SPECIAL REPORT: LOCAL TV NEWS

This study was produced by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an affiliate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The study uses empirical data to measure the quality of local TV news and compare those results with ratings. Time of Peril forTV News Quality Sells, But Commitment and Viewership Continue to Erode

BY TOM ROSENSTIEL,CARL GOTTLIEB,AND LEE ANN BRADY

ocal television news has reached trick up newscasts with easy gimmicks a crossroad.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx DOES QUALITY SELL? — eye candy,ratings stunts and hype. Viewers are beginning to aban- 1998–2000 In a test of28 stations,only one “A”sta- don the medium,especially to tion was failing to add to its lead-in. Percentage of stations, the Internet,much as network Only two with a “C”grade or lower by quality grade, rising in ratings Lnews began t o lose audience more than a were adding to it. ■The best way to build or keep audi- decade ago with the advent ofcable. 70% ence is to cover a broader r ange of But in response the industry is head- 64% ed toward making a fateful mistake. 60% issues and topics.Stations that cover less ofthe community,or aim news- A major ongoing study oflocal televi- 50% sion news reveals that the business is 50% casts at specific audiences,are the most cutting back on the precisely the ele- 40% likely to be losing r atings.This chal- ments that att racts viewers — including 37% lenges one ofthe popular programming 30% 33% 33% enterprise,localism,breadth,innova- strategies today in broadcasting:demo- tion,and sourcing.A major reason is graphic targeting,which is done t o 20% please advertisers. that the business is committed to main- ■ taining profit margins it enjoyed in an 10% Local news seems t o be moving in the earlier er a. wrong direction.In particular it is get- Without needing to,local television 0% ting thinner.The amount ofenterprise, ABCDF already shrinking,is withering to almost news is driving Americans away from Quality Grade what was long the most popular and nothing.The amount ofout-of-town trusted source ofinformation in the stations were building ratings ,a higher feeds and recycled material is growing. country. percentage than any other grade and The majority ofstories studied this year These are some ofthe key conclusions nearly double most grades. were either feeds or footage aired with- The problem is that not enough sta- out an on-scene reporter. ofYear Three ofthe continuing study of ■ local television news by the Project for tions produce quality.In those th ree Local TV ignores whole sect ors ofsoci- Excellence in Journalism,a think tank years,just 10% ofstations in our main ety.The poor have all but disappeared. affiliated with Columbia University study earned “A”grades.Most ear ned Out of8,095 st ories studied this year,only Graduate School ofJournalism and “Cs.”And that percentage is even lower if seven concerned the disadvantaged.By funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. we include prime-time hours and early- comparison,336 concerned entertainers. The study,which this year e xamined morning news.This lack offaith in qual- Over three years,and some 25,000 st ories, 49 stations in 15 cities,continues to pro- ity is the issue. only 35 focused on the needy. vide empirical evidence repudiating Consider these other key findings of This year the stud y examined news- many ofthe conventional assumptions the study,produced by the Project and a casts in 15 cities during a February and current business trends in local tele- team oflocal TV journalists,university sweeps w eek and a March non-sweeps vision news. scholars and professional content week,some 49 stations in all.A team of Once again,the study finds that qual- researchers: professional coders analyzed 8,095 st o- ity sells — bett er than any other ries from 500 broadcasts,or 300 hours approach.Over three years,across 146 ■Quality is the best way to retain or oflocal news.The results were then sta- different stations ofvarying sizes,the increase lead-in audience.And the tistically analyzed by researchers at case is clear:Overall,64% of“A”quality surest way to lose lead-in audience is t o Wellesley College and Princeton Survey

84 CJRNovember/December 2000 Research Associates and interpreted by a In eight cities, we measured how team of journalists. TOP FIVE LOCAL NEWS much lead-in audience was retained In eight of these cities we studied the TOPICS IN 2000 throughout the whole newscast and cor- most popular news time slot, as we have related that to quality scores and ratings. in earlier years. In four markets, we Percentage of stories Once again, across 28 stations, only examined the hour-long primetime by broad topic category one with an “A” grade was failing to add news, and in three other cities the 6 a.m. 25% to its lead-in audience. news. In two other cities, where we had In Atlanta, WXIA earned an “A” for earlier studied 11 p.m. news, we studied 20% 3% quality and beat its lead in by 33%. In 18% 6 p.m. We also looked at innovative 15% Denver, KUSA put on the best broadcast newscasts from two stations for com- 5% in town and beat its lead-in by an aver- parison purposes: KTVU in Oakland, 10% 4% age of 21%. In Phoenix, KTVK had the 10% 1% and WBBM in Chicago. 8% 3% best 6 p.m. newscast in the market, the 5% 7% In the morning, when audiences (and 5% best ratings and more viewers than the thus ad rates) are small, newscasts are 0% show that preceded it. produced on the cheap, and it shows. And again, only two stations with a While local morning news is heavy on “C” or lower were succeeding in adding traffic and weather, it’s light on original Crime/Law to their lead-in. reporting, enterprise and even sourcing We also measured this audience Politics/Government Economics/Business (see Morning Lite). retention over time. Again, we found “A” Education/Welfare/Society In prime time, the assumption is that Technology/Health/Consumer stations had the best long-term record it may be the only broadcast people see, of building on their lead-in audience. National and so there is more national and inter- Local In short, stations can try to win audi- national news. But the shows are sur- ence two ways. By hitchhiking on the prisingly light on ideas, heavy on crime popularity of the show that came and celebrity. local people were working in the cam- before, which tends to put a ceiling on One program, Oakland’s KTVU, paign or felt about the country. Earlier the potential viewership. Or by trying to showed how good these hours can be years of the study show that this kind of build their own intrinsic audience, (see Bucking the Trend). Most seem to horse-race political coverage is associat- which is loyal regardless of what shows be aiming fairly low. A former TV news ed with lower ratings. the networks or others may provide. consultant offers concrete suggestions The coverage was also of the most The data show clearly that quality is to improve primetime broadcasts (see reactive kind. Ninety-five percent of the the way to build loyalty. News in Prime Time.) stories were either wire feeds or the sta- And it’s not enough to hold onto We also did our annual survey of sta- tion going to a staged campaign event people for the first 15 minutes, as sta- tions and found some deeply alarming — and remember, this is not some dis- tions often promise advertisers they’ll trends. Among them, a third of stations tant campaign but a primary happening do. The study measured how well a sta- now report being pressured to slant the in one’s own community. tion holds its audience through an news in favor of advertisers (see Sponsor In short, few stations built stories entire newscast. TV news reasearchers Interference). around local people or their concerns. agree. Norman Hecht of Norman They defined the campaign as the can- Hecht Research says retaining audience CAMPAIGN 2000 didates and their rhetoric. is “crucially important.” We did see one wrinkle about ratings. Losing people later in the broadcast Our study this year happened to coin- When they went to these prearranged suggests viewers are losing interest, or cide with the presidential campaign, campaign events, those stations build- maybe even becoming irritated by teas- and nearly two-thirds of our stations — ing ratings were much more likely to es and promos. Stations that offer peo- 32 in all — were in states holding pri- interview local voters at the scene (they ple value all the way through are the maries during one of the two weeks in did so in 21% of their stories) than most likely to have those viewers come which we taped. This gave us an unusu- those stations dropping in ratings (6%). back, researchers said. “It’s important to al opportunity to study how local TV The implication: politics about candi- retain people to the end,” said Harry covers presidential politics, especially dates is a turnoff. Politics as it affects Kovsky of Kovsky & Miller Research, a when it comes to town. local people is more interesting. television research firm. The results were not inspiring. There was a fair amount of coverage. In total, 8% of stories concerned the presidential race, AUDIENCE RETENTION ENTERPRISE REPORTING elevating politics to No. 2 two behind One of the most striking findings this One of the most disappointing find- crime as the most popular topic this year. year had to do with audience retention. ings is the discovery that the enterprise But given that, the coverage demon- By finding ways to hold onto or build reporting that stations are so quick to strated almost no initiative, imagination upon “lead-in audience,” stations have promote is not only a tiny percentage of or enterprise. In all, 93% of those stories managed to justify ad rate increases the work, but is continuing to disappear. were about the horse race or tactics of even as audiences have decreased. This is especially noticeable in the the campaign, as opposed to what the Better journalism is the surest way most popular news time slot, for which candidates stood for, how their propos- not only to hold the audience you we have three years of data. Now, more als might affect people locally, or how inherit but to improve on it. than half of all news stories (53%) are

