A disgraced ex-governor, a talent show host and an Oprah wannabe. Not a bad guest list for Letterman, perhaps, but as prime-time anchors on a cable news channel? This is what's become of CNN. The one-time cable news leader has had a horrible year. Over the summer, viewership …
There’s a new battleground in local TV news, and it’s dark out there. In more than a dozen cities, anchors are on the set well before dawn, chatting live with reporters and meteorologists. And they’re not just talking to each other. Hard as it is …
Finally some good news. Well, sort of. The good news is that there isn't bad news, says researcher Bob Papper, who's just come out with the latest RTDNA/Hofstra annual survey of salaries in TV and radio. The average paycheck in local television news was up 2.5 percent …
For all the talk about the need for innovation, most local television newscasts still look almost the same as they did decades ago. Even some of the makeovers attempted in the past year or so haven't amounted to much more than tweaking. Some stations have …
The more I read about how non-profit funding is going to save journalism, the more I wonder about the cost. As grant-supported news operations like Pro Publica and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Reporting proliferate, they're not just changing journalism's business model but also raising …
It's not news that local television newsrooms are doing more with less. But the latest RTDNA/Hofstra survey shows that even as the economy struggled last year and TV newsrooms laid off more staff, stations produced more news on the air and on other platforms and …
Looking for something upbeat in the latest annual report on the state of the media may be a fool's errand. No matter how you slice it, the news about local TV news is grim. But buried in the fine print are hints that after two …
When it comes to online video, YouTube is top dog, with more users and vastly more content than any other site. But as a source of local news it's just a pup, and many television stations aren't quite sure if it's as tail-waggingly friendly as …
By now, it's not news to anyone that the network news divisions are fighting for survival. Ratings are stagnant or declining, advertising is down, the effects of the recession linger. So last month, CBS let go or reassigned dozens of veteran journalists. This month, ABC …
Anyone who's ever worked in television news knows it can be predictable and trite. A friend in the business used to say there's a formula for everything. Soundbites plus b-roll plus stand up equals package. Or live shot plus banter plus tease equals A-block. You …
The decade I'm choosing to call the "ohs" has finally ended and I'm happy to say good riddance. Looking back at ten years' worth of columns for American Journalism Review, I'm struck by how little has changed for the better when it comes to broadcast …
What would you tell a group of freshly-minted journalism and mass comm graduates about the future that awaits them? I asked that question on several social networks to prepare for a commencement speech last weekend at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Your real …
