Most TV journalists who light out for digital territory leave an established outlet for a new frontier. Not David Begnaud.
The longtime CBS News correspondent is keeping a contributor role with the Parmount Skydance unit even as he ramps up efforts to launch his own business, Do Good Crew, which is built around people sharing stories that inspire positive feelings and spur subscribers and listeners to act.
“I’ve spent the last 25 years covering the worst stories. It was more massacres than I can remember, more mass shootings and knocking on doors of mothers whose kids had been killed at school than I can recall,” Begnaud explains. Covering the aftermath of disastrous hurricanes in Puerto Rico made him want to do something different. “I want to use the platform that I’ve been given to do something where when I call or when I knock on a door, I’m not greeted by someone in tears or someone looking to slam the door. I’m greeted by someone who wants to say, ‘I’d love to welcome you in.’”
Do Good Crew will incorporate a weekly video and audio podcast, “The Person Who Believed in Me,” which features prominent figures telling stories about people who lent them support and ballast early in their lives. Among those are Oprah Winfrey Barry Diller, Nick Cannon, Charlie Puth, and Ava Duvernay. “The idea is big names are the guests, but the star of every episode is the everyday person who believed in our guests before the world,” Begnaud says.
Begnaud will seek to build community with a newsletter that highlights some of the stories he has heard from readers and followers, and will branch out to live events and other elements.
He will continue to appear on “CBS Mornings” with his Monday segment “Beg-Knows America,” which offers similar fare. “In the past, there was no one in the news division who was starting a company on the outside” Begnaud says.
He’s correct. The creator economy hinges on media personnel who leave the familiar trappings of a newsroom and step out onto new terrain. In recent years, for example, ABC News parted ways with Dan B. Harris, a veteran, who wanted to expand work he had done on the value of meditation. His “10% Happier” business has gained traction since his exit in 2021.
And yet, traditional media companies have in recent months started to warm to doing more work with creators. Fox Corp. last year acquired Red Seat Ventures, a company that helps manage the business operations of various journalism entrepreneurs, including Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson. Fox News Channel last year struck a licensing deal with the principals of the popular conservative podcast “Ruthless” that has them contributing to programming. MS NOW last week unveiled plans to run podcasts from Crooked Media, a producer of podcasts that tilt liberal, to its schedule.
And the traditional companies are proving more amenable to helping anchors launch new ventures. At CNN. Anderson Cooper leads a podcast about grief, and MS NOW has made a podcast led by Nicolle Wallace a frequent part of its cable schedule.
Begnaud says he’s definitely aware of the business demands of his new venture “This is not a nonprofit. This is a for-profit business,” he acknowledges. But he thinks he can be profitable and positive all at once. “I’m doing it because it’s what I want to see in the world,” he adds.
Leave a Reply