Week two at Meidas Touch, with big plans ahead

Network news was a thrill.  The studios are huge.  The technicians and editors are elite.  

The lighting is --- how should I put it – “favorable”.    Hell – they even have people to help you comb your own hair.

For the first – and only time in my life – I actually had an office!     As a news reporter… that’s almost unheard of.

But – somewhat by design – television news is also a daily “battle.”  Good natured; but fierece.

The CBS Evening News airs coast-to-coast to millions of people, but it has microscopic on-air “real estate.” There were only 20 minutes of news time available.    

Getting some of that airtime was a challenge. There were many talented CBS reporters and other pressing events all across the globe. 

I was just one guy standing in DC with one report to offer.   Every.  Freakin.  Day.

Breaking news … or …. a shift in editorial choices …. or ….  logistical challenges …. or …. a change of heart by any member of the editorial team. ..  made each day unpredictable.   You’d work all day on a report --- only to watch the work vanish before airtime.  It’s not personal.  It’s business. It’s just life in linear, broadcast television.  

And there are always filters in TV.   I’ve been dealing with them for decades.    

Some stories were “not TV friendly” – the pictures were too boring.  Sometimes the soundbytes weren’t punchy or sufficiently efficient.  

We TV viewers also have decreasing attention spans.      (Perhaps because so many of us are simultaneously watching TV and our phones!)

The audience is broad… in several ways.    Old, young, rural, urban, college-educated, not-college-educated .. it’s a cross-section of America.  I love that.    

But it also makes it more challenging to do a deep dive into narrow topics…… like election security, political violence, data centers, grocery prices, war or crime issues.

There were some occasions at CBS News, and previously at local television stations, when I’d have direct access to the viewers, without a script and without any hurdles.

 On election night 2024, for example, I was standing in a massive studio in Manhattan and operating fully unscripted.  I was given just two instructions:   “sit in that chair” and “share whatever you think is newsworthy.

They trusted me.

Glorious!  

At 4am, when a little fatigue in the studios was starting to set in… I took the opportunity to report a nugget I’d seen in the 3am data and heard from my Hill sources. New York state Democrats in the U.S. House were overperforming, doingespecially well in their races.  New York State was giving the party an outside chance of winning control of the House, despite losses at the top of the ticket.  

I didn’t have to ask for permission.   CBS opened my microphone and set me free.  And everyone on-set appreciated that fresh nugget of news to help launch a broader discussion amid the overnight coverage.  (Even my own mother wasn’t still watching at 4am)

There were some other opportunities for me to offer you news directly in television. When there was breaking news, including a major court ruling, Presidential announcement or national emergency – I was given autonomy to report what I felt was needed.   I was a go-to guy for “special reports”, because there was confidence I’d stick the landing on-set, without prep time or notes.  

We all have experience functioning without a script.  

(Side note: I always prefer to operate WITHOUT a teleprompter.   It helps me remain conversational.    Teleprompters are restricting. I will NOT use them with Meidas Touch.)

But on most days at legacy media there is a mountain to climb to get access to the legacy media audience.  Some days, I’d go home mostly empty-handed.    

That’s been true since my start in broadcasting years ago.  But now it just feels antiquated.

I also worked most days to help our CBS radio stations too.   There were more opportunities and wider radio affiliates than CBS has in television. And sadly that radio path is closing with the shuttering of CBS radio in May.

The world is now limitless at Meidas Touch.  

The battle for editorial “real estate” has ended.  

And the liberties of independent media have been invigorating.

In approximately one week, I’ll begin as anchor of my own show. And — I’ll choose the order and length of the news. No filters. No limitations on airtime.

“Scott MacFarlane Reports”… I promise it’ll be a straight-to-the-point enterprise.

I’m going to work to include newsmaking interviews.

And I’m going to platform many of the very smart people who’ve been helping me as sources and “explainers” for years.

I’m definitely gonna need your help. This is a new genre and a new paradigm in reporting. And it’s definitely a new platform.

Let’s figure this out together.

Comments are open!

I’ve shared a mantra with Meidas for years.    

It’s critical NOT to platform lies, conspiracy theories or the whitewashing of history. 

So we don’t.

What’s more, there are too many important stories, issue and players to fixate myopically on the hour-by-hour social media musings or incremental announcements of the President or others in power.

There are too many issues and stories, and not nearly enough reporters chasing them.

Meidas Touch and I have long been walking in lockstep on the importance of January 6th, of the shattering of Democratic norms and the importance of challenges that are unfolding to the separation of powers.

It was an inevitable marriage.  

We’re glad to have finally made it happen.

Medias Touch told me:  Go find the news;  go break some news.    Be a reporter.  

Would love your feedback on what you hear and read.  

I want to do this adventure with you.

Even if the lighting is less favorable.. and my hair style slips.