It's an interesting idea.
One of my former tv colleagues called himself a "meat puppet" because he sat at an anchor desk and delivered stories I wrote and others shot and edited.
Ours was a Cyrano-style relationship, and he delivered the headlines I crafted.
A Cleveland tv station is turning to "Puppet's Court" to report news about a corruption trial playing out in a courtroom where tv cameras are verboten.
According to the WSJ, the the TV station's 11 pm ratings (one of the most revenue-valuable dayparts on local news) are up over 55 percent - a near miracle in today's world of omnipresent news sources.
Another tv colleague of mine from my Lexington days used to wince when producers would refer to their "show." He'd gruffly respond, "I do news. I don't do entertainment. I don't sing and dance. I report on stories in a newscast."
Unfortunately, viewership of local news is at an all time low, and many newsrooms are employing creative ways to inform - and entertain - the audience as a way to keep them on the hook.
And while felt and styrofoam aren't as serious as some of the stoic faces I see on any anchor desk, I suppose they could be just as factual.
Credibility? That's an entirely different ball of wax.
Hat tip to @chrisgraves for the heads up on this infotaining story.
Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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I am without words...
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