CJR November/December 2000 85 LET’S GO TO THE VIDEO TAPE

BY DAN ROSENHEIM ome of our design team members screened shows “I like the way live shots are produced on these news- from five stations that earned top scores for their in- casts,” says Main. “It has the effect of seamlessness and Sdividual stories and offered their subjective reactions. keeps me interested.” Jim Snyder’s comment: “I was At first blush, the most striking characteristic of this shocked to see how stodgy and predictable the KTVU year’s top-scoring newscasts may be how little they have in show I saw was.” common. At the unadorned end of the spectrum stand KGUN Some eschew crime; others thrive on it. Some favor live, and Chicago’s WBBM, two serious newscasts that explore breaking stories; others are more cerebral, relying on issues in depth. Carol Marin, WBBM’s solo anchor, whom lengthy packages. Some are unadorned and straightfor- design team member Jim Snyder calls “one of the bright- ward; others are fast-action tabloids, replete with video est anchorwomen in the country,” helped to shape the 10 effects and audio swooshes. o’clock news’s retro format. WBBM sets out to provide At WXIA in Atlanta, the lead story may be the baseball context for the day’s events, with as many as three long pitcher John Rocker’s return to face hostile crowds in New debriefs a newscast between Marin and a reporter or a York City. In the 6 o’clock news at Tucson’s KGUN, it’s a big guest. It’s a noble experiment, incorporating excellent snowstorm. At action-packed WNYW in New York, it’s a coverage from WBBM’s veteran reporters. But there is a gunman ambushing firefighters. These stories reflect pro- thin line between virtue and sanctimony, and too often foundly different news philosophies, but each one is consis- WBBM seems to boast, “Look, Ma, I’m being serious and tent with the overall tone and approach of the newscast it important!” leads. In each case, strong storytelling, technical excellence Meanwhile, KGUN made a commitment to an impor- and consistency of tone combine to tell the viewer: “This is tant story without bogging the newscast down with long, a station that knows what it’s doing and does it well.” taped “packages.” Coverage of a February snowstorm At one end of the spectrum, WNYW’s anchors and moved deftly from live reports to a weathercast, anchor reporters share a tough, wry, no-BS style that feels very reads and a reporter on a virtual set. KGUN’s anchors are New York. The station is heavy on crime and heavy on live, engaging and authoritative, with flashes of humor, but you but the crime stories are intrinsically interesting and high- sense they feel they are less important than the stories. profile, not the meaningless accidents and fires that pass Weather tools like satellite imagery are used to tell the for news on too many stations. story, not to hype the brand. “I never felt lost or left behind,”said one design team mem- It was encouraging to see how many of the top-scoring ber, Alice Main. “The content kept up with the story count, shows made education an important part of their cover- and the shows looked good.” John Cardenas, another team age. Good consumer reporting (not cheesy formula alerts) member, labeled the newscast “Big, bold, clear and concise.” was also evident. Another welcome characteristic is a will- On the other coast, KTVU in San Francisco also came ingness to encourage viewer comments and criticism, and up a winner in this year’s scoring. Because my station com- to fess up when newscasts did wrong. petes directly with KTVU, I’ll refrain from characterizing their newscast, but instead offer two comments from Dan Rosenheim is News Director at KPIX in San Francisco. design team members. either feeds from elsewhere or are cov- notable level of effort, has leveled off at service than it is to field a team of your ered with video but no reporter. That one in five stations, but it is still down own reporters. has doubled since 1998, and is up 30% 27% since 1998. This is ironic, given that The problem is, the data suggest, that from a year ago. local TV news considers breaking news its using more out-of-town feeds is a busi- The percentage of original investiga- strength. Consider the classic promo, ness model that bows to short-term gain tive reporting, already tiny, is vanishing. “Live, Local and Late Breaking.” rather than building long-term audi- Out of nearly 4,000 stories studied this And feed material — stories like, say, ence loyalty. year, only 0.9%, just 36 stories, were the heartwarming rescue of an elk from Last year we discovered that another investigative pieces. an ice floe in Latvia — is on the rise. likely factor in the decline of enterprise The percentage of tough interviewing Last year 20% of stories came from out- was that newsroom finances were being on camera, which was also only three of-town feeds. This year the figure is up squeezed, especially by forcing stations percent of all stories in 1998, has to 24%. to fill more airtime without commensu- dropped to less than one percent over The trend seems to be true across the rate budget increases. That pressure is two years. Out of those 4,000 stories we board — at high-quality stations rising in only likely to continue if the industry watched this year, we found only 30 that ratings, at low-quality stations dropping sees a rash of further mergers, in which included substantive questioning of in ratings and everywhere in between. companies pay premiums for station sources on camera. Why? The most obvious answer is groups and then have to increase prof- The commitment to covering breaking that it’s cheaper to down-link, or down- itability to service the debt or justify the news, which requires a lesser but still load, a story from your network or feed price. In an environment in which most

86 CJR November/December 2000 STORY LENGTH STATIONS GOING — 27% were over two minutes. But it NOWHERE: 1998–2000 The deepening discovery that viewers also tended to run a lot of very short like breadth is matched by the finding stories — nearly half were 30 seconds or Percentage of stations flat or falling over three years that people like depth. less — and it aired more stories each in ratings, by quality grade Many stations try to create the illusion night than most newscasts. Rather than 70% that they are covering the whole commu- provide a lot of news in some depth, in 26% 26% nity by jamming more stories into the other words, WBBM gave viewers a 60% 33% broadcast, like KNXV in Phoenix, which 50% crams 27 stories, on average, into the 20% usual 13 minutes of general news — LONGER STORIES 40% 42% 42% about a story every 30 seconds. BUILD RATINGS 7% But viewers hate it, and KNXV’s rat- 30% 29% 29% 30% ings are heading south. The data suggest 45% 20% that viewers like stations that air more long stories and minimize the number 40% 40% 10% of very short stories. 35% ■ At stations building ratings, 37% of sto- 0% ABCDF ries are a minute or longer. At stations 30% Quality Grade falling in ratings, the figure is 24%. 28% 25% Falling Flat ■ At stations rising in ratings, just 39% 25% of stories are 30 seconds or shorter. At 20% stations are seeing declining ratings, stations falling in ratings, 55% are. budget increases are even more unlikely. ■ And stations losing ratings air almost 15% If audiences genuinely respond to a twice as many super-short stories, less 10% station covering more of the communi- than twenty seconds long. ty, working harder to source stories well This finding, that viewers like depth 5% and reporting with balance, the indus- and context, is not new. We found the or longer one minute of stores Percent 0% try’s refusal to provide its viewers with same thing in our first year, and, to a Stations with Stations with Stations with well-researched stories will lead it down lesser degree, in our second year. We will Rising Ratings Flat Ratings Falling Ratings a suicidal path. continue to watch. But over three years, the implication is getting clearer: too many short stories don’t provide the TOPIC RANGE information or context viewers want. great deal about a few things and gave Three years ago our design team of Regardless of the style of a broadcast, short shrift to almost everything else. local TV news professionals told us that viewers want a significant number of The lesson of WBBM’s difficulties the most important mission for a news- stories to be long. may not be that people don’t like depth. cast was to cover the entire community. This may, ironically, explain why the To the contrary, they don’t like depth The obligation — and what viewers famous experiment at Chicago’s across the board sacrificed for the sake wanted — was a full picture of the life of WBBM, in which the newscaster Carol of just a few stories a night. a place each day, from murders to muse- Marin produced a so-called serious um exhibits, from fires to finance. newscast, hasn’t succeeded. The station This might seem to run counter to the tended to run a lot of very long stories WHAT IS QUALITY idea of targeting newscasts for the most Our definition of quality is the same appealing audiences, such as women established by our design team of local and youth, and skipping unpopular top- BEST AND WORST TV news professionals three years ago ics, such as politics. STATIONS IN 2000 (see Design Team). We stress the basics: But the data suggest that targeting is a Percentage of top and bottom A newscast should reflect its entire com- mistake. Viewers, it turns out, like ten stations, in quality, by ratings trend munity, cover a broad range of topics, breadth. focus on the significant aspects of sto- This year, stations with rising ratings Best Stations Worst Stations ries, be locally relevant, balance stories covered notably more of their commu- Falling Falling with multiple points of view, and use nities — about 10% more, according to 20% 40% authoritative sources. our formula — than those whose rat- We continue to use the system devel- ings were falling. oped by separate teams of university The better a station does at covering scholars and professional researchers to the full spectrum of news and events in grade newscasts by a point system its community — and not ignoring cer- Flat matched to these criteria (see Who Did Flat tain topics because they’re difficult or 20% Rising the Study). As in years past presentation is 0% Rising unpopular — the more likely the station 60% 60% a very minor factor. So that grading can be is to be gaining in ratings. accomplished objectively, stories score This same finding, at a slightly less pro- Rising Falling Flat well based on an accumulation of the sim- nounced rate, holds true over three years. ple journalistic values mentioned above.

