The Future of the Television News Industry

Local newsrooms across the country have taken a blow lately due to the state of the economy as well as the growth of technology.

As a soon-to-be college graduate with a degree in this medium that seems to be falling apart, I can’t help but be worried. I traveled to Las Vegas to attend the RTNDA@NAB convention (Radio Television News Directors Association at National Association of Broadcasters convention).

Leaders from all parts of the country joined together to discuss everything broadcast news.

My first night there I sat in on a session called “Leading News Reinvention.” A panel of 5 discussed where the future of television was;

From left to right

• Kevin Roach: Vice President and director of U.S. Broadcast News for the
  Associated Press in Washington.
  
• Terry Heaton: Senior Vice President of Media 2.0 for Audience Research and
  Development in Fort Worth, Texas
  
• Lane Michaelsen: Director of the Information Center at WUSA-TV in
  Washington.
  
• Susana Schuler: Vice President of news for Raycom Media.
  
• Bob Papper: Professor in Hofstra University’s Department of Journalism

The presentation started with a video called EPIC 2015. It is what some predict the future of news and journalism to become.

“The news wars of 2010 are notable for the fact that no actual news organizations take part, googlezon and Microsoft faces off, enhancing their services week by week…using new algorisms, googlezons computers screen stories for names, places, images and other contextual cues isolating facts from quotes and turning statistics into flexible equations. Then googlezon re-sorts, re-calculates and re-combines these scraps with our information, our blog entries, our photos, our purchases, our lives. Suddenly news is more relevant than ever before.”

It was this that sparked the Manjoo the connection. While this is only two people’s interpretation of where news will be in the coming years, the way it is presented is very believable. That quote from “EPIC 2015” above is what selective exposure is all about. People can find whatever news they are looking for whenever they want it, with whatever spin of viewpoint they are looking for. And while this may infuriate news organizations and journalists, it is the basis of the uber-successful, money-making giant, Google.

Then the discussion began.


I’m sitting there listening to the majority of them speak of how gloomy the outlook was and then Mr. Papper chimed in with a completely different tone. He pulled up chart after chart of research proving his ideas, but the others had research to prove their points. As a worried student I wanted to believe Mr. Papper because he said T.V. is not going anywhere. It will always be the most popular medium.
I jotted down a list of terms to research on my own to make my own conclusion. Was Bob’s research a victim of selective perception? Were the other four distinguished professionals a victim to this?
My immediate thought was no way, that is impossible. These are trained news professionals; could they really be sucked into Manjoo’s theory?

Bob Papper started the discussion with some figures. He said 2008 saw a 4.3 percent drop in T.V. jobs; but he went on to say “T.V. isn’t in serious trouble.”

Sitting to his right, Jill Geisler opposes saying “TV is in trouble. Economy isn't everything. Advertising models have changed. Advertisers can reach people without TV.”


Now that is selective perception at its finest. They were looking at the same research, the same number but both had completely different take-aways.

This went on for a little over an hour. Everyone but Papper had a less than positive outlook for the local news business, but Papper stuck with his own views. “Before you give up on TV - look at the numbers, an average 18-24 spends 236.9 min per day watching TV.”

He argued that the eyeballs where still there, they were still watching the box in front of them, so maybe the problem is the content. Maybe the quality of local news is something undesired. Papper used that as the basis of what needs to happen for broadcasting to stay alive.

After listening to all of this and not knowing if I should feel relieved or panicked, I decided to put Manjoo’s selective exposure and perception to the test.

I am a soon to be college graduate feverishly searching for a job in the broadcast industry. I don’t want to hear that it is falling apart so I chose not to believe that. I see the signs differently. In fact I see the blogs and twitter and the new technology as an enhancement to local news. Just to support my argument I went on a search.

I opened Google and typed in “Bright future for Local T.V. News.”

Just as I suspected I am right.

Everything is fine. The industry will be fine and I have nothing to worry about. News Has a Bright Future; author says on CNET news tells me everything is fine. Author Steven Johnson has no worries.
"Many people are panicking as newspapers fail left and right, and as they see the likelihood that as a result, the crucial newsgathering role played by professional journalists will disappear with their dying employers. Said Johnson, yet the example set in technology journalism should give such pessimists something to feel good about."

Then I typed into Google, “bad future for local TV news,” and this is what I found;

Rosenblumtv.wordpress.com has a completely different story. While is spoke of the collapse of the traditional television news, it also offered some bright light to where it would go because “Local news is not dead, it is just going to change. A lot.”


So Manjoo and his theory of selective exposure and selective perception is really not a theory at all, instead it is fact.


There evidence everywhere.

So what do you believe?

Best of Blog 3

Sorry this is posted so late....enjoy anyway!

For my last Best of Blogs post I wanted to stay in the Tampa Bay area and read what people who live in the community are saying.

The first one I enjoyed was;

Sticks of Fire


Tommy Duncan started Sticks of Fire. He lives in Tampa and plays in a band that plays in many bay area nightlife hot spots. His blog covers everything from news and politics to entertainment, but they all focus on Tampa. After his blog kicked off he expanded and invited anyone from the community to write and he now has many contributors. Tommy is especially proud of breaking some local stories before the St Pete Times and The Tampa Tribune did.

The next local blog I picked was;

The Mouth of Tampa Bay

Confession- I don't usually read other people's opinions about restaurants but...my mom recently asked me to find a place for the family to go for dinner after graduation. I could care less about this and told her anything they wanted was fine...that was not good enough. So now, on top of trying to climb out of the pile of work I am stuck under I also have to find a restaurant the whole family will like, that is not too expensive, and still has reservations available for the night of graduation. So after all of that run-around...here is the blog...I like that t is broken down into categories on the left side and the post I found most useful was the top 100 restaurants...it gives you a list that you can categorize by area, cuzine etc and it tells you the price range...

The last local blog I picked was;

Tampa Bay Sports Blog

I'm sorry, I know you are not interested in sports (but its mostly what I read- I do want to be a sports reporter) but anyway, this blog is great. It is clean and wel organized. I love that they add pictures and videos to enhance the stories. I am also a fan of this one becuase it is not just dedicated to one team, they cover the rays, bucs, lightning, bulls, even the gators and the seminoles. Check it out!

Best of Blogs 2

Afghanistan My Last Tour
Most of you have or have had or at least know of Professor Temple. She has been my teacher and mentor for years. I met her husband a few months ago and he is such a great guy…he is also the first person I that I personally know to get called away on assignment from the military.

I see stories on the news about soldiers who died in Iraq or Afghanistan, seen stories about the hero’s who come back home, but never have I been this close to the source. I really respect and admire Professor Temple so when she posted Rex’s blog I had to read it.

He is still in the states training right now but will leave for Afghanistan for a 365-day tour soon. I see how Professor Temple feels, and I see the battle she is going through but it is also interesting to read Rex’s thoughts.


NewsBlues
Another blog that is GREAT is Newsblues.com. Just a bit of a warning, it is a little depressing, actually is you are hoping for a future in broadcast news it is really depressing. You have to pay to get the full stories and that is definitely a negative point but if you read the headlines you can at least get a feel for what’s happening in the business, not that most of you are looking into broadcast.


RazzBall
I know there is only one other sports fan in the room, but if you or anyone you know plays fantasy baseball, this blog will definitely keep you up to date. As a Mets fan I read all about the Mets all the time and watch Sports Center and Baseball Tonight for my other highlights, but razzball is a great blog to keep you in touch with the entire MLB, not to mention my fantasy draft is Sunday and I haven’t even begun any of my research!

Bob Ross

About a year ago Bob Ross was victim to the Media General layoffs. He is a well known movie critic and wrote for the Tampa Tribune for 21 years.

When Mr. Thelen told us we were going to hear from a movie critic, I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought of the stereotypical, mean, recluse. I thought he would be stuck on his opinions, thought it would he his way or no way. But I was wrong…

He definitely has his opinions about movies but he is very grounded and knows that everyone has a right to their own opinion.

“I had a position of false power,” said Ross, “Just because I write for a newspaper doesn’t mean my opinion is the only one or the best one.”

It was definitely interesting to listen to Ross talk about the future of movies. Since it is easy to download movies and watch them at their home theater with a wide screen T.V. and surround sound people are not inclined to pay for a ticket.

“3D IMAX version could save the theater from the online medium,” said Ross.

Before he left, he left us with one reminder,

“Anyone who writes for a newspaper and thinks they have power is delusional.”

Best of blogs

Blogs are everywhere and are about literally everything. No matter what subject matter you are looking for, I am sure someone somewhere is blogging about it. In fact blogs relate to Manjoo’s book Ture Enough. In it he talks about selective exposure, and the blogosphere feeds just that.

Here are some of the Blogs I like to follow;

Pajamas Media- I am actually new to reading this blog but it is hilarious and I now read it every day. It takes popular on many different fronts and stains them with sarcasm and humor. You can find world and U.S. news, Technology and Science, Money and Lifestyle. There is even a section dedicated to conservatives and all of the editorials they could ask for. While the stories are written in a conservative tone, they do lay out some serious facts. Politically I stand in the middle, but I really enjoy reading Pajamas Media.

Dumb Little Man- Another blog I like to read is Dumb Little Man. It is a pretty random blog with tips and how to articles on everything from how to lose weight and save money to what search engines are the best. I like the blog because it is completely random. They do break it down to categories if you prefer but the randomness is part of what makes “Dumb Little Man” appealing. It is also interesting because they write about things I don’t usually have the time to think about.

Then of course there is my favorite blog, Mets Blog. My whole reason for jumping into Broadcast Media and Reporting is because of the New York Mets. I follow them religiously and it might be a silly thing to be obsessed with but for me it is baseball and the Mets. Living in Florida and having been in Florida my whole life I always had to actively look for Mets information. With Mets Blog, Matt Cerrone updates the site multiple times a day so I am never behind on anything. Another thing I love about his blog is he usually links to New York Daily News reporter Adam Ruben’s Surfing the Mets blog. And one of the best features, Matt is live at all Mets games so as soon as the Press is given the line-ups (which is hours before the game starts) Matt posts it for all his loyal followers. But I do caution you, if you do not care about baseball, you will certainly hate his blog!

And I know we are only supposed to have 3 blogs, but I had to mention Fail Blog. It is great, if you ever thing our society is GREAT and on top of the world…look at this blog. It is great to see though pictures and videos how stupid people really are!

Political Reporting at its finest-Walter Mears

Deadlines. Instant News. 24-hour news cycle. Journalist in the newspaper and television industry are calling this process “new.” More so than that, there is also a “new” concern for credibility and truthiness in such a fast turn-around news environment.

But they couldn’t be more wrong. Walter Mears, now retired, worked in just that fashion for over 40 years as an Associated Press Reporter.

“In fact, Mears said [truthiness] is not new, it just exploded in the internet age.”

Thinking about it is overwhelming really. Here is this man standing in front of our Critical Writing class at 6:00 at night talking about all things journalism. I am listening to him and his stories and thoughts about newspapers and reporting and my thought started to wander a bit.

But then it hit me, I was sitting in front of a great man, a pioneer journalist. Mears covered 11 Presidential campaigns from 1960 to 2000. He even won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Carter-Ford race. This man is political reporting.

And with all that he is, and all that he represents I was most amused by his anecdotal stories about how newspapers used to be.

“There was a time when newspapers would plaster play by play of the World Series on the windows because no one could see it,” said Mears

That is astonishing to me. Today, forget about television, there are many avenues you can take to watch the World Series. You can get version of the old-style play-by-play plastering thought a countless amount of websites. You can get a video feed though mlb.com, you can even sit in on a live blog from a writer at the game. It is amazing how much things have advanced in just 50 years.

Mears also spoke a lot about the AP and its place in the newspaper world today as opposed to the 1950’s and 60’s when he first got his start.

He brought up things I never thought about. I read AP stories every day in the newspapers, but it never occurred to me that with the dying newspapers, AP would also be hurting. The wire does provide a valuable service to newspapers though.

“At one point there were close to 20 people from AP in Iraq,” said Mears, “No newspaper can afford to do that.”

AP is not going to disappear. Sure newspapers are in trouble but AP found a way to grow with the technology that has many journalist sacred for their jobs. It is easy. Move to the internet, that is where everyone seems to go for their news anyway.

“AP has figured out how to charge for the news,” Mears said. “They deliver to yahoo and google,” 2 of the biggest search engines.

But what I really took away from Walter Mears’ visit; journalism and reporting is here to stay. As Mears says, “News is disciplined information, striped away and boiled down.”

And that is not going anywhere.

Martin Fennelly

Martin Fennelly was by far the most enjoyable visitor all semester. When I started my Broadcast major, I wanted to be a sports reporter. That was it, nothing else.


Then the more involved I got with news and reporting in general, the more I came to love reporting of any kind, especially news. I loved that I could produce stories that meant something to someone somewhere.


I liked knowing that I could make a difference though storytelling, something I never had the pleasure of experiencing in sports.


So as I went though the classes I began to fight a battle, would I pursue sports reporting, which is fun and light and really has no importance or would it be news, where I could maybe make a difference?


Last semester being heavily involved in news, that was the path I was going to take, but this semester I swung back to sports and I know I will change my mind 1000 more times before I actually land a job.


It was great listening to Martin speak.


Yes he is a sports columnist but he says he just tells stories.


While talking about sports he said, “It doesn’t matter that much- but people matter.” That was important for me because telling sports stories is what I love but I sometimes talk myself out of it because it is not important and it does not matter.


What I took away from Martin’s comment was, no, sports don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things but the people, the athlete, and the story does matter. Martin said, “The great stuff in this business is the people stuff.”


I also found it interesting when he spoke about the persona of many athletes.


Fennelly said, “They are just people, but they are no way connected to reality.”


His anecdote about the ball players knowing he could have sex with every woman in the bar he was in was perfect for that point.


I have had some experience with this very notion, and the hardest part about admiring certain players that you loved all your life is covering them because you learn more about who they are, and most times they are not the stand out, great people you built them up to be.


I related to everything Fennelly discussed and my attention didn’t waver for the entire time he was on display. Usually my thoughts race and I can’t help but make to-do list after to-do list in my head, but not this time.


One more thing I absolutely loved about Martin Fennelly, he feels no need to conform! I love that he doesn’t follow the “dress code.” Slacks and ties are overrated. If I could land job reporting on television in jeans and a beat up hoodie, I would never wear a suit jacket another day in my life.