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Frank N. Magid dies at 78, created news anchor ‘happy talk’ – washingtonpost.com

For better or for worse, Magid changed television newscasting with his “Action News” format. One one hand, the focus on local news and more engaging broadcasting was a very needed development to take full advantage of the medium and move away from straight up radio rip-and-read desk anchors. On the other hand, most of what we now detest as glib and unsubstantial in overproduced broadcast news is derived from the changes he brought about… changes that have been taken so far that news is actually lost in the entertainment.

Some quotes pulled from the washington post obit:

Frank N. Magid, 78, the television “news doctor” whose survey research and advice to local television stations in the 1970s resulted in co-anchors who chatted between stories, fast-paced graphics, sports tickers and live shots, and a heavy reliance on both crime coverage and feel-good segments, died of lymphoma Feb. 5 at Santa Barbara [Calif.] Cottage Hospital.

….

But Magid-style changes were criticized as both a uniformization and a dumbing-down of news coverage. “Thanks to him, local newscasts throughout America are like airports or fast food joints; they lack all traces of indigenousness,” wrote Tom Shales of The Washington Post in 1982.

….

Mr. Magid’s research also recommended CBS News feature Walter Cronkite as the solo anchorman on its evening news program. That didn’t stop the venerable broadcaster from describing the work of consultants such as Mr. Magid as “a fad” and “balderdash,” in a widely reported 1976 speech, dubbing those who followed his advice “suckers for a fad” and “editing by consultancy.”

via Frank N. Magid dies at 78, created news anchor ‘happy talk’ – washingtonpost.com.