The 26-year-old PBS series “Nature” won its first Peabody Award two decades ago for a program on the drying up of an African watering hole. But it hasn’t been resting on its laurels since: It won its second two years…
In some 380 interviews since Sept. 11, 2001, Michael Kirk’s “Frontline” documentary team had been hearing tidbits about Vice President Dick Cheney. Finally, they decided it was time to add them all up in what became “Cheney’s Law,” a film…
Hilla Medalia was a first-time filmmaker, looking for a topic to fulfill her master’s degree requirements, when she set out to make what ultimately became “To Die in Jerusalem.” Getting the film on the air took five years, as Ms….
WTAE-TV’s “The Fight for Open Records” is all about how one good story leads to another, according to investigative reporter Jim Parsons. The Pittsburgh Hearst-Argyle station produced a story on loafing employees of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (known as…
One of the signatures of MTV Networks is its extensive use of polling and focus groups to understand its target audience. One statistic jumped out at the company’s mtvU campus-focused network: Suicide is the No. 2 killer of college students….
For 17 months after 24 civilians were killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha, none of the U.S. Marines involved in the killing—four of whom eventually were charged with murder—spoke publicly about the events. That changed in March 2007 when…
As the television industry’s top marketing and promotion managers gather this week in New York for Promax/BDA, they will soak up the latest information on groundbreaking strategies, tactics and creative. But the basics of promotion still matter the most. In…
“The live television reporter is also a storyteller whose function is to point out the twists and turns of the plot that is unfolding, and to alert the viewer to the thing that may happen as he watches. In addition,…
‘Reaper’ the Only Frosh in the Bunch
Reaching Consumers in the Perfect Mindset Is a Powerful Asset to a Plan