A Staggering Number

Originally Posted

March 2007

Let's begin with breaking news…. local TV news is dying and if something isn’t done quickly, its days are numbered. Math doesn’t lie and in Dallas/ Ft. Worth, the sixth largest market in the country, the February 2007 sweeps winners are probably celebrating but shouldn’t be. Let’s look, shall we?

The “total homes” winner at 10 p.m., ABC affiliate WFAA, was the only station in the market to gain viewers over the February 2006 sweeps period—and the gains were minimal. When examined in terms of people (viewers) getting their news from local television outlets, it looks bleak.

WFAA did manage to gain, on average 28,500 households for their combined 4 daily newscasts but the three other major network affiliates suffered mightily.

CBS’s KTVT lost, on average 83,300 households for their 4 daily newscasts from the previous year, Fox’s KDFW lost 66,640 households per day and NBC’s KXAS faired a little better but still lost 2,380 households.

Factoring in WFAA’s gains, the market still lost 166,530 total households from the previous year. The worse news, if you can actually find anything worse, is that there were 157,850 fewer homes tuned in to the four local newscasts per day in the coveted 25-54 demographic—proving that local TV news outlets are not succeeding in drawing younger demographics to their products despite their obvious “all out” efforts. The industry cannot sustain those losses very long.

Worse yet, what, if anything, is really being done about it? Does anyone see, or better—is anyone capable of honestly recognizing why more and more people are choosing alternate means of receiving information? Is the industry in such a state of denial about the continuation of local television news’ deteriorating audience that it has become catatonic about serious, radical and necessary change?

Granted, I understand that TV news is catastrophe driven. When planes crash, cars are chased by cops— When terrorist attacks get too close to home, when tragic events affect our hearts, people do run for the TV and there is a terrific spike in viewership. But when those events subside in minutes, hours or days, the viewers that created the spike return to their medium of choice and it’s not TV news and certainly not local TV.  

I’m going to borrow a phrase used recently in an article describing The Home Depot’s lackluster 4^th quarter earnings results in the Dallas Morning News. Scott Burns wrote about how the slowing of the housing market probably contributed to weak results, but also suggested that understaffing of big chain stores have led to a phenomenon Mr. Burns described as “time abuse”. Customer’s time is wasted waiting for help from too few beleaguered employees and they get frustrated and go somewhere else. Sound familiar?

There are few things more important to people than their time. They—you included—feel a strong sense of aggravation if time is being wasted. Former news viewers have told me that TV news had become less and less important to them and a waste of time to sit through. Alarming? It should be! Why did it become less important to them and a waste of time? If you can’t fathom a guess, and I’m talking to you street reporters, photographers, assignments managers, producers, editors then your head is buried deep in the sand. I think news management knows, they’re just unwilling to do anything about it because it would require more budget money. TV news has always been this unflinching, never ending assembly line of information acquisition. The only way to do it cheaper is to employ fewer resources, then rush them around from event to event to give us an overview of what they learn in a short period of time.

Like these big box chain stores, the television news industry has cut back on people and short staffed in order to meet their profit plan. Many local TV outlets are following a dangerous trend set by the 24 hour news channels of glossing over headlines with short readers and superficially leaning on “live shot” reporters for “depth” coverage in order to increase the “story’ count and then polluting the entire experience with a gaggle of graphics. It’s hardly news and it’s certainly not stories. They’re more like sorties! What news management has continued to call news “stories” are nothing more than bombing runs with cameras.

Meanwhile, journalism takes a back seat to sensationalism. You can’t make this stuff up. During the recent sweeps—In Dallas / Ft. Worth Texas— the sixth largest market in the country, the NBC affiliate— during prime time programming— teased what turned out to be a 20 second reader about McDonalds making more mistakes on orders in their drive-thru. The only real surprise here is that it wasn’t the lead story. Reporters no longer need a RTF or journalism degree to function in a television news environment; they would be better served interning at “E” network.

I hope it’s not too late, but it might be. The internet is becoming or has become the source of choice for the vast majority of former local TV news viewers. Citizen journalists, bloggers and vloggers are finding a new audience starved for the immediacy, accuracy and fairness of true journalism on the internet. Former traditional journalists such as newspaper columnists are making the transition into cyber journalism, writing for their own sites now and so many other people are regaining their independence and bringing true journalism back to masses with the “everyman” platform and bully pulpits of the internet.  

What will save local TV journalism until the next cataclysmic event similar to 9/11 or other catastrophes when everyone races for the TV? If someone would take some serious time and ASK their viewers what they want, they might find out that there is really nothing new.

I think what they would find is that viewers WOULD come back for substance, depth and relatable information—the very things that originally drew them to local TV news in the first place.

They want to learn fascinating facts and how to live better lives. The want to know more about interesting people, they want to see more of the human condition. They want to know what’s being done in their communities to make their lives better. They want to know how they can save money, live healthier and safer. They want to learn how their children can be better educated, more motivated and live more fulfilling lives.

They want to be better informed about their government’s activities as it relates to them personally and how their tax dollars are being spent or wasted. They want to know that people they elect are held accountable and they want a media that will hold them accountable at every level of government from school boards to the White House. They want this and a lot more and deserve it as well.

They do not want formulas, gimmicks and quotas. They are smart enough to recognize when “breaking news” is simply an attention getter and not important. They are aware when stories are disguised as plugs for businesses and they are aware when they are baited and switched with silly, useless information that can “save their lives.” They can discern between news journalism and ridiculous tabloid-esc sensationalism. Bernard Shaw warned us almost 20 years ago not to talk down to our television audiences. Too bad we didn’t listen.

Until we prove that we can serve our TV audiences and earn their trust by doing it consistently, I wouldn’t expect them to return.