RTNDA@NAB

Yes, There's A Future For Broadcast News

Panelists say there are a number of tactics that must be adopted if broadcast journalism is to survive. Consumers are way ahead of news organizations, and broadcast news needs to innovate their content. Suggestions include hyperlocal coverage and deeper, in-depth journalism to bolster a station's brand into something that can't be obtained anywhere else.
By
TVNewsCheck,

Even with reduced newsrooms, dwindling ratings and lessening ad dollars, broadcast news executives from differing backgrounds, including the business, online and newsroom arenas, are bullish about the future of broadcast news, a future that involves past fundamentals.

Speaking at an RTNDA@NAB 2010 panel entitled "The Future of Broadcast News: Different Paths, Different Demands," Brian Bracco, VP of news, Hearst Television, emphatically said that local broadcast journalism is strong, relevant and going to be around for "a long, long time."

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The major change, he said, is the immediacy that is placed on news, as evolving viewers demand more and more of their local news.

"Right now, our broadcast deadline is right now," Bracco said.

Panelists, including Jerry Gumbert, CEO, Audience Research & Development, agreed with Bracco's sentiments.

Gumbert said despite feeling positive about the future of broadcast news, the consumer is way ahead of news organizations, and broadcast news will need a couple of years to try to catch up to reach them completely.

That catch-up game has resource-strapped newsrooms trying different things to produce as much tailored content as they can to capture a diverse audience.

Raycom CEO Paul McTear said the future of broadcast news is going to be in a hyperlocal online presence, as newspaper beat reporters fall by the wayside, touting Raycom's upcoming neighborhood-focused news websites.

Citizen journalists who report on happenings in their neighborhoods were also discussed, but a general fear crept through the panel of how unrefined and unchecked user footage could damage a broadcast brand through faulty reporting.

YouTube head of news and politics Steve Grove said his company isn't in the business of vetting the millions of hours of footage that are uploaded to the site. But, he said, the online community does a fair job of policing itself, along with providing news organizations tools to wade through the clips.

Bob Horner, president, NBC News Channel, said he worries that broadcast news is going to drown in a sea of information, adding that technology isn't helping viewers find what the news means to them.

Horner said newsrooms have bottomed out with their budgeting and said he believes it's time to reinvest slowly in content that isn't going to be found anywhere else on the air.

"We can't slip anymore than we have in the world of content," he said.

Panelists, like CBS News Radio VP Harvey Nagler, agreed. Content, Nagler said, is going to be the saving grace that will preserve broadcast news. 

Content, the panel suggested, could go as far as to grab the ever-elusive young broadcast news viewer, be it online or over the air.

Gumbert said people will actively seek out great content, making content the most important thing for a news organization to consider.

He said the 6 o'clock news is no longer sacred in the information it provides, as breaking news is automatically posted and distributed over the Internet and airwaves as soon as it happens. This, he said, will force news programs to reinvent themselves in order to stay alive.

He added that the time is right to dig in to deeper, in-depth journalism to bolster a news organization's brand into something that can't be obtained anywhere else.

Horner said the uncertainty of the broadcast news space is putting journalists on the verge of "the golden age of the journalism entrepreneur."

Comparing it to broadcasters figuring out how new media will work with their product, "it feels like a bunch of caveman around a fire trying to figure it out," Grove said.

 

 

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Comments (4) -

jdshaw Nickname posted a year ago
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Nowhere here do I see an admission that most local news is dreadful. The majority of stations define their news as crime, mayhem, car wrecks, and endless weather-hype. Nowhere here do I see any concern that every half-hour of local news on most stations has an insane 10 -12 minutes of commercials and promos. Until news directors, general managers, and their corporate ownership open their eyes to reality - the long, steady demographic erosion will continue un-checked.
Jon Brent Nickname posted a year ago
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The reason stations define news as you say "crime, mayhem, car wrecks and endless weather hype" is because news producers at stations are generally younger and are trained to go for the sensational live shot first. And sadly society whether you admit it or not, is easily snagged by the senstational video and drama, more than cerebral indepth reporting that intellegent news viewers demand. The "crime, mayhem, car wrecks and endless weather hype" is the simple and easy way to grab viewers first. These stations somehow believe it's what's most important, but sadly an isolated shooting is not what's most important in viewers lives, yet if the competition is there and they're on it first...the medium gives legitimacy to their intesity, making the the competition compelled to follow suit of feel left out of the story. It's a catch 22...damned if you do...damned if you don't!. So each newsroom must creat their vision for news and stick to it...come hell or high water. It make not get you ratings...but it could give you legitimacy. It depends on what the news managers marching orders are...play the mayhem card or indepth legitimacy in journalism. And we haven't even talked about the budget yet!!!!!
Jon Brent Nickname posted a year ago
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pardon the typos..but you get the point.
RustbeltAlumnus2 Nickname posted a year ago
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Until I see stories on local TV news that weren't stolen from the morning newspaper, I'll continue to predict the demise of local TV news.

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