Sorry, A Quarterback Won't Save Local News

We came across an ad in the most recent edition of Rick Gevers’ indispensable weekly newsletter from on-air talent coach Barry Nash. The ad’s headline was “Anchors are Out, Quarterbacks are In!” (The exclamation point lets you know that it was to be read with some urgency.)

We were immediately intrigued, since we are in the midst of a small quarterback drama here in the home of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. There is a growing controversy over who will get the starting job when the regular season opens in a few months. (That’s right, with the NBA and NHL championships being decided over this last weekend, it is time to start thinking about football.)

The ad got us to do what ads are supposed to do, and that was to click on it to land on Barry’s Substack, where he explains the argument for moving away from the standard pairings of news anchors in local newscasts to having one “context-capable anchor” for a “context-capable newscast.” He goes on to lay out the thought-provoking case for making systemic changes in newsrooms to build a team to support the rise of newscasts centered on a single on-air host who can do more than just read introductions to each news story. A quarterback, if you will, who can execute the challenge of “managing the game,” as football analyst-types love to say.

All of which we think is interesting, but ultimately flawed in its premise.

If we take the football QB analogy further, the history of the game teaches us that for every Hall of Fame name you can think of, there are at least two or three names you can probably come up with who never found that level of success. And often, the most successful quarterbacks were not the ones most heralded coming out of college or picked first in the NFL’s annual player draft.

This is where we would remind you that Tom Brady was the 199th pick in the 2000 draft and was considered at the time, “a lightly regarded prospect” coming out of Michigan. Of course, he went on to become (with apologies to Larry David) “pretty, pretty good” at the position, winning seven Super Bowls and being widely regarded as “the GOAT” at the position. (We’ll avoid the far-too-easy commentary about his uneven transition to the broadcast booth in the years since ending his playing days.)

If you need a name to be the polar opposite of Tom Brady as a QB, then consider the less-than-remarkable playing years of one Ryan Leaf. Or perhaps JaMarcus Russell. Neither of those gentlemen will have a place in Akron, never mind down the road in Canton.

We point all this out to say that any team that bets its future on a single player is usually disappointed by the results. For every Most Valuable Player named Tom Brady, there are the names of all the other players on the same team who make all those championship seasons possible. Maybe even a coach like Bill Belichick had a hand in creating that success.

Yes, coaches have been known to help turn a good player into a great one.

To his credit, Barry Nash has long worked as a coach for folks who earn a living in front of a television camera. And his message here is not without merit. It is a modern-day variation of what was once widely endorsed as the “command anchor” model.

Our counter to the message is that great news anchors, just like great quarterbacks, aren’t in strong supply. And while we are at it, let’s make it clear that, unlike in football, there have been — and are — great anchors who are women. So the pool of potential greatness is a bit larger than on the gridiron.

Furthermore, the best local newscasts we have ever seen, both past and present, have been those in which the entire on-air team was competent and cohesive. Co-anchors who presented the news with real and relatable interactions, rather than trying to play ping-pong as if they were auditioning for the sequel to “Marty Supreme.” Those teams always included Weather and Sports anchors who could have genuine conversations with the news anchors and were given the breathing room to do so during the program, rather than appearing like they were coming from another part of the building.

One person can tell you something. A group of people can share something with you. It’s the difference between having an influencer in their basement or spare bedroom on a webcam telling you something and a team of professional communicators informing you about what is going on in the world.

In recent years, great news teams have become harder to find. The business has multiple narratives as to what has led to this point. The expense of paying commensurate salaries to multiple people is no small consideration, as the business's economics have contracted. There also isn’t much patience anymore in selecting and developing a team. It takes time and, of course, work.

Again, as in football, a lot of hard work is required to achieve greatness. Coaches (in this case, newsroom leaders) have to build a foundation for success and then be relentless at pushing to achieve it each day in every aspect of the newsroom.

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone could do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” The words of the fictional baseball manager Jimmy Dugan, as delivered by Tom Hanks in the movie “A League of Their Own.” (Another GOAT who knows a thing or two about communicating in front of a camera.)

Another great football coach, Bill Parcells, may have made our argument in the fewest words.

"Individuals play the game, but teams win championships.”

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