8 Lessons You Can Learn From Cable News

The cable news business is very cut-throat. Peoples attention span is short and their loyalty is even shorter. But there are some great lessons to learn from watching how the News People have reacted to the story from Haiti.

1. You have to move quickly. CNN got on the ground and in the game QUICK. Fox News was much slower to respond. In the first 36 hours of this disaster if you wanted to find out the latest from Haiti, you had to tune to CNN. In your organization what opportunities can you be the first to report, or solve, or uncover?
2. Don’t let just one story consume you. Fox became bogged down by Scott Brown, and neglected the bigger world story. Make sure you stay in touch with the issues that your followers care about.
3. Tell the whole story as well as the special story. Cover the broad strokes of each issue, then tell the humanitarian stories that drive home your points. Data is great but to much data makes listeners board. Attach unique stories that people can remember. Stories are your hook.
4. Find your own voice in the story. 5 churches could cover the same topic, but what are you doing to make it uniquely yours?
5. Once you gain momentum do not let go. Keep pushing. Keep running with what is working. If you have momentum build on it..bigger, faster, stronger. Pay attention to your momentum. Dave Ramsey says it best when he says: “When you have momentum you look better than you are and when you do not have momentum, you look worse than you really are.” If you get blessed with momentum it is not time to relax but to lean in and push even harder.
6. Leverage your position to help others. CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and all the others are pointing viewers to opportunities to get involved. Use your position as the best on a topic to help solve the problem or educate others on how to be better.
7. Tease with a hook. Hold with a story. End with Hope.
8. Remember that the next story could be happening in the next 5 minutes and it starts all over again.