ABC News to cut half its domestic correspondents, close bricks-and-mortar bureaus [Updated]

LA Times ^ | 09/07/2010 | Matea Gold

[OldDeckHand]

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.

[abb]

Apparently, much of AP’s so called journalism apparently comes from its customers. So as its customer base disappears, they will be more dependent on other “free/private” sources.

I have a couple of AP and UPI history books in my "to read" pile, so I'm not as educated on this as I should be.

The best I can tell of how the 'cooperative' deal between the AP and its subscribers works is that the AP is entitled to all original stuff from the members - news stories, photos, video, etc. Then the AP rearranges the paragraphs in the story, adds/deletes a few prepositions and then turns around and sells it back to the members.

The AP has a few reporters scattered around who do some original reporting sometimes. But the only thing going for them for so many years was their wire network that allowed information distribution among the members. Their own little internet, so to speak.

They're not long for this world.

[stumptalker]

Good points! Didn’t one of the networks just cut their ties to the AP in the last couple of months, I think it might have been CNN? I’ve always heard the service is rather expensive to subscribe to.

[stumptalker]

Speaking of the media, did you catch the gag story by Diane Sawyer last night where she was implying the world would be saved if each business hired at least one worker? And how many employees have all these networks canned in the last year?? BwwwwaaaaaHHHH!!

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the summary.

I haven’t watched ABCNNBCBS phoney news in over a decade.

Dianne has less math capability than most 2nd graders.

Then she forgot to tell about the blood letting in ABC News.

[Grampa Dave]

abb, thanks for your reply.

That is how I remember our photographer friend explaining how he, other photographers and writers for AP’s customers got shafted when AP took their product and made it their product.

[stumptalker]

What kills me is all the schmaltz this 67 year old multi millionaire prima dona smears on every story. If she is so concerned about some of the people in her stories, she should dig in to her own d*mn wallet to solve the problem and spare us her corny act.

[Grampa Dave]

Diane is a liberal actress pretending to be a news reader.

She does what her masters like George $oreA$$ tell her to do.

[abb]

One thing the dinosaurs are right about is that “reporting” has to start somewhere. Someone has to get the who, what, when, where, why and how. Someone has to take the pictures and shoot the video.

But I submit you or I or Milhous or just about any FReeper can do that very thing ourselves. We all can write, and we can take pictures and post them. We’ve been doing it for many years now.

That’s why I started my news blog and began covering local government meetings. In all modesty, I put my reportorial skills up against just about anyone in Louisiana.