planes take off and land every day without a problem.  "That's not news.  It's the one that doesn't that makes news."

            That translates to just about every story that hits newsprint or the airwaves.  "So it's difficult to break through with what we would call a 'good news' story.  But it's not impossible.  And there are examples of positive stories out there about cattle producers.  But they are few and far between.  And they need to be very special as a result."  

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