Some issues just won’t go away. More than a decade ago, I wrote a column for American Journalism Review in which I posited that some of the best and brightest J-school grads probably weren’t going to work at local TV stations because the salaries were so low. Last week, I got a call from a …
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If you just look at the bottom line, local TV stations appear to be thriving. Revenue was up substantially last year, thanks largely to a flood of political advertising. But viewership was down in every key time slot in every sweeps period in 2012, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by the Pew Research …
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Contributed by Stephen Hess Many young journalists must wonder what their careers are going to look like. Although the profession will undoubtedly change in significant and unpredictable ways in a digital world, looking back on a generation of journalists offer clues into your future. In Whatever Happened to the Washington Reporters, 1978-2012, I report on the …
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Viewers of WVII in Bangor, ME saw an unusual show kicker at the end of the 6 p.m. newscast. The show’s co-anchors decided to resign on the air. According to the Bangor Daily News, co-anchors Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio left the station “citing a longstanding battle with upper management over journalistic practices.” The anchors …
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It was an interesting question posed by a distinguished journalist. “What about journalism would you keep and what would you change?” asked executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette David Shribman. Shribman challenged a group of Ole Miss journalism students to answer the question and their responses were what you might expect when it came to …
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This won’t come as a huge surprise to anyone working in local TV news, but there’s more of it than ever and more people are watching.”To quote Mark Twain, ‘Reports of our death are greatly exaggerated,’” says Hearst Television’s vice president for news, Brian Bracco, in the 2012 State of the News Media report, issued …
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Local TV news directors feel pretty good about the job they do. According to a TVNewsCheck survey, about 90% feel optimistic about the future of the local TV news business over the next five years. Though only 6% say they do an excellent job overall, the survey finds two-thirds of news directors ranking their work …
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Even those in charge of local TV newscasts say that their record on investigative reporting is pretty weak. A TVNewsCheck survey found that just a small percentage of news directors feel local TV news does a good or better job of digging deep to uncover investigative stories. …an overwhelming majority (81.5%) feel that they do …
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News directors from around the country say Hearst Television deserves “the prize for best overall news” based solely on reputation. That’s according to a TVNewsCheck survey. The station group garnered 29.9%, or 23 of the 77 votes cast. A clear second was Belo at 16.9% with 13. Scripps, Cox and Raycom followed with seven, six and five votes, …
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It’s something we’ve been saying at Advancing the Story for a long time — multimedia allows you to tell more people more of your story. Now, Nielsen research finds that it might help TV stations make more money. Nielsen tracked total audience — both on air and online — for the ABC affiliates in Seattle …
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