Would the last person watching please turn off the TV?

I’ll get straight to the point.

The latest sweeps period just ended. In my hometown of Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas, the fifth largest television market in the country. Well over 161,000 fewer people tuned in to watch a 10 p.m. newscast here than in November 2008.

Would you care for a little more context? In an area populated by more than 6 million people, 668,000 on average watch a 10 p.m. newscast….a tick more than 10% of the population. The winner at 10 p.m. earned 228,000 of those. 3.7% of the population. Pop that cork!

While most of the news surrounding the ratings has been about the CBS affiliate pulling off a razor thin victory over perennial powerhouse and Belo’s flagship station WFAA, the real story here is about the continued free-fall in viewership.

And if you think politicians and their handlers are best at spinning horror stories into “Snow White”, then you aren’t paying attention to what local station General Managers are saying.

There is a literal war of words between Mike Devlin of WFAA and Steve Mauldin of KTVT, each painting the rosiest picture of their recent performance. It’s a textbook case of polishing the deck of the Titanic.

Folks, this isn’t a tumble or a stumble. This isn’t a valley or a slide. What once was a simple decline in viewership has become a chasm of unstoppable proportions. What’s worse is that nothing is being done to stem the tide.

While stations continue to skew and target a specific demographic with “stories” about products that make you look younger and loose more weight. Its tweeter this and facebook that. Its scare tactic promos….”tune in tonight at 10, or you could die in your sleep”, the vast majority of people are simply choosing not to watch.

We’re down to it. This is it. The local TV news industry has carved staff, sliced resources and diced morale in the process, all while successfully running off their most loyal viewers and what I believe is their most educated and discerning viewers.

Where once journalists were taught “content is king” and “substance over style”, those antiquated teachings have given way to “eye candy” graphics, meaningless 50 second packages,  anchor banter that rivals carnival barkers and circus clowns. Journalistic integrity and news judgment run about as deep as a birdbath.

News departments continue to target 25-54 year olds, the demo advertisers crave. While they’re so manically focused on doing so, they’re forsaking “viewers”.

I can’t bear to repeat myself. For more context just click “staggering numbers” and read what I wrote 2 years ago. Nothing has changed and from my seat, nothing will. Would the last person watching TV news please turn off the TV when you’re finished?