Philadelphia news directors left to right – Chris Blackman – NBC10, Micheline Boudreau – WHYY, William Jobes – NJN, Michelle Murray - Comcast SportsNet, Susan Schiller – CBS3, Kingsley Smith – Fox29
In a panel discussion about the state of local television news, Chris Blackman, news director of NBC10 said, “In my 26 years in news, I’ve never seen things as dicey as they are now. With layoffs, shrinkage, and downsizing, we need to reinvent ourselves.”
“We are not relevant the way we used to be because viewers don’t neeed us anymore,” Blackman said referring to mobile devices and the internet.
Blackman proved his point when only a handful of people in the audience of around 150 television professionals raised their hands when he asked if anyone needed to watch local television stations to get their news.
All of the news directors on the panel agreed that the new media is the direction that the stations are headed, as a survey was cited that stated that people in their 30’s, 20’s, and teens get their information from mobile devices.
William Jobes, news director of NJN said, “We are less relevant than we’ve ever been. Emerging media will be on the small screen rather than the big screen for the future.”
Kingsley Smith, news director of Fox29 concurred that the station’s web site will become the top way to deliver the news.
Susan Schiller, news director of CBS3 said when the station gets news it goes on the web first. Blackman added that the web site is the first thing discussed in the station’s daily morning meetings.
The discussion was hosted by the Mid-Atlantic chapter of The National Academy of Television Sciences at Drexel University. Paul Gluck, executive director of the Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies at Drexel moderated.
3 responses so far ↓
Steve // April 11, 2008 at 1:14 pm |
Chris:
When you say, “We are not relevant the way we used to be because viewers don’t need us anymore,” might it be because you’ve tried pandering to the lowest common denominator in an effort to juice ratings and included “news” items that we truly *can* get online and from places like TMZ, E!, etc?
I was an on-air reporter for 20 years, and I clearly remember one morning meeting where the EP tried to define what stories we should cover by asking, “what are people talking about?” A friend of mine suggested, “why don’t we try covering what’s truly happening in our community and why, and let them talk about *that*?”
Nothing’s changed in that respect, but with the greater number of alternatives now, as long as TV news departments ask “what are people talking about?,” they’ll find that their potential viewers are going elsewhere to get the answer.
Matt Stevens // April 11, 2008 at 2:44 pm |
How many knuckleheads does it take to hold an irrelevant panel discussion? Whatever the number was in Philly, that’s the answer. They’ve all contributed for years to making local TV news obsolete. They’ve listened to consultants who have explained to them that all the money should be spent on the weather departments. Consultants do surveys and people tell them that they watch local news to see what the weather is going to be. Ok. So that could mean a 30-second synopsis of what is happening and what will happen. That’s what people REALLY want. Instead, the knuckleheads translate that into buying millions of dollars worth of equipment and hiring actors with degrees from correspondence colleges to spend 5 minutes at a time telling people what they could learn from the National Weather Service website in 30 seconds. The consultants tell the knuckleheads that people don’t care about sports– that they can get their sports news from ESPN. Funny, I can almost guarantee thousands of extra viewers per night if those viewers know the sports department is going to present a feature story on the soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, football, golf, lacrosse or whatever program at this school or club or that school or club in their city. The same goes for non-sports programs at schools. Built-in audience. Spread some good will. Make people think you cover more than blood and guts. Naaaaah! People won’t watch THEIR OWN KIDS ON TV. That’s dumb. Blackmon, Schiller and the rest of them haven’t got the first clue about what would help revive TV news. But they can take solace in knowing they’re not alone. There are dozens of knuckleheads just like them in newsrooms across the country.
Pete // April 11, 2008 at 5:51 pm |
Matt Stevens hit the nail on the head. Local news programs have long dumbed-down their news for the lowest common denominator, playing to the 3rd grade level.
Blackman is right… NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE FIRE IN NORTH PHILLY OR THE HOME INVASION IN GRAY’S FERRY!
Give viewers something to chew over and challenge their intellect. And that isn’t going to be done with NBC’s “10!” show, for sure! By the way, how IS that show “NEWS!??” Poor Bill Henley, probably the smartest person at that station, and he’s stuck doing the dog and pony show.