The new face of business news

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), May, 2008 by Joe Saltzman

STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTER ANIMATION is changing the way we get our information and it is enticing the "Sesame Street" generations into learning more about the world around them. Business news is a good example. It used to be a hard sell filling up gray columns of newspapers with countless statistics and inside jargon. Many readers found the business section unreadable and moved on to sports and entertainment. In the Internet era, much of this has changed. More and more people are using software and Internet tools to buy stocks, do their income tax, create elaborate financial schemes, and even plot complicated estate and retirement plans.

First came specialized channels on cable TV and satellite. These now are complemented by dot-com partnerships. MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, CNNMoney are just some of the specialized television channel websites that are frying new ways to give the public information about business and economics. If you cannot find it on the TV screen, you can locate it on the computer screen. Often, the two work together, grabbing increasing numbers of consumers who, in the newspaper era, would not have been caught dead laying to figure out the stock market.

Fox Business News (FBN) is the newest financial channel delivering real-time information across every communication platform available-via the Internet, TV, and cell phones. FBN has come up with what might be the perfect business news show in this age of infotainment ("Happy Hour"), and it takes place at the Bull and Bear, the bar at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in

New York. The anchors look like celebrities---Cody Willard and Rebecca Gomez--who, in keeping with the atmosphere, look more like movie stars than business news anchors. The pair talks to the audience and each other as real-life customers move around in the background. As one critic put it, "Welcome to 'Happy Hour,' a new breed of news show, where a younger version of 'Regis & Kelly' meets 'Cheers' with the breeziness of 'Entourage.'" For an hour, Willard and Gomez greet a variety of visitors, most of whom are entrepreneurial, young, hip, and often celebrities in their fields. While many are business analysts, the guest list includes a potpourri of individuals--ranging from adult video stars, professional skateboarders, famous chefs, and Fox reporters to Hollywood stars and wine and beer merchants.

If the human Barbie and Ken anchors are not enough, "Happy Hour" offers TV's lust regularly scheduled animated news segment: "Hoofy & Boo's News & Views." Hoofy is a cartoon bull and Boo a cartoon bear, and it is not overstating the case to say they offer the most informative and interesting part of the business news hour. These animated figures look at the world of business with humor, sarcasm, and insight. It is a well-written segment that sometimes offers more concrete information than the human commentators around them. Some of the subjects these animated anchors have covered include a report on NASCAR drivers' finances; corporate rivalry (Microsoft vs. Google, UPS vs. FedEx, Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi); alternative fuels; high prices in New York City as compared to the rest of the country; business therapists and corporate counseling; fast food chains and nutritional information for consumers; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's determination that cloned livestock products are safe to consume; the secrets of psychic investors; big business and the Super Bowl; the business of love and Valentine's Day; the largest fraud in banking history; and creating a balanced portfolio through asset diversification. Hoofy and Bull handle more complicated subjects than most serious business programs and they do it with humor and clear language. It could be the beginning of a trend.

CBS News uses an animated series called "Fast Draw" to make complicated news stories easier to understand. ABC has used cartoon drawings to explain the delegate rules for each political party. Yet, think of the future possibilities for network news. Instead of hiring real-life journalists--flawed human beings--to anchor the news, why not create the perfect animated male and female anchors? The male anchor could be a combination of the trusting eyes of Walter Cronkite, the rugged good looks of Peter Jennings, the down-home friendly demeanor of Charles Gibson, the straightforward delivery of Tom Brokaw, and the boldness of Anderson Cooper. The female anchor could be a combination of the empathy of Barbara Waiters, the friendliness of Diane Sawyer, the perkiness of Katie Couric, the no-nonsense demeanor of Christiane Amanpour, and the good humor of Meredith Vieira. These animated news anchors could prove irresistible to any audience.

Local TV news managers learned decades ago that viewers love an anchor who becomes their friend, someone they always can rely upon for giving them the latest news in an amiable way. That is one reason local TV news has retained its popularity over the years. The entire local TV news team becomes family--the seasoned male anchor, the pretty female anchor, the funny weatherman or woman, the savvy sportscaster, the in-the-know celebrity reporter, the fireless field reporters who always seem to be standing outside in the dark, in the cold, doing their best "live shots" coveting something that happened hours ago.