CJR November/December 2000 87 In this third year of the Local TV ■ Do more investigative work, news News Project we also continue to corre- PERCENTAGE OF series and tough interviews. late a station’s quality scores to Nielsen ■ Use less feed material. Media Research household ratings that STATIONS BY GRADE, ■ Air more person-on-the street in- encompass a three-year period begin- 1998-2000 terviews. ning in May 1997 and ending in ■ Do less horse-race-style political Total number of coverage. February 2000. high-rated newscasts studied = 146 This year, as in years past, we have As we have already pointed out, sta- examined the most watched half-hours A 10% tions can use a “down-market” strategy to of news in a core group of cities ran- F 7% seize viewers’ attention and win their loy- domly selected after ensuring popula- B 29% alty. But our data on audience retention tion and geographic balance. We have shows that across the board, low-quality also looked at early-evening news in D 21% stations lose viewers from their lead-in, Atlanta and Los Angeles, markets where while our best stations were more likely we previously studied late news. to be keeping viewers over time. The A year ago we found that the six o’clock down-market approach may work, but it C 33% news programs in New York and Boston may not have as much staying power. scored much better than their 11 P.M. Another interesting discovery over counterparts. The same holds true this three years is that there seem to be no year. In Atlanta, the early evening news MAGIC FORMULA set criteria for winning ratings using a broadcasts scored an average 144 points down-market approach. higher than the late news broadcasts we Is there a special recipe for building Except for the things that help any studied in 1998. In Los Angeles, the six ratings? The data show there are some station win ratings — like doing more o’clock broadcasts were 57 points higher. key elements — across all stations and long stories and using fewer anonymous Over three years we’ve found that, across all years — that we can now say sources — we can find no common contrary to newsroom lore and the are key steps in serving viewers. characteristics among the down-market claims of critics, all local news is not the Interestingly, they are also steps to qual- stations with rising ratings that hold same. Our best station in the most ity. Two we’ve outlined above: over three years. watched time slot, Tucson’s KGUN, ■ Cover more of the community. The implication is that the success of scored 291 points more than our worst ■ Produce more longer stories and the tabloid approach is somewhat hap- station, KNXV in Phoenix. fewer very short stories. hazard. The same is true of the time slots we In addition, four other key steps to We can identify reliable ways to build added this year. The best in the morn- building ratings are clear from the data ratings with quality. We cannot over ing, WGME of Portland, Maine, scored over three years: three years quantify reliable ways to 145 points higher than the morning’s ■ Focus more stories around the major build ratings with a tabloid or low-qual- worst, WBRC of Birmingham. public and private institutions in town. ity approach. Oakland’s KTVU, the best of the prime- ■ Do fewer stories targeted at demo- time hour-long newscasts, earned a graphic subsets of your audience. whopping 292 points more than Los ■ Use fewer sources who are anony- THREE-YEAR MARKETS Angeles’s KTLA. mous or referred to only in passing. We have studied thirteen stations now ■ Send a reporter, not just a camera for three years. In general, these stations crew, to cover stories. Viewers seem to have become more locally relevant and QUALITY VERSUS RATINGS prefer hearing the latest events from now cover more of their communities How sure are we that quality is the reporters on the scene rather than lis- than they did three years ago. Most have best path to ratings? Eight of the ten tening to anchors providing voiceovers also shown notable improvement in best stations we studied this year were for canned footage. giving different points of view in their either going up in ratings (60%) or at Other steps build ratings, depending stories. One of the most disturbing least holding their own (20%). Put in on which style of news a station wants findings all along in this study, and one another way, if you practice basic good to pursue — high quality or more racy that has bothered practitioners, has journalism, as defined by our design tabloid. been the one-sidedness of so much of team of industry professionals, your Each year we have broken good sta- the news. Whether these improvements station is four times as likely to be tions from the most popular time slot in are the result of being scrutinized we gaining or holding ratings as losing. In each city into two groups: “Master” sta- have no idea. a television environment that has tions are those with high quality (A or B But the commonalities end there. steadily decreased in viewers, hanging grades) and rising ratings (one or two Some stations have improved and on is not the worst thing in the world. up arrows). “Earnest” stations have A or begun to gain market share, like It’s riskier to be a bottom-ten station B grades and declining ratings (down Minneapolis’s WCCO. Some have in this study. While 6 out of 10 stations arrows; charts, pp. 89, 90-92). slipped in quality and viewers, like on the bottom have positive ratings In addition to the six ideas above, Minneapolis’s KARE. And some have trends, four are clearly failing. Unlike master stations over three years share both improved in quality and lost in the better stations, there is no holding these other qualities. They: viewers, like New York’s WABC. your ground here. It’s either up or ■ Air fewer crime stories. There is one other generalization we down. ■ Air more local stories. can make. Ratings for these stations

88 CJR November/December 2000 over a five-year trend show what every targeting their news- general manager already knows. Most of casts at demograph- CORRELATION OF MARKET these stations, like local TV news in gen- ic groups based on RATINGS BY QUALITY SCORE eral, are seeing their audience shrink. artificial and frankly 450 insulting stereo- 400 types. A whole range 399.21 CONCLUSION 350 350.82 349.78 of what people ex- 334.39 341.08 327.06 330.70 331.76 332.39 333.97 The future of local TV news is not pect from journal- 300 pretty. Of the 178 stations we have stud- ism — like helping ied, 128, or 72%, have experienced over- the disadvantaged or 250 all ratings declines over three years. being a watchdog 200

Twenty-six percent have added viewers. over the powerful — Quality Score 150 Two percent are flat. is ignored. At the Radio-TV News Directors The fact is that 100 Association convention this year, news many of the conven- 50 professionals were already saying that tional ideas about 0 young people find little worth watch- what works in TV ing in local TV news. Those discussions news — high story 2000 1998–2000 are borne out by data from the Pew count, flashy produc- Research Center for the People and the tion, emotion over Market Ratings Trends in Stations Studied Press that show young people aban- substance, targeting doning local television news in favor of — are demonstrably wrong. TV news, and they’re getting scarcer. the Internet. TV is suffering the loss These false ideas are driven by out- If the industry does not begin soon more than other news media. dated beliefs and by following the to change, if it continues to insist on This year, as part of the project, we interests of advertisers rather than profit margins that can be sustained co-sponsored a survey with our affili- viewers. They’re reinforced by audi- only by gutting newsrooms, the evi- ate NewsLab of people who watch lit- ence research often based on poorly dence strongly suggests the biggest tle TV news. Of the many reasons, conceived or even misused surveys and loser in the Internet revolution will including being too busy or not home, focus groups. And they are institution- not be newspapers but local broadcast 70% had to do with substantive com- alized by short-sighted profit demands television news. plaints about content, particularly that force news directors to cut the very If so, broadcasters will have only that local TV news covered too few things that build viewership over time themselves to blame. topics and was too superficial and too — such as enterprise reporting and repetitive. building staff. Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for “Avoidance of local news has doubled And now those demands are prompt- Excellence in Journalism, is a former in the past ten years,” the TV news con- ing newscasters to sell out their inde- media critic for the Los Angeles Times and sultant Scott Tallal of Insite Research has pendence to advertisers. Washington correspondent for Newsweek. found. One reason: “More than half of The numbers make clear a frighten- Carl Gottlieb, the Project’s deputy direc- those surveyed feel that most stations ing prospect: most stations are selling tor, is a former broadcast news executive spend too much time covering the same off their future. with the Tribune Co. and Fox. Lee Ann stories over and over again.” But the data also show a way out. Brady is senior project director at Three years of data in our study show Enterprise sells. Depth sells. Breadth Princeton Survey Research Associates, one viewers are right. Enterprise is vanishing. sells. Courage sells. The problem is there of the nation’s leading news-media Programs are getting thinner. Stations are is not enough of those things in local research firms.

