This is the internal memo that was sent to the Tegna GM’s from News VP Ellen Crooke.

It seems that Tegna has decided to start doing a “True Crime Podcast.” Sure they are years late to the True Crime party, but come on, it’s Tegna.

If you want a great crime story? Try to solve the case of how Tegna stopped covering real news and started up this kind of crap.

Here is the internal memo, obtained by FTVLive:

From:
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2019 2:16:57 PM
To:
Subject: Want to win money?

Check it out!

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General Managers, please share with your staff….

#teamTEGNA! We need your True Crime podcast pitches! And you could win money!

Do you have an interesting cold case in your community? What about a shocking crime that was solved but was fascinating?

Thank you to everyone who has already pitched a true crime podcast! The suggestions entered so far are riveting! We’d love to hear more from you!

DEADLINE: February 16th

The story can be recent or from long ago and will enthrall a new generation of listeners

Is there great archived video/audio on this topic? Are there people around today connected to the case who could share their stories?

The pitched topic should provide enough content to fill multiple ½ hour episodes.

Please direct questions to Will Johnson, Executive Producer of Audio and Podcasting –wjohnson@tegna.com

Who would want to listen to this? ( For example: The Gladiator Podcast attracts both true crime fans but also football fans. Dirty John, both true crime + romance fans.)

There’s a $500.00 cash prize for the person who submits the winning topic! And another $500 for the station to use for a launch event when the podcast comes out.

Even if your podcast pitch isn’t selected, you can still use these topics to produce incredible content.

CLICK HERE TO PITCH YOUR TRUE CRIME PODCAST

ELLEN M. CROOKE
V.P. News/TEGNA