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Contents

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FROM THE EDITOR

If one overriding theme has emerged since the last gathering of the Radio-Television News Directors Association in April 2009, it would have to be“incorporating digital.” It’s happening everywhere in professional journalism.

The most obvious evidence of that trend is in the new name theorganization adopted last year: the Radio Television Digital News Association.At once, both slightly and profoundly different.

As part of its new identity, the RTDNA recently put together its SocialMedia and Blogging guidelines to help members apply to digital journalism –

long tarnished by amateurism, irresponsibility and inaccuracy – a new-world version of the samecode of ethics long used in television news. As discussed in our story on Page 5, the AssociatedPress and the Society of Professional Journalists are also finding ways to deal with the challengesof maintaining the traditional notion of ethics in new media journalism.

But incorporating digital doesn’t stop with mere theory, as staffers in the newspaper and TVnewsrooms across the country have come to find.

Tom Petner discovers in his column on 4 that many TV station news directors are alreadywell into a TV-Web-mobile frame of mind. But as explored in our Page 4 story about majornetwork news layoffs, the realities of adapting to the new digital world have to some come the hardway: Both CBS News and ABC News have made deep cuts in their staffs, moving boldly toward“backpack video journalism” by consolidating traditional reporter and cameraperson roles.

It’s particularly significant that the RTDNA is now convening for the last time as an adjunctto the NAB convention, with plans in place to hold next year's conference in conjunction with theannual Society of Professional Journalists meeting. It’s yet another clear sign that as modernjournalism evolves, it’s more about the message than the means of delivering it.

—Tom Gilbert, Editor

CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

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NewsPro® is a registered trademark of CrainCommunications Inc.

FEEDS l 4In the wake of deep staff cuts at CBS News andparticularly ABC News, their newsrooms copewith redefined roles, fear and uncertainty.*RTDNA and other organizations expand theircodes of ethics to incorporate digital journalism.*J-schools lean toward Mac computers.

COVER STORY l 10NewsPro’s annual 10 Most Powerful in TV Newslist looks at the major players who are making adifference in the television news game.

RTDNA@NAB l 18The Radio Television Digital News Associationassembles in Las Vegas for its annual conferencewith an agenda topped by helping members dealwith the fallout of a tough year. *A guide to trends and new product introductionsat the National Association of Broadcastersconvention.

SIGN OFF l 34A surprising number of news directors at localstations have embraced the three-screen strategy,readily targeting news for on-air, online andmobile consumption.

BUSINESS l 28NEWSMAKERS l 33ONLINE l 32TECHNOLOGY l 30

Beyond the Digital Crossroads

np06.qxp 4/5/10 12:33 PM Page 1

4 | NewsPro | April 12, 2010

Feeds INFORMATIONAND ANALYSISFROM THEWORLD OFPROFESSIONALNEWS

employees, and the Tel Avivbureau was left with just oneproducer. Even the vaunted “60Minutes,” which has been sparedthe brunt of a series of personnelcutbacks over the past few years,is losing some staffers.

Severe CutsJust weeks later, ABC Newsannounced a much more severe

*

By Hillary AtkinIt was a one-two punch that sentshockwaves through thetelevision news industry — agrim reality check of the humantoll that cost-cutting measures aretaking in these recessionary times.

In early February, CBS Newsannounced that it would onceagain trim staff, and although nonumbers were confirmed, thelayoffs reportedly affect 90 to 100people, roughly 7 percent of theCBS News work force, mainly atits broadcast headquarters in NewYork and at its Washington,London, San Francisco and LosAngeles bureaus. The LosAngeles Times reported that theMoscow bureau was closed downwith the dismissal of its three

downsizing, perhaps the steepestever at a network news division.No formal numbers were given,but it’s estimated that as manyas 25 percent of the roughly1,500 network news employeesmay be out of a job by the endof this year.

ABC News President DavidWestin, who announced thecutbacks in a memo to staffers,

said they were an attempt to copewith economic pressures on thebusiness, which has suffered fromaudience erosion and advertisingrevenue shortfalls.

“The time has come torethink how we do what we aredoing,” he said in the memo.“These are forces larger than anyof us — business forces, just therealities of broadcast versusdigital, as well as financial forces,given the advertising market.”

Not a Surprise“There’s no doubt we all sawsome cutbacks coming becausethe news product is tied toadvertising,” said Judy Muller,who worked as an ABC Newscorrespondent for 15 years and isnow a journalism professor at theUSC Annenberg School forCommunication and Journalism.“The ones who are doing alrightare public broadcasters, whonever relied on that model, orNBC, which put some of its eggsin cable.”

According to an ABC Newsemployee who requestedanonymity, all staff memberswere given the option to acceptbuyout offers by the end ofMarch, and depending on howmany people opt out of their jobs,further cuts will made.

“There’s a real nervousnessamongst the staff, and it’s allanybody can talk about because ofthe uncertainty of not knowingwho is going to lose their jobs,”said the staffer, who is not takinga buyout. He said Westin heldseveral open forums with staffmembers to discuss the situationand told them the transitionalperiod would last through theend of the year.

Many news staffers are alsobeing asked to do more than onejob. A crop of so-called “digi-journalists,” who shoot, edit,write and report, will replacemany of the laid-off

NETWORK NEWS

CutbacksRoilMajorNewsOperations

“Not only are they askingveteran reporters to shootand edit, but also to take asignificant pay cut.”

-Jason Samuels, New York University-

ABC NEWS IS BEINGHARD HIT BY LAYOFFSTHIS YEAR.

April 12 NewsPro Feeds:Template 4/4/10 8:53 PM Page 1

network news was its highlyexperienced journalists, andalthough many high-profile“stars” are in no danger of losingtheir jobs, their lesser-knowncolleagues will be greatly affectedby the cutbacks.

“What’s clear is the rise ofbackpack video journalists,” saidJason Samuels, associateprofessor of journalism at NewYork University and a formersenior producer at ABC News.“In many ways, it’s somewhat ofa young person’s gig. Runningaround all day to do the job offour people is physically taxing.A lot of more experienced peoplemay not be up for it. That’s a realissue that may not be talkedabout — it will have an impact.”

There’s also concern amongthe ranks about the issue ofincreased work for less pay.

“Not only are they askingveteran reporters to shoot andedit, but also to potentially take asignificant pay cut,” Samuelssaid. “He or she