More Bad News for Local TV News
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
First off, a little disclaimer. As a person who paid his mortgage and fed his family for a lot of years through a job in TV news reporting, the words here don’t give me that warm, fuzzy feeling – but as they say – reality is reality right. And if anyone thinks the internet is not an unstoppable mega force should really read on here.
A recent study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that for the first time ever, the internet has passed right by TV. In what way? For people under the age of 30 the first and most direct source where they get their news from is where you are right now – the net. The figure has nearly doubled since 2007, going from 34% to 65% which is obviously a huge increase.
Steve Doerr, Vice President & General Manager at Channel 6 says in this age of the internet of 24/7 he is not surprised at all but, he still maintains TV news still has a place in people’s lives. “Younger information consumers are conditioned to simply pointing and clicking for information. Yet, television viewing is at an all time high. Different platforms service different purposes”. Doerr added that it is pointless for stations to try and stop the internet explosion of news and information that is relevant to people’s lives. He says the key is for local news to catch the wave, not try to swim against it.
What about older Americans?
The Pew survey showed some encouraging news for TV news related to older people. Among those 30 to 49 years old, TV news has been steadily declining but it still leads. Currently, according to Pew, 48% of those surveyed say the internet is their main source of news – while 63% of those surveyed said TV news is their number one place for news.
Kim Reis is the Digital Media and Marketing Director at Channel 10. Just the fact that WJAR has a person in this position tells you something and how much media is changing. There was a time not long ago that if a position was proposed like that at a station – everyone would look around the room and say are you crazy? Not so crazy these days for sure. Reis says Channel 10 is extremely focused on opportunities that this age of new media brings while maintaining some caution. “Everyone in the newsroom is able to post stories and information to any of our platforms in an instant. But we are also very concerned about trust, accuracy, accountability and transparency. So, although we may post immediately, it’s not uncommon for viewers to see a short, two-line story about crews heading to the scene of a possible fire or accident with very few details” said Reis.
But, while TV news folks may not be thrilled to learn the internet is passing them when it comes to younger viewers, they do take heart in this. For each person that logs on to their site and offers any kind of demographic information – they are then able to take that information and spit out to an important group of people. Advertisers who are more and more are switching away from traditional media to the new world that is just a click away.
Coming Next week - see where some of your favorite shows are rated.
Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]
Related Articles
- Where Have Local TV News Watchers Gone in a Decade?
- Media’s Coverage of the Election
- Election Coverage: Media Winners and Losers
- Media Influencers - Part 1
- Grade the News Teams - Anchors
- Media Influencers - Part 2, the Opinion Makers
- Election Night TV Ratings/Who was the Winner?
- Local Media Buzz & More!
- Local TV Stations told to “turn it down”
- Surprising Results in Local TV News Ratings
