Terry Heaton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terry Heaton
Terry Heaton

Terry Lee Heaton (born July 9, 1946) is an American writer, author of the popular Pomo Blog and widely read essay series, "Local Media in a Postmodern World." The essay series, formerly entitled "TV News in a Postmodern World," addresses specific strategies, problems, aspects, and arguments related to the plight of local media purveyors in a world of empowered citizens no longer relegated to the passive role of audience. Essays from this series have been used in college and university courses around the world. The first collected volume of his nonfiction, Reinventing Local Media, was published in April 2008.

Heaton is the former news director for several local television news stations, including WAAY, WRIC, WCTI, KGMB, WDEF, and KLTV. He produced the 700 Club in the mid 1980s, pioneering its transition to a point-of-view journalism show. He left television news management in 1998.

In the early 2000s, he founded Donata Communications, a consulting company based in Nashville, Tennessee. He consulted with local TV news stations around the country, advising them to drop what he views as their pretensions and the arrogance inherent in the traditional methods of operating a TV station, owner of a big tower looking down at the city. Rather, he taught them about the reality of postmodernism and its effect on the people who (increasingly) used to be their audience. He was fond of reminding broadcasters that, with minimal cash investment, anyone can be a TV station in today's world. Their business model must change, he warned, or they will find their audience continuing to vanish. The explosion of youtube as a source for video content produced by amateurs is just one example of his warnings to the TV industry proving prescient.

He has coined several mantras that he dubs "Heatonisms," and Heatonism number one is his most-repeated. "Revenue isn't the problem. Audience is the problem. Fix the problem!"[1]

His continual advice to broadcasters is multi-faceted, frequently trumpeting the need to embrace blogging as a form of journalism. He is something of a populist, rejecting Walter Lippman's belief that "the people" need an elite press to lead them. [2] Rather, he encourages local TV news stations to view the modern era as an Age of Participation, one in which they can have a role if they learn to listen first. [3] He is also fond of pointing out his belief that objectivity is a farce, something concocted to give a "sterile environment for advertisers." [4] He preaches transparency, encouraging journalists to own their point of view and trust the audience to be able to deal with the truth that they have one.

He uses extensive historical references to back up his assertions about the philosophical underpinnings of modern journalism, which he blames for the industry's deep reluctance to embrace the changes that technology has enabled. [5]

Under the auspices of Donata Communications, he has been responsible for several highly successful and innovative experiments in local news, including the Nashville is Talking blog, a local aggregator run by WKRN.

On June 13, 2006, Donata Communications was acquired by Audience Research & Development, a Dallas, Texas-based "leader in research and consulting for the local broadcasting industry." Heaton became Vice President of AR&D's Media 2.0 Division, bringing him the opportunity to more directly put his ideas and philosophies into practical action.

He is widely sought-after as an author and speaker, having served as a panelist at the NAB, RTNDA[6], PBS[7], and Gnomedex conferences, among others. He is a masthead columnist at The Digital Journalist[8], a contributing writer to Lost Remote, and a contributor to Morph, the Media Center Blog. He has been a guest on numerous radio programs and podcasts, including NPR's On The Media.[9]

Contents

[edit] CompUSA Controversy

In June 2007, Heaton found himself the subject of a national news story[10] that illuminated many of the concepts about which he has taught for several years. He went to a local CompUSA store to purchase a digital camera for a family member. After discovering that the store was in the midst of a liquidation sale, he purchased over $3,000 worth of equipment. The camera's box was later found to include a manual and peripherals, but no camera. After CompUSA denied a refund in person and in writing, he accepted defeat and posted about the incident on his blog as a "Buyer Beware" warning for other potential buyers at CompUSA liquidation sales.[11] Outraged consumers brought attention to the incident, and CompUSA agreed to compensate him with a gift certificate.[12] This incident epitomized the changing nature of authority as an example of consumers taking matters into their own hands to satisfy an injustice.


[edit] Personal Life

Like many bloggers, he shares information from his personal life with readers. He posted about his wedding in October 2004 to Alicia Smith, a television news veteran with whom he had worked in the past.[13] In April 2006, he gave his readers an "Easter gift" in the form of an essay inspired by the History Channel's series, Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. The essay, "Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed Me," ended with a note about the day Smith came back into his life.[14] Just nine days later, blog readers were shocked to learn that his young wife had died during the night.[15]

Heaton is also the author of three short novels that could best be described as spiritual fables: The Butterfly Tree, The Hoppers of Palmer's Meadow, and Princess of the Pond. As with his volume of collected essays, the novels are available through various online retailers.

He has three daughters, two granddaughters, and two grandsons.


[edit] References

  1. ^ Audience Research & Development - Innovation Team - Terry Heaton
  2. ^ TV News in a Postmodern World, Part XIII
  3. ^ TV News in a Postmodern World, Part XVI
  4. ^ TV News in a Postmodern World, Part XIII
  5. ^ TV News in a Postmodern World, Part XIII
  6. ^ Session Coverage
  7. ^ MediaShift . Live from Bloggercon::From a Room Where Bloggers Blog About Blogging | PBS
  8. ^ The Digital Journalist - Masthead and Credits
  9. ^ On The Media: Transcript of "Chaos, Revisited " (June 2, 2006)
  10. ^ FOXNews.com
  11. ^ Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog » Blog Archive » LifeSlices: “All Sales Final” is not a license for theft
  12. ^ Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog » Blog Archive » LifeSlices: CompUSA calls. Oops, our bad!
  13. ^ Terry Heaton's Pomo blog
  14. ^ 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed Me
  15. ^ Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog » Allie

[edit] External links