WHO DID THE STUDY DESIGN TEAM This study was conducted by the Project for Excellence in The following local news professionals developed the criteria Journalism, a journalists’group in Washington, D.C., affiliated of quality for this study and signed off on major decisions: with the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The scholar team that developed John Cardenas, News Director, WBNS, Columbus, Ohio. the methodology included Lee Ann Brady of Princeton Survey John Corporon, Board of Governors, Overseas Press Club. Research Associates; Marion Just, Ph.D., Professor of Political Randy Covington, News Director, WIS TV, Columbia, S. C. Science at Wellesley College; Michael Robinson, Ph.D., formerly Marty Haag, Vice President, Audience Research & Development. of Georgetown University; Ann Crigler, Ph.D., Director of the Natalie Jacobson, Principal Anchor, WCVB TV, Boston. Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern Alice Main, former Executive Producer, WLS TV, Chicago. California, and Sherrie Mazingo, Ph.D., of the University of Gordon Peterson, Principal Anchor, WUSA TV, Washington, D.C. Minnesota. Todd Belt of USC measured the ratings trends. Jose Rios, Vice President of News, KTTV, Los Angeles. Evan Jenkins edited the articles. Researchers at Princeton Survey Dan Rosenheim, News Director, KPIX TV, San Francisco. Research Associates coded the newscasts and prepared the initial Jim Snyder, Retired Vice President of News, Post Newsweek Stations. statistical data under the supervision of Brady. Abigail Sturges Kathy Williams, News Director, WKYC TV, Cleveland. designed the layout and graphics. Atiba Pertilla and Chris Galdieri Gary Wordlaw, President and General Manager, WTVH TV, Syracuse. of PEJ were the project researchers.

CJR November/December 2000 89 WHO’S BEST IN 2000? LOCAL TV NEWS

Comments SourceExpertise No. of Sources Viewpoints NetworkAffiliation Averageper Points Story Topic Range Focus Enterprise Local Relevance Quality RatingsGrade Trend Station Quality Score HIGHEST RATED TIMESLOTS BOSTON

WBZ* 352.30 20.70 Best in Boston dropped to C from B. Good C localism. Ratings on the right track. Racy presentation, but most issues in town. C WHDH* 311.31 19.89 Good at breaking news, sourcing. Could be more local. Up from “D” to “C” in a year. WCVB* 264.49 19.07 A year of change at a station known for stability. D Highest story count at 11. Weakest sourcing in town.

DENVER

KUSA 378.18 22.72 Best in Denver shows ratings weakness. More B breaking news, coverage of civic institutions would help. B KMGH 369.81 22.66 Decent station slipping in ratings. Best in Denver at sourcing, breaking news. Needs more localism. D KCNC 304.10 20.97 Highest story count, most local coverage in town. Low on ideas/issues. Too many unnamed sources. MINNEAPOLIS

KSTP* 363.28 21.04 Best half-hour in town. Lots of crime, investi- B gations. Makes national stories local. Could improve sourcing. C KARE* 331.59 20.36 Down a grade from last year, ratings follow. Good sourcing, least local coverage. C WCCO* 331.12 20.75 B last year. Best sourcing, investigations at 10. Strong breaking news, could be more local.

KMSP* 277.76 20.45 Is this the same station that airs the one-hour D show? Lots of feeds, horse-race politics.

NEW YORK From worst to first in NY. Best half-hour in B WABC* 365.27 22.83 town for issues, investigations, sources. Light on breaking news. This is Eyewitness News? B WNBC* 357.63 22.37 Solid station. Bouncing back at 11 p.m. Good expert sources, mix of opinions. Could be more local. C WCBS* 348.91 22.31 Improving, but long way to go. No investiga- tions, lots of everyday incidents. PHOENIX

Best in Phoenix. Most investigations, expert A KTVK 406.53IND. 22.50 sources. Half the national average for unnamed sources. Stories really well done. B KPHO 398.21 21.37 Almost an A. Big on breaking news and horse- race politics. Coverage too one-sided. B KPNX 371.07 22.09 Good station in ratings war. Best at breaking news. Makes national news locally relevant.

KNXV 199.51 19.30 Lowest score in three years. Lots of stories, no depth. F Promos: “We won't waste your time.” They do.

90 CJR November/December 2000 CHART KEY Ratings (3 years): Icons: Average story score for a station by variable. Overall Grade = sharply up = down = highest score = second lowest score A = 400.75 or higher B = second highest score = lowest score = 353.23 – 400.74 = up = sharply down C = 305.72 – 353.22 D = mid-range score * = also studied 1998 and 1999 = 258.20 – 305.71 = flat F = 210.69 – 258.19

Comments

SourceExpertise Quality Grade Topic Range No. of Sources Viewpoints Local Relevance Ratings Trend Station Quality Score NetworkAffiliation Averageper Points Story Focus Enterprise SIOUX FALLS

KELO 321.53 20.49 Ratings slippage despite monster tune-in. Covers C state well, but too many stories with no sources. Too many unnamed sources, one-source stories. C KSFY 314.82 18.95 Not much breaking news or issues. Ratings loser. Last place but climbing. Lots of news confer- D KDLT 302.88 20.12 ences. Best in town for issues. Covers Sioux Falls and its institutions. TUCSON Does it all. Longest stories. Lots of investiga- A KGUN 490.38 25.48 tions. Good at breaking news. No unsourced stories. Building ratings. KOLD 398.68 22.22 B Almost an A. Ratings cold. Needs investigations, more breaking news. Broad coverage of Tucson. B KVOA 394.44 21.75 Longtime market leader, good station challenged. 40% news conferences. Many one-source stories. WICHITA Slipping score, decent ratings. Good sourc- B KAKE* 386.22 19.88 ing. Lots of person-in-the-street interviews. Could improve breaking news. KSNW* 325.37 21.27 Superficial, no investigations or tough interviews. C Good expert sourcing and regional coverage. Longtime ratings leader halting slide. Only D KWCH* 275.12 20.74 investigation in market. Low on expert sources.

FOLLOW-UP MARKETS

ATLANTA

Very local. Needs better sourcing, more balance, A WXIA 439.25 22.78 enterprise. News director promoted to WUSA. From “F” to “B” in two years; new ownership. B WGCL 385.71 22.81 Good on breaking news. Best in town for balance.

CHICAGO

Carol Marin’s experiment hasn’t matured and B WBBM 368.07 23.76 may not get the chance to be a “survivor.”

LOS ANGELES High on issues and ideas, low on crime. Covers A KCBS 405.79 22.10 L.A. well, could improve sourcing. Dismal ratings. Ratings king at 6. Very local, lots of human B KABC 356.35 22.30 interest, breaking news. Good sourcing, low on ideas. Most investigations in L.A. Solid station. D KNBC 278.55 20.34 Tabloid formula: lots of crime, unusual events, feeds. Poor sourcing, least local coverage.

