Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Is there a special recipe for building ratings? The data show there are some key elements — across all stations and across all years — that we can now say are key steps in serving viewers. Interestingly, they are also steps to quality. Two we’ve outlined above: Cover more of the community. Produce more longer […]
Digital Divides While 18% of all Americans say they went online for news about campaign 2000, that figure rises to 28% among those who voted on Nov. 7. Similar questions asked of voters on the Pew Research Center Post-Election Poll and the Voter News Service exit polls found a comparable 30% saying they got news […]
One of the most disappointing findings is the discovery that the enterprise reporting that stations are so quick to promote is not only a tiny percentage of the work, but is continuing to disappear. This is especially noticeable in the most popular news time slot, for which we have three years of data. Now, more […]
By Tom Dolan Reporter Jaime Garza of KCAL in Los Angeles positioned his live shot in El Cajon Pass with care. Not only was it a scene-setter for the 10 p.m. news, but it also helped to explain visually the story of the day and let you know tomorrow’s commute might be even worse in […]
Meet the 2000 Local TV News Project Team This study was conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a journalists’ group in Washington, D.C., affiliated with the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The scholar team that developed the methodology included Lee Ann Brady of Princeton Survey Research […]
By Susan Truitt There’s no way to make getting up in the morning easy, but local television news tries. Probably too hard. In most cases, cheerfulness and chat outdistance serious news. TV executives think the pre-eminent concern at that hour of the day is knowing whether to dress warmly and which route to drive to […]
Three years ago our design team of local TV news professionals told us that the most important mission for a newscast was to cover the entire community. The obligation — and what viewers wanted — was a full picture of the life of a place each day, from murders to museum exhibits, from fires to […]
The future of local TV news is not pretty. Of the 178 stations we have studied, 128, or 72%, have experienced overall ratings declines over three years. Twenty-six percent have added viewers. Two percent are flat. At the Radio-TV News Directors Association convention this year, news professionals were already saying that young people find little […]
By Marty Haag Not long ago I came across an internal station memorandum from a local TV news operation that said: “We are an oasis in a sea of change.” Perhaps that’s the problem. We don’t know what we are in local TV news anymore — even metaphorically. No question plagues television news executives more […]
Gore’s Personality Woes While issues continue to drive most voters’ choices, personality remains an important factor in the race, particularly among Gore’s detractors. When asked what they like most about the candidates they support, a plurality of Gore voters (44%) point to his stand on the issues. A significant minority (29%) cite the vice president’s […]