The future of network TV news looks bleak, as reported in this New York Times article by Brian Stelter and Bill Carter. The news is that ABC News is closing all of it's news bureaus worldwide, except Washington, D.C. and trimming staff.
The money quote: “I just looked out at the next five years and was concerned that we could not sustain doing what we were doing,” said David Westin, the president of ABC News, as he explained the decision last week to jettison up to 400 staff members, a quarter of the news staff, in the coming months.
These are harsh and alarming cuts. Much like county revenues, the money from advertising, ratings and other revenue sources is just not coming in as in the past.
The fact is that news consumption has shifted from being an appointment part of our day (watch the evening news at 6:30, local news at 6 and 11) to getting news when it's convenient for us (Internet, our cell phone, e-mail alerts, etc.). We go get the news when we want it. I know for me, thanks to TiVo, I record the news programs I like (and some I don't like) and watch them at my convenience.
Also, Americans seem to care much less about international and important national issues and the big media tries to give the folks what they want to hang onto their readers and viewers. This results in bureau closings. Very unfortunate, but it's the reality.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jim Philipps is NACo's Media Relations Manager. He has worked in media and government communications inside and outside of Washington, D.C. for nearly 20 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment