Thanks to Ed Cone for providing links to this dynamite story...local television stations nationwide are financially hurting. Ad revenues are down, viewership is down, layoffs are growing among small, mid and large media companies. Stations that are surviving are getting creative, attempting to integrate their stations to their full significance on the Internet.
It is immensely troubling, especially for an industry that I went to school for some years ago, and for an industry that is very public and has a duty to its viewers/readers/listeners.
Journalism should not be allowed to die like this.
E.C. :)
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5 comments:
Focusing on local crime and fear does not help. I know that I avoid watching the local news coverage, and have heard the same out of many at Action Greensboro functions. There has to be more to a society than muggings, burglaries, and vandalism. Especially back to back night after night.
Erik, I read the article today during my lunch break. The only time I've watched local TV news is if I already personally knew the anchor/reporter.
Television news just doesn't seem to have anything compelling anymore. It's just crime, sports, and anything else that can get done in an hour or two.
It's sad watching journalism die slowly like this.
Local TV leaves a lot to be desired.
Locally-produced childrens programming exist in reruns on YouTube, investigative pieces exist only at SWEEPS time, and then it is the stupid stories--you can only do the "DNA stains on hotel bed sheets" story so many times. None of our local stations have a public affairs Sunday show unlike other markets.
News 14 Carolina fills in a lot of the void, and I watch News 14 more than all the others.
Local TV does have lots of shortcomings, but if you think all we do is crime and dirty hotel sheets, you're not watching. The stories I produce daily don't fall in those categories and I am one of many. Will local broadcast news every truly go away? No, it will diminish greatly and be all but forgotten - until the next tornado, Old Navy crime or other breaking news holds locals spellbound - for a few minutes anyway.
I applaud this blog and invite you to visit mine at http://lenslinger.com. You'll find I'm no apologist for the medium - but neither am I ready to own up to all the blanket assumptions about it either. Quite simply, local TV news is extremely easy to mock. You and you commenters would do well to dig a little deeper.
Stewart "Lenslinger" Pittman
Lenslinger, I appreciate both the kudos and the challenge. I have added you to the blogroll.
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