CHANGING LOCAL NEWS

June 2000
		Should local TV news return to a simple, hard news approach? WBBM anchor Carol Marin and NewsLab Executive Director Deborah Potter take your questions.

Forum introduction Is commentary becoming more prevalent in local news? Can this "no frills" concept work elsewhere? Is television news losing out to the Internet? Has the pace of on-camera interviews increased? Why can't local news programs report the news without gimmicks?     Online Special Changing Local News Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media     WBBM-TV -- Chicago American Journalism Review Online Journalism Review Columbia Journalism Review Freedom Forum

Jim Puskar of Oakland, CA asks: I saw the piece on the NewsHour last week, and I was very impressed with the direction you are taking with the news. My questions are: Do you feel that it is possible to attract younger viewers to news programming in a time where television seems to be losing out to the Internet as the place where folks go to become informed? Does this coincide with the decline in newspaper readership among younger audiences? Does television journalism have a responsibility to help reverse this trend?   Carol Marin responds: While the Internet has made competition intense for those seeking news, I believe television news not only has a place but a responsibility in reaching out. The Internet is a place where you and I can shop for those subjects we want to know more about.....but news, at least my definition of news, is that which you don't know how to ask for from a menu board. Enterprise reporting offers something that viewers need to know but weren't aware of. And the best news is not demographically targeted to audiences by age. A good story well told on any subject, AIDS, the elderly, heroin, the stock market should be able to touch any demographic group. That's one of our goals.   Deborah Potter responds: Your question goes to the heart of what's been driving a lot of the "flash-and-trash" newscasts we've seen around the country over the past decade. In an almost desperate attempt to draw younger viewers, stations have picked up the pace, added glitzy graphics, and moved away from what might be termed "serious news." Guess what? It hasn't really worked. News audiences in May were down across the board in many major cities, except for the morning newscasts. "We've heard the wake-up call," a news executive told me yesterday, "we're just not sure what to do about it." The hard truth is that stations not only have a responsibility to reverse that trend, they need to, for the most basic bottom-line reasons. Can they do it by drawing more younger viewers? I'm not sure. The problem is not only that young people can go to the Internet for news instead of television. The problem is that young people just aren't as interested in news as their older counterparts. It's a trend that dates back to the mid-70s, and it has only accelerated. It's a real concern in newsrooms, but I haven't heard many content-related game plans to address it.