CJR November/December 2000 91

Brought to You By. . . SPONSOR INTERFERENCE BY MARION JUST AND ROSALIND LEVINE

t a time of growing concern edited by race organizers. Three out of number of Web updates was seven per about commercial influence in four stations agreed. In another city, a day, but the range was considerable — Athe news, there is new evidence local theme park wanted the weather from stations that only updated once a that the problem of sponsor interfer- report to say skies would be partly day to those that updated “constantly.” ence may be more widespread than sunny, rather than partly cloudy, The results seem encouraging. Stations many journalists realize. because it might encourage more visi- reported a median of 400,000 visitors A third of news directors surveyed in tors. The station declined. per month to their Web sites. this year’s local TV study report being The great majority of stations pro- pressured to kill negative stories, or do vide weather for radio or other news positive ones, about advertisers. NEW MEDIA programming. A like number provide In many cases, perhaps most, the The other major finding in this year’s news either for an affiliated broadcast pressure is coming internally from sta- survey concerns the growth of the or cable network. tion management. Internet. Every station responding to our The local news Web staff was small, We sent questionnaires to all 49 sta- survey now has a World Wide Web site. averaging two persons per station. tions studied in this year’s report and However, forty-six percent said they Likewise the budget investment was received responses from 25. While those were being given no new funds to finance small ($15,000 to $200,000), averaging numbers are small, the answers about their sites. The money had to come out two percent of the budget. sponsor interference are troubling. of the existing newsroom budget. When asked how to integrate new and A third of news directors answering In addition, at no station surveyed were old media, news directors agreed that the question said they “were discour- mechanisms ought to be found to aged or interfered with” editorially FUNDING LOCAL NEWS encourage communication between the “because of concerns about sponsors.” staffs. News directors thought the Web One news director vividly described WEB SITES should be “part of the daily news opera- “strong internal pressure to drop nega- 50% tion.” Local news Web and newsroom tive stories or do positive ones” on a 46.6% staff should “work side by side.”It was not variety of topics including “consumer, 40% clear, however, who should be in charge. investigative, and medical” news. 30% “Car stories” are especially vulnerable 26.7% to sponsor pressure. In one incident, a 20% TALENT station wanted to explore “complaints 13.3% 13.3% about the local car dealer,” a news direc- 10% Only a small number of stations in our tor reported.“We were told not to do this survey were willing to detail how they 0% story [even] before we shot anything.” New Part new No new From sales allocated their budgets. Of those stations Two news directors said they were funding funding funding budget that did respond, we noted that the encouraged to cover stories about “sta- Fifteen stations responded greater the percentage of budget spent tion-sponsored” or “company events.” for on-screen talent, the lower the sta- One was pressured to cover “events any proceeds from the Web returned back tion’s quality scores — and the results are where [the] station ‘partners’ with an to news. Only a few Web sites had turned statistically highly significant.* advertiser.” a profit, and the amounts were small. In other words, spending more on Not all news departments suc- Still, even in its infancy, the Web was anchors at the expense of producers, cumbed. At least one news director expected to add immediately to the bot- writers, editors and camera crews tends reported that he was pressured to help tom line of the station. to hurt quality. advertisers, “but we say NO!” Most news directors thought the Web What’s more, contrary to convention- The finding of widespread pressure site was important enough to “assign al wisdom, we found no correlation within TV stations to slant the news both full time staff to keep [the site] interac- between spending more on high-priced to protect and promote advertisers is part tive and current,”as one response put it, talent and building ratings. of a growing concern in the industry. although others saw the Web primarily Last year’s study found that more as a “complementary service to the *p<.01 than two thirds of stations now run newscast.” The trend was to send televi- sponsored news segments, many where sion viewers to Web sites where they Marion Just is a professor of political sci- the sponsor has a commercial interest. could follow either breaking news, or ence at Wellesley College and a research The Indianapolis Motor Speedway obtain “background information that associate at the Shorenstein Center on the recently refused to let local stations send can’t be included on TV because of time Press, Politics, and Public Policy at their own cameras to cover a major race, limits” as one news director explained. Harvard. Rosalind Levine is an attorney insisting that they air the highlights as According to our survey the average in Boston.

CJR November/December 2000 93 BUCKING THE TREND Lessons for Thriving in a Declining Market BY MARTY HAAG

ot long ago I came across an internal station mem- breaking news minutes before the networks could crank up. orandum from a local TV news operation that said: Local stations had the advantage of being local but also could “We are an oasis in a sea of change.” Perhaps that’s bring in satellite feeds from anywhere. the problem. We don’t know what we are in local Now, local television journalism is bombarded regularly with TV news anymore — even metaphorically. No charges of being shallow, shoddy and crime-ridden. Many see Nquestion plagues television news executives more than the local TV as irrelevant, particularly 18-to-24-year-olds and those dimension of change when ratings are falling, station loyalties comfortable with the Internet. are eroding and technologies threaten the broad-based audience This year’s results from the local television news study by the we once had. What will the newscast be like five years from Project for Excellence in Journalism offer “benchmarks” for suc- today? As one who is contemplating retirement after more than cess in analyzing the products of four stations: KTVU in thirty-five years in local television news, I see parallels to Reuven Oakland, KTVK in Phoenix, KGUN in Tucson and WXIA in Frank’s lament that network news pre-eminence, unlike the Atlanta. All four stations earned “A” grades in the study and Roman Empire, didn’t fall; it petered out. Is this happening to have been enjoying ratings success for the past three years. Once local television news? again, the PEJ study holds out hope that leaders with higher In the roiling conditions of the 1980’s, the strengths of net- ideals than the cast of “Survivor” will preserve the core of excel- work news fell away: appointment viewing went the way of the lent journalism while accommodating change. TV dinner. A cable news operation seemed able to respond to

they know where Point Richmond is, detail: first, hackers hitting eBay; next, and they know the institutions of the new details on an airplane crash, an area. They have experience that you exclusive local story; then, a Bush pri- can’t buy.” When Finlayson gets audi- mary win. One senses that a viewer see- tion tapes, they are put in two stacks — ing the next morning’s paper would those who have lived and worked in think to himself, “knew that, knew that, Northern California and those who knew that,” and so on. In the light of the haven’t. “Fred preached one thing over and setting afternoon The breakdown of what KTVU, a Fox over,” Finlayson says of Zehnder, “and sun, the view from affiliate, puts on the air tells us much. that was to give time to all of the com- News Director the KTVU newsroom The station aired few crime stories. A munities of the Bay Area. We have more Andrew Finlayson in Oakland — the relatively high percentage (13.3%) of voices; we speak to all communities. We bay, the sailboats, the the hour-long broadcast’s stories were don’t just aim for the BMW demo- bridge (not that one, the other one) and about economics and business. KTVU graphic.” the towering skyline of San Francisco — has two business reporters, one for There is one other thing. KTVU does- is spectacular. It’s not bad on the inside morning, one for evening, and one of n’t have a helicopter or satellite news- either. KTVU, Channel 2, earned the them is the nationally syndicated gathering truck. highest marks in this year’s PEJ local expert Brian Banmiller. Another “We couldn’t cover a car chase even if news study and scored more than 100 reporter, Randy Shandobil, does poli- we wanted to,” Finlayson crows. points above the next-best station. tics exclusively. Finlayson points out Thus Lesson Number One: It’s about The source of the station’s excellence that a question about political coverage people. is no mystery. The architect of Channel probably wouldn’t get enthusiastic 2’s product, Fred Zehnder, was in charge response from a focus group, but in the Moving east from the for 20 years as news director before hands of a talented writer, the results Bay Area, the next top- retiring last year. The general manager, might differ. KTVU stories are long, scoring station in the Kevin O’Brien, has been leading his averaging between two and three min- study this year was troops for more than 14 years. The lead utes. More than half the stories used KTVK, Channel 3, the news anchor, Dennis Richmond, has three or more sources. With market leader for had the title since 1976. “Most of the metronome precision, the “number one news in Phoenix. I people here have lived and worked in prime time news in the country,” as the have a confession to the Bay Area for years,” says the current station describes itself, ticks off the make here: This is a Belo station. Still, news director, Andrew Finlayson, “and day’s top stories in more than ample there are lessons to be learned from

