THE FUTURE OF LOCAL NEWS

February 2001
		WBBM-Chicago recently ended its experiment with no-frills, content-driven local news. Is news without fluff stories or flashy graphics a thing of the past? Three experts respond to your questions.

Forum introduction What can viewers do to improve local news quality? Why are there so many remote broadcasts on TV news? Should newspapers monitor local TV quality? Should Marin's broadcast have been given more time? What role should PBS stations play? When will broadcasters return to "broadcasting" rather than "narrow-casting"?     Online Special Changing Local News Online Special Media Watch Feb. 7, 2001: Carol Marin and two analysts on the future of local news. October 31, 2000: Anchor Carol Marin signs off. May 24, 2000 A Chicago newscast chooses facts over fluff. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media     Audience Research and Development CBS News The Project for Excellence in Journalism

Robert Cote of Houston, Texas asks: Though the evening newscast is neither a seminar nor a classroom, it is an electronic [public forum] where a viewer should receive, where appropriate, background, context for content, and even alternative choices. Carol Marin seems to have attempted and achieved this. Did Chicago's station management tire of a 26-mile (month) marathon at the eighth mile? Should this broadcast have been given more time? Would it have found an audience? Carl Gottlieb responds: It's tough to say if the Marin broadcast might have found viewers eventually. Our Local TV News Study found that the broadcast did some things well while falling down in areas like local relevance. Hank Price, the former general manager and architect of the show, was in the process of fine tuning when he left the station. The problem is, how long do you stay with a concept that continues to lose viewers? With financial pressure increasing on TV stations, I'm afraid ownership's tolerance for money-losing business segments is low. Never mind the public service they should be performing for profitable use of the public's airwaves.   Marty Haag responds: Your reference to a 26-mile(month) marathon is a great one. It’s “cliché” in the broadcast business that a turnaround in local news is like turning an aircraft carrier. It’s a big proposition. Eight months was entirely too short. As I said on Jim [Lehrer’s] broadcast that Wednesday night, it was a last gasp attempt to help a station that had been shooting itself in the foot for years. They went too far the other way, to be sure, but the program was not given a fair chance. WBBM-TV has some outstanding journalists. One, David Kerley, the new anchor, is among them. My former company, Belo, hired the news director for its station in Seattle. I am also most proud of the Belo station in Houston, KHOU-TV, which broke the Firestone/Explorer story.   Carol Marin responds: "60 Minutes" is often used as the example of something that took a few years to catch on, but once it did, it became and remains the most successful news magazine show ever. It takes time for viewers to find a broadcast and develop a loyalty. But we as a society don't give time to many things ... not just television programming. We want instant success. Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize winning movie critic, told me that when "Chariots of Fire" came out, it opened in only a few theaters. Though it won the Academy Award that year for Best Movie, it's popularity spread through word of mouth. It took time to catch on. Now, Roger says, when a movie opens in the U.S., it better hit at or near the top of the charts in the first couple of weeks or it's pulled. Whether it's a new product, an investment, or a television program, time and patience seem in ever-shorter supply.