Posted on 03/01/2010 9:10:08 AM PST by george76
As part of the deep cuts announced this week at ABC News, the network plans to close all of its physical bureaus around the country except Washington and halve the number of its domestic correspondents.
ABC News President David Westin confirmed in an interview Friday that the network's ranks of bureau correspondents, which currently number several dozen, would be cut in half and be replaced with "digital" journalists who would be expected to shoot and edit their own stories.
Although the network will keep a minimal staff presence in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami and Boston, it will shut down its bricks-and-mortar bureaus there and ask its remaining employees to work from the local affiliates. The Washington bureau will remain open, but its size will be substantially reduced.
The mood was grim in Los Angeles, the largest bureau outside of Washington. The 40-plus staffers were told this week that only a few producers would remain and only two correspondents would be assigned to cover the West, down from a total of six
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
Flip-cam and a broadband connection = instant TV reporter.
If ABC was smart they’d just shut it all down and contract with Fox News for content. They’d pop up to #1 in < 1 year I’ll bet.
If the existing “news” organizations returned to real journalism instead of acting as naive cheerleaders for the socialist agenda ,they would have millions more viewers and readers .
hahahahahahahahahahahaha. great “news” organization...NOT.
What they need to ask themselves is: Why should people tune into ABC News? What distinguishes it?
Exactly.
I’ve always thought that the first nightly news that allows Rush Limbaugh to do a 2 minute editorial once a week will lead the ratings.
But they could do anything to distinguish themselves.
I want to see what happens when stations start dumping the network news in favor of more local news. I’m sure there will be a push to make it happen.
“Adios, Mo-Fo!” - Rick Perry, Current TX Gov.
I actually think their problems are much more profound than their ideological bias. The fact of the matter is the internet has killed traditional media, it's as simple as that. And, their problems have become increasingly exacerbated with these next-generation phones deliver content to the end user in ways never imagined just 15 years ago.
Young people don't watch television news, and don't read newspapers. But, they do surf the net, mostly on their laptops and increasingly on their phones. Until such a time that these content owners can figure out a successful revenue model for their virtual content, they're going to continue to suffer as their "paying" audiences dies off.
The Leftist propagandist tell us what they think we should hear. The percentage of people tired of listening to the same old dead drum beat ignore them and find other sources of news and entertainment. The Left ignores this fact and refuses to change with the times resulting in what we see today.
I encourage any Leftists propagandists reading this to please continue this trend and simply drive yourself out of business.
It is not simply the Internet but also the content of their broadcasts. If they had great content that the public wanted their ratings wouldn’t be nearly in the bucket as we are seeing now. Why do people choose Faux News over ABC, NBC, PMSNBC, or CBiaS?
Tears By Me Out The Heart.
... not to mention sites like Craig’s List have hollowed out the formerly lucrative classified section in most papers.
Right, but FNC doesn't have tens of millions of viewers - which is closer to what traditional broadcast media has lost the last 20 years. FNC only has a few million viewers, and they still have far fewer viewers than the 6:30 newscasts.
The Networks aren't bleeding viewers to FNC, they're just bleeding viewers.
I know we'd like to think that this problem for the networks and the newspapers is content-based. It's not (at least it's not that much). It's demographics. As the loyal network and newspaper viewers age (and die off) they're not being replenished by the younger viewer.
That's another great point. This has been a dwindling revenue stream, whereas at one time this accounted for up to 40% of the paper's top-line revenue in some markets. Again, the internet strikes a crippling blow.
when the stations start dumping the nework shows in favor of more local news-
Doubtful here- there is a one liner on local and then they go to national..tell you if you want local go to their website.
That “local” half hour is followed by the network half hour so you get a double dose of whatever they are spewing at the moment.
Thanks but no. They have not and will not figure out how to cut their losses with local news.
Network news is going the way of the Dodo Bird.
While I do not in anyway disagree with your premise, it does not and cannot explain the success of FOX.
The simple truth, is people will listen to what they want to hear. Where it comes from is irrelevant.
Well, thank god we’re in the middle of an economic recovery so you reporters have lots of good jobs waiting for you eh? :)
All they really need are a couple of fax machines to get the DNC and White House daily talking points and then some talking heads to tell the rest of us.
ABC and its brethren are merely the early form of insultainment. Today we have the freedom and depth of the internet and blogs. Why bother being insulted when you can practice the high art of elitism yourself? Once you have partaken of the art you quickly realize its very easy to do and requires no special education or talent. What a disappointment TV has turned out to be. A wonderful vehicle full of promise turns out to be nothing more than an idiot’s mirror. For proof of my claim I introduce Dan Rather. Need I say more?
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