94 CJR November/December 2000 KTVK’s success: aid of a dart board. But it works. Not man, we have their representative in the Know your market, only is it fun, it is informative. This baby newsroom who covers reaction to our stake out a clearly is niched. Lesson Number Two: At a time news coverage decisions once a week.” defined direction, and when we are told all newscasts appear So passionate is Carr’s belief in reflect- don’t fear being “out alike, difference can matter. Don’t be a ing community values that he is often there.”And, of course, commodity. Could you replicate KTVK criticized for being “holier than thou.” an outstanding, stable in another market? Maybe not. Carr says, “I admit to being a crusad- management team er, and journalists aren’t supposed to helps. When Bill be crusaders.” Carr has adopted rules Miller left another for covering crime like those promul- News Director Phoenix station to gated several years ago at KVUE-TV Phil Alvidrez run KTVK nearly in Austin by the late Carole Kneeland. 15 years ago, he Like KVUE, the station declares that it assembled a talented behind-the- According to one “will not stalk innocent victims of scenes team — including Phil Alvi- researcher, only one tragedy or crime.” Lesson Number drez and Dennis O’Neil, who run the station in the country Three: Have a vision and pursue it pas- news division, and Sue Schwartz, who has improved its rank sionately. succeeded Miller this year as general order in news and manager. The group has proved it has held that position a talent for entrepreneurship. In for three ratings January 1995, ABC yanked the station’s News Director periods without a affiliation, making Channel 3 a pure Forrest Carr significant change independent. Fearing that loss of net- in lead-in. That work status would relegate the station to hasn’t happened in Tucson yet either, secondary status in the viewer’s mind, but a significant change is in the Miller and his crew labeled KTVK “the wind. KGUN’s 6 p.m. newscast took The fourth bench- place with more stuff.” The logo was a over first place in July. Three years mark selection is the jiggling TV set with rabbit ears. ago, KGUN, Channel 9, did not have a Gannett-owned sta- The station has been criticized for lit- 6 p.m. broadcast and the 5 p.m. tion in the highly- tle coverage of issues and “lots of frothy trailed by 12 rating points. News Director competitive Atlanta news” by the Arizona Republic’s TV crit- The reason for the new 6 p.m.’s suc- Dave Roberts market, WXIA-TV. ic, Steve Wilson. PEJ’s study found an cess may be found on the tapes from the Two strong stations, unusually low percentage of stories early March recording period. The sta- WSB-TV and WAGA-TV, were not (3.3%) that focused on ideas, issues or tion sends a reporter to nearby Mt. included in this year’s study because the policies. And only 3.3% of the content Lemmon to cover the snowfall but also Project does not measure one-hour resulted from station-initiated investiga- to report the impact on water rationing; broadcasts against half-hours, like tions. Breaking news rules. More than a a full-screen graphic or an over-the- WXIA, in the same time slot. At 6 p.m., third (37.4%) of the stories in the news- shoulder box conveys important infor- nearly a third of the stories on WXIA casts surveyed were responses to sponta- mation. Sen. John McCain withdraws were about crime, and all of them were neous events. About a third of the stories from the presidential race. School clos- about local crime. In fact, only one were about crime. Understandably, there ings are revealed, as is information on a other station, KCAL in Los Angeles, are more national stories and longer sto- Salvation Army coat drive. This broad- covers more crime, but WXIA, Channel ries in a typical KTVK newscast; the sta- cast fulfills the expectations of 6 p.m. 11, seemed to stand out by providing a tion does eight hours of news a day news as a local news broadcast of balance of sources and providing stories Monday through Friday. record. The results from Super Tuesday on a diverse range of topics anyway. The In a 6 p.m. broadcast screened for this are reported with remarks from a local newscast is heavy on live shots, seem- article, uniqueness abounds. The pho- campaign coordinator. In succeeding ingly with a small cadre of first-rate, tography is inventive. Lower-third days, the news department turns to a experienced reporters. supers are rainbow colors and in script. story on the first-ever online voting in Under news director Dave Roberts, The consumer segment is labeled Arizona, and the effect of the snowfall the station attacks head-on subjects that “Consumer Stuff.” The helicopter on the poor section of Nogales, just are often denigrated: WXIA does many pilot/reporter is a bona fide star. across the border in Mexico. stories featuring state legislators, and it The late news at 10 p.m. was recently KGUN, an ABC affiliate, was far covers local institutions at length (twice expanded to one hour and labeled “The above average in stories on ideas, issues the national average). And there is Bill NewShow.” Here again, except for and policy. In fact, at 22.2%, it was twice Liss, the business editor. Liss is a former another in Alvidrez’s collection of the average. The essential element in top airline executive who looks the part attractive anchor people, convention is KGUN’s turnaround, according to the of a tough newspaper columnist. thrown to the wind. The single anchor voluble news director, Forrest Carr, is a In market after market these days stands in a tiny studio next to a TV concerted effort to connect with the news departments are running scared. monitor and flits through an hour by viewers. The station has a “Viewers’ Bill Among evening newscasts, the typical herself, veering from a hard-news story of Rights” which is “a public statement story length is 21 to 30 seconds — to a live-shot feature and back. It is as if of principles,” Carr says, “and in the almost one in four fall within this range. the broadcast were formatted with the Viewers’ Representative, or ombuds- TV land lives in fear of itchy fingers on

CJR November/December 2000 95 the remote. Your news is not appealing to younger demographics? Well, make it “look like MTV.” Is your news not rele- AT 6 a.m. vant? Maybe the viewer won’t notice if wallpaper video flashes by. But the taciturn Roberts has hired and maintained a veteran staff. The most IT’S MORNING LITE experienced reporters (six have between 10 and 20 years’ experience) invariably turn up in the 6 p.m. broadcast. As with BY SUSAN TRUITT the other three outstanding stations, story length was in the 2-to-3-minute here’s no way to make getting up positive ratings, but the “F” station, range at WXIA. For some reason, I recall in the morning easy, but local tele- WBRC, was also thriving. reading a story years ago arguing that Tvision news tries. Probably too First and foremost, the decision to the 20-second voice-over piece is akin to hard. In most cases, cheerfulness and put service first translates to “morning racing through a residential neighbor- chat outdistance serious news. TV exec- news gives the weather.”And then more hood at 35 to 40 miles per hour. No time utives think the pre-eminent concern at weather. Weather leads every broadcast. for context, only pictures. One can see that hour of the day is knowing whether The current temperature is constantly only the front of a house; there isn’t time to dress warmly and which route to on the screen (with a clock) and many to peek inside to see more than a façade. drive to work. stations now run a lower-third crawl The two-minute package, on the other For the first time, this year’s local news updating the forecast frequently. hand, is like stopping and going inside study included half-hour morning news- And it’s ever so important to have the the house to meet the family. Lesson casts. In TV news’ fastest-growing time right messenger for all this service. My Number Four: Let it breathe. slot, researchers looked at the half-hour six years of producing morning televi- Robert (Shad) Northshield, who beginning at six a.m. in three cities: sion reinforced the conventional wis- worked at NBC and CBS for years, died Detroit (the ninth largest market in the dom that the morning viewer is more recently. Shad came up with the idea of country), Birmingham (39) and likely to let a buddy into the house than the closing shots on the CBS Sunday Portland, Maine (80), eight stations in all. some strong authority figure. Most rat- broadcast, which were just scenes of It wasn’t a pretty sight from the per- ings winners follow the “let your bud- nature and natural sound. No voice spective of the traditional evening dies help you get ready” formula. track, no music. Yet people wrote to the newscast. The best broadcast in the In major metropolitan areas, “ser- broadcast saying how beautiful was the study could muster only a grade of B. vice” also includes traffic. In Detroit, choice of Vivaldi. This year’s four bench- That went to the No. 2 station in the weather and traffic make up about 45 mark stations also offer similar sugges- smallest market reviewed, WGME in percent of the half-hour broadcasts. tions to stem the hemorrhage in viewers. Portland. The rest earned “C’s” or Combine the cheerfulness and chat of In a sea of change, have the vision to set lower. your buddies with weather and traffic on a clear course and have the courage to Here are some key findings: and there isn’t much time for the kind stick to it. ■ Ninety-four percent of all morning of coverage that ranks high with the As a newly hired anchor once said, “I news coverage was reactive, more than local TV professionals who established know I can win the ratings; it’s not rock- local news overall. the study’s quality scale. et surgery.” ■ About half the morning news stories Portland stations pay scant attention used unnamed sources or no sources, to traffic and score higher on the quali- Marty Haag is Executive Vice President of compared with a third in other time slots. ty scale. Rush-hour traffic is not a major Content and Innovation for Audience ■ More than half the stories in the factor in Maine so the newscasts in the Research & Development, and former morning were about everyday incidents market have more time for the kind of Executive Vice President for Broadcast or everyday crime and were not con- reporting that the PEJ scale values. News for A. H. Belo. nected to broader issues. That’s 15 per- Programming consultant Bill Carroll cent more than the average of all news- of Katz Television Group calls the con- casts in the study. ventional a.m. style “the ‘we’re-sharing- Morning news has a hard time scor- a-cup-of coffee’ approach.”Carroll, who METHODOLOGY AND CRITERIA ing on the quality scale devised for has studied the dramatic growth and Newscasts are measured by criteria evenings because, by and large, the sta- the content of local morning news over developed by our design team of local tions choose to play a different game at the last five years, says the viewer is the TV news professionals. Stories are that hour — a game that depends on same as for later newscasts “but has very coded and scored by Princeton Survey good humor and service delivered in a different expectations.” Research Associates. Nielsen Media Re- package with a thin veneer of news. In the age of 24-7 news access, does search ratings data are interpreted by Does quality sell in this time slot? this conventional wisdom still hold? Todd Belt, a doctoral candidate at the The results are inconclusive. In Detroit, Maybe not. Consider the growing popu- University of Southern California. For where all three stations received grades larity of no-nonsense Web sites, or busi- detailed information about the method- of “C”,the highest “C” (WJBK) had the ness-dominated networks like CNBC. ology and intercoder reliability, see our best ratings trend. In Birmingham the The truth is that money, not just website: www.journalism.org results were mixed: the best grade in viewer habits, also explains “morning town was a “D,” for WCFT, which had news lite.”

