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For years, local television station executives have cited studies that found local TV news to be consumers’ most trusted news source. But as the country’s political divisions have widened, mistrust in all media has grown. It’s imperative that station groups’ news operations recapture and grow that trust, said E.W. Scripps Co. President and CEO Adam Symson during TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum event in New York City on Tuesday.
To do that, Symson is putting more reporters back into the communities Scripps’ stations serve, even the smallest ones like Helena, Mont., or Lafayette, La. Earlier this year, Scripps started hiring more reporters in those communities and paying them more. At the same time, Scripps has scaled back on positions like anchors and capturing live shots just for the sake of being on the scene. The result is more resources going to reporting and less into production, especially in those smaller markets.
Adam Symson
“When you decide that you need to change things in order to create a more durable model, particularly in our smaller markets, you make a decision that you’re going to essentially try to change the entirety of what it is we are known for,” Symson said. “What that’s led us to do in our smaller markets is reprioritize reporting and deprioritize what I would consider the performative aspects of our business.”
One of the main reasons Symson has made the decision to do that is to increase viewer trust.
“If you