A new study finds a proliferation of “citizen media” web sites that fit somewhere on the media spectrum between the street-corner soapbox and the local daily newspaper. While concluding that these grassroots outlets are successful at creating community conversations, the report on this emerging landscape also reveals that many are tenuous, shoestring operations.
Suddenly, local ownership of newspapers is making something of a comeback. Since the breakup of Knight Ridder last year, and the threat of more cutbacks in newsrooms, private ownership groups and individuals have emerged in cities from Boston to Los Angeles wanting to buy the local paper. Who are they? A rundown.
in our fifth roundtable discussion on the future of the news media, industry analysts discuss how local TV news can remain relevant and whether it needs to reinvest more profit back into the product.
Local TV news continues to face a complex future. The situation with audiences is hardly ideal. Ratings for the key early evening newscasts appear in most markets to be continuing their decline, and there may be trouble now in the early morning. But there are some indications that late local news, the programs that air after prime time, may be improving their audience appeal.
After several difficult years, there are some positive signs heading into 2005 for local television news, the most pervasive source of news for Americans, if not always the most respected.
In nearly every aspect of local television – from viewership to economics to ownership structure – there are mixed signals of health and challenge. The next few years may determine whether the industry ultimately heads up or down. But at least one survey shows more people who work in local television news are pessimistic than optimistic about the industry’s future.