96 CJR November/December 2000 At 6 a.m. in most communities, the WGME’s 15 share. In most markets, the number of households using television strong ratings of NBC’s “Today” appear is about half of what it is at 6 p.m. and to give a major boost to the lead-in local 11 p.m. This means stations can charge Morning news is . . . morning fare. only a fraction as much for advertising But clearly WCSH is doing something spots in the morning; the difference can ✔ FAST-PACED: two-thirds of right beyond being on NBC. be as great as tenfold. At most stations, stories under 45 seconds WCSH’s general manager, Steve this translates into fewer resources for Thaxton, says his 6 a.m. is the most ✔ REACTIVE: only 2% of stories morning news than for evening news. “attuned” newscast, “well tailored to In last year’s study we reported on based on in-depth reporting Mainers.” And he proudly points to the the clear correlation between staff size ✔ “GLITZY”: more pop culture 90-plus share the station gets when it and news quality. Staff for writing and stories than other time slots goes into full “Stormcenter” mode dur- producing those early morning broad- ✔ CAUTIOUS: over 40% of sto- ing severe weather. He calls weather “the casts is generally bare bones. And, to ries about non-controversial ultimate news story” that helps build add to the producing problems, the and keep a high trust level. staff often includes many inexperi- events. But on most days, the 6 a.m. newscast enced team members willing to work ✔ CHEERFUL: more celebration, at this Gannett station is pretty standard in the middle of the night to get their how-to, and cooking fare — headlines, a day-old package, start in television. segments than anyone else. lots of weather and a CNBC business You get the picture: this small, often ✔ AVERAGE GRADE: C report. very hard-working group gets the There is one unusual element, a daily broadcasts on as best it can. It fills those four-minute, pre-packaged homily half-hours with rewrites of material produced by the nonsectarian First from the day before, updating with Radio Parish of America in the middle word changes here and there, but with- stories on ideas, issues, or policy. That’s of the newscast. WCSH, the market’s out the staff time to really improve or close to double the average in the over- traditional ratings leader, has been air- advance the material. And enterprise is all PEJ study. ing the “Daily Devotions” segment for the casualty of necessity. A classic exam- ■ WGME received an A for its range of decades. ple: one morning last February the top- topics. During the last decade, stations dis- ranked morning newscast, Maine’s ■ And 15% of WGME’s stories had covered that morning was one of the few WGME, kicked off with a high-quality three or more sources. That’s three time slots left with growth potential. background piece, clearly from the day times the average of all morning news Katz Media estimates that the morn- before, on a popular school superinten- shows reviewed and it matches the aver- ing audience has increased by about 20 dent who’d been killed several days ear- age of those in other time slots. percent in the last five years. But lier in an automobile accident. The next WGME’s 6 a.m. broadcast includes a Carroll, the programming consultant, morning’s update simply consisted of daily, live call-in segment co-produced notes that while many more viewers are giving the conditions of the others hurt with a local talk-radio team. The topics now turning on their sets, average rat- in the crash and the date of the memor- are generally about news stories that are ings for morning news have stayed just ial service. already generating local debate. We about the same. Of course if there is a big overnight heard segments on the high cost of Stations in at least three large mar- story, many of these early newscasts home heating oil, and the propriety of kets — Los Angeles, Chicago and New report it. And in the bigger markets the using the nickname “Redskins” for a York — have been successful with audi- early reporter will do a live shot. The high school football team. The segment ences by going to highly stylized and Fox station in Detroit, WJBK, covered a clearly gives voice to a variety of view- somewhat zany formats to meet the dramatic overnight robbery of two casi- points and underscores the station’s multiple demands of local morning no winners on their way home, with a commitment to cover issues with local news. These stations also bank on reporter live at 6 a.m. describing the relevance. attracting viewers beyond the tradi- action from one of the locations WGME’s news director, Ron Wolfe, is tional news watcher, people who like a involved. But more often than not, the on the same track as the news profes- little spice along with the information early reporter is re-packaging yester- sionals who put the PEJ scale together. I they need. day’s news. asked him what he thought would help Carroll says we should not be sur- At stations that don’t join network most to improve the a.m. ratings and prised if we see more non-traditional programming at 7 a.m. (like many Fox his answer was short and sweet: elements in the morning newscasts as stations), morning staff size is often larg- “Quality, quality, quality.” producers search for ways to “scrap for er. And some staff members work all day WGME, a CBS affiliate, may be doing attention” now that the arena is nearing preparing special material exclusively for a strong job of bucking the trend full size. He adds, “It’s not like the win- the next day’s morning show. But we saw toward “morning lite,” but it is strug- ners are already known.” little evidence of that kind of work in the gling in the ratings game against the eighty broadcasts studied here. local competition, WCSH, the NBC Susan Truitt, a 30-year TV journalist, WGME’s morning newscast in affiliate. This may be at least in part the successfully fought the local morning Portland stood above the others in this result of its network’s failure to come up news battle at WTTG in Washington as study for three reasons: with a viable early show. WCSH pulled a Executive Producer and Producer for 6 ■ The station focused 21 percent of its 55 share of the audience in February to years.

