John King shows the way

KING. Practice makes perfect. photo:CNN.COM

Local televiewers were deeply impressed with the speed and dispatch with which the recent US elections for president were held. In only a few hours, the race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was efficiently called in favor of the former, despite the very tight, hairtrigger nature of the competition.

In particular, we were most impressed with the coverage and on-going analysis provided by CNN’s chief national correspondent, John King, who clearly outpaced his colleagues in the detail and brilliance of his state-by-state and even city-by-city summation of the voluminous data coming from the precincts on an hourly basis—!

How, we wondered, could a news analyst keep talking extemporaneously for many minutes on end, citing a dizzying number of statistics, without skipping a beat? At times, King’s analyses were challenged by other analysts, but he efficiently put them in their place by presenting more data to prove his conclusions—which turned out to be exactly right!

As we watched King’s seamless “performance,” we noted that his colleagues generally fell silent, content to let him take care of the analytical nitty-gritty, and chiming in only to draw general conclusions from all of the data that he was providing.

Indeed, some of them were bigger “stars” in the news and public affairs field than King, but it was clear that they knew that, when it came to political and electoral coverage and analysis, he was the go-to guy, and they gave him all the time and space he needed to do the best job possible.

How did King get to be so good at what he does? The award-winning broadcast journalist has spent three long decades reporting from all 50 US states and many international locations. The 2012 campaign is the seventh presidential election he’s covered—so, practice does make perfect!

But, some of King’s colleagues are as experienced as he is, so what accounts for the edge he holds over them? Obviously, his phenomenal memory is a big asset, as is his resolute objectivity in the analysis of the voluminous data that he cites in his reports.

Best of all, he comes up with on-target insights that explain why different groups of voters behave the way they do at the polls—and the viewer is grateful for his amazing acumen in this regard.

We hope that local broadcast journalists will study tapes of King’s recent coverage of the US presidential election, to figure out how they can similarly provide better, more objective and more insightful service to local viewer-voters in the 2013 polls.

Of course, some smug “stars” of the local news and public affairs scene won’t agree that they’ve been left far behind, but others may more humbly admit that the expert likes of John King can teach them a lesson—or 10!