CJR November/December 2000 97 NEWS IN PRIME TIME What’s New At 10 p.m.? Not Enough. BY TOM DOLAN eporter Jaime Garza of KCAL in local news. It is surprising they are not Murphy, took a story most stations Los Angeles positioned his live used as primary storytellers in any of would air as a promo — the sexy Rshot in El Cajon Pass with care. the five markets we studied. All special appearance of the “7th Heaven” star Not only was it a scene-setter for the 10 reporting is handled by reporters. Jessica Biel in Gear magazine — and p.m. news, but it also helped to explain Stations may want to consider using showed good enterprise. Murphy’s visually the story of the day and let you anchors to report stories, build short well-written piece followed Biel’s transi- know tomorrow’s commute might be background pieces, or do those “smart tion from a minister’s daughter on a even worse in the fog. anchor tags” with useful follow-up WB family show — using file tape from Garza set up cones at 25-foot inter- information. They might even take an appearance at the toy store FAO vals to show the distance at which dri- advantage of a health or consumer Schwarz — to someone who does a sul- vers could see one another, in order to warning to simply stand at the key wall, try spread to change her image for dramatize the need to drive under 30 using graphics to explain why the geog- Hollywood. She made a WB station’s m.p.h to avoid collisions. That day raphy of a story may be important. “mandatory” piece on a WB program motorists who had been driving at twice into good journalism. that speed caused an enormous pile-up. NEWS OF THE DAY Garza showed how the news of the ORIGINAL REPORTING day could be made memorable, not a The study shows that primetime news rehash of the “6 p.m. newscast of programs often failed to use their extra WNYW: Although there appeared record.” Unfortunately, from what I see, time to initiate investigations, report on to •be little original reporting across the such imagination is too often lacking in investigations by others, or even conduct five cities, a couple of stations have primetime news. tough interviews. It also found that committed staff. New York’s WNYW As part of the Project for Excellence almost half of primetime news stories produced a good special report on con- in Journalism’s 2000 Study, we wanted were feed material or prearranged events tamination in packaged food at transit- to see how stations in selected markets covered with no on-camera personnel. stop restaurants. Reporters traveled to used their extra time to produce an You may want to look at “news of the three of New York’s major transit hubs hour of local news versus a traditional day” with stories angled in a more and documented the problems on cam- half-hour. I found newscasts that do not thoughtful way, one in which audi- era. But after one vendor challenged the take advantage of extra time for prepa- ences are able to recognize the enter- station to come back once he had ration to advance stories, and often fail prise. This would give viewers a clearer cleaned up his act, WNYW failed to to come up with new angles to impor- sense of differentiation among com- make clear whether it intended to do so. tant pieces, or to generate new material petitors, and certainly provide an When an allegation is aired, a journal- targeted to the primetime audience. opportunity to promote the top stories ist’s obligation is to follow up. Not Here are some exceptions, along with besides “they happened.” doing so can affect a station’s credibility suggestions for fresh approaches. In New York, WPIX, WWOR and with viewers. The station agrees it may WNYW all covered the latest in a rash have been “a missed opportunity.” GOING LIVE IN PRIMETIME of murder-suicides in the region as a WAGA: Atlanta’s WAGA also scored top story. They all appeared to be solid, low• for enterprise but did some good Virtually all markets in the country well-packaged stories. However, all individual stories. “Shocked,” by place a premium on immediacy and the three had live “wraps” with no pro- reporter Dana Fowle, exposed how importance of live reporting from the duced live element. Each seemed a case Atlanta is lax in policing street-lamp scene. This usually means reporters of the day’s events covered without sig- vandalism: many lamp pole covers are stand in the dark, or at a crime scene, nificant new detail. For example, no missing or hanging off their hinges, hours after the story has gone cold. It one went to the dead young man’s exposing live wires. This was a great doesn’t have to be that way. KCAL’s neighborhood to learn what may have story, well produced and well docu- Garza isn’t standing in an empty road. motivated him. mented. Fowle interviewed a Phila- His traffic cone demonstration effec- Stations with primetime news should delphia teen who had almost been elec- tively illustrates what to expect in the not only take advantage of the extra trocuted and then had an expert test the next morning’s fog. time within a newscast, they should also open “hot boxes” using a special device. employ the four-or-so-hour advantage But the station also undermined a ANCHOR ROLE IN they have over 6 p.m. news to produce good effort in two ways. It waited until more forward-thinking news. If the a short tag after a long story to tell the NEWSCAST story is strong enough to lead with, it viewer why these covers were missing: should be strong enough to do real vandals were stealing them to sell for Market research shows that anchors “team” reporting. scrap metal. It also teased the temporary are one of the top reasons people watch For example, a WPIX reporter, Mary solution for part two, when the impor-

98 CJR November/December 2000 tance of the story demanded more Motion,” or have local graphic artists treatment the same night. Primetime news is... animate topically driven weather news? WWOR: WWOR’s Joe Collum pro- You may want to think about producing duced• an I-Team piece to test the ✔ WELL-SOURCED: 1 in weather differently with an hour of N.Y.P.D.’s sensitivity program three stories have multiple prime news to give your viewers some- “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect.” sources, compared to thing value-added versus the traditional His key finding: twenty percent of half-hour format. callers to the police radio response unit 1 in 4 nationwide. Over 80% of the producers I inter- were told to call back. Some were treat- ✔ GENERIC: 30% of stories view say they watch the NBC “Nightly ed with anything but respect. A former are feed material. News,” in part because of Robert Internal Affairs officer posed, in one ✔ SENSATIONAL: full of Hager’s explainer pieces. They also instance, as a Hispanic caller. One stories on everyday crime appreciate the network’s pieces that policeman was overheard saying in focus on the impact of breaking news, and bizarre mishaps. response: “How come no matter what not just “what happened.” Whether it is ✔ color the soap is, the suds are always POPULAR: 60% are gaining news or weather, market research and white?” — a racist remark implying that viewers vs. 35% of traditional 25 years in local TV news show me that whites will always be in charge. The local news shows. viewers respond to unique content. department responded to the report by ✔ AVERAGE GRADE: C saying it would not tolerate this type of ORIGINAL CONTENT behavior by officers. Great assignment and handling by the station as well as Some stations try to offer an alterna- gutsy demonstration of enterprise. of Listerine and Viagra. WWOR dealt tive to the six p.m. newscast-of-record with the plight of Warner-Lambert’s approach. But these efforts seem super- SPECIAL TARGET SUBJECTS — company town, Morris Plains, N.J., con- ficial. KMSP in Minneapolis aired a six- trasting the fates of employees who minute segment of a kind many stations USEFUL TO MY LIFE would be laid off with the Warner CEO include to appear hip. “The Buzz” who stood to receive a six-million-dol- included scenes from a play opening in HEALTH: Most research points to lar golden parachute. town, the Disney character Tutter tour- health• as a beat that audiences value. WNYW uses a street.com expert to ing locally, Steven Spielberg having kid- With rare exceptions, stations in the do market analysis every night, a kind of ney surgery, clips from a band playing a study did not commit to it as an impor- play by play on where the market is benefit concert for missing kids as well tant segment. going after a post-mortem on the trad- as a series of movie trailers. The exceptions show the potential ing day. It’s helpful. The point of view is, If you are trying to brand a new prod- when a commitment is made. WNYW “A lot of people are making money, how uct, or trying to develop a new brand of did a good spot on ear infections from can you make money too?” localism, you may want to avoid simple the perspective of what parents should “cookie-cutter” program elements like watch for. WAGA investigated a product USING THE INTERNET these, or produce them with your own that promised breast size growth, but an material. Most of the video appeared to expert warned that tumors might grow National surveys find that many local be syndicated or handout. The station from the resulting estrogen stimulation. news viewers begin prime time by scan- says “The Buzz” is its segment to differ- Another expert stated there is no evi- ning their favorite Web sites. If you think entiate itself and show its “commint- dence the device works. Reporter of your potential late news audience in ment to the local arts scene.” Melissa Jue found that the manufactur- that way, you may be able to drive view- er’s biology degree is only honorary. ers from the Internet to your money seg- LOOKING FORWARD MANAGING YOUR MONEY: The ment. How are you addressing what three• most popular Web sites on the your viewers are doing before the news, Knowing it is up against primetime Internet in prime time are all money to drive them to your broadcast? news magazines and well-produced related. Meanwhile, viewing is up 20% Los Angeles’s KTLA addresses this entertainment, Fox’s KTVI, in St. Louis, for business networks CNBC, CNNfn, issue with a segment called “Kurt Smith, has just launched a newscast that will be and Bloomberg. WNYW and WWOR Cyber Guy.”One February series put the a “showcase show.” News Director Brad appear to be the only newscasts in the reporter in a converted bus to demon- Remington says it will utilize several study producing a segment on finance. strate how to survive for a week using special projects producers to deliver WWOR delivered a good enterprise only the Internet. He ordered food, sil- unique content, produced for the time story about Warner-Lambert’s merger verware and clothing and proved that period with a very local feel. The news- with Pfizer to form the world’s second- the Internet is so diverse you can literal- cast, Remington says, will go well largest pharmaceutical company. They ly live that way if you want to. beyond “the 6 p.m. news” and also tell sold it to a primetime audience with the the viewer what to expect tomorrow. So connecting copy: “You probably have WEATHER far, the early ratings look good. some of their products in your medi- cine cabinet, but how will the union of While the study does not grade for Tom Dolan is President of Dolan Media two big companies affect you?” weather, why not devote some time or Management. He has also been a vice The WWOR team made it relate by special treatment to weather explainers president at Broadcast Image Group and reporting on the merger of the makers like the syndicated product “Weather in News Director at WLS TV in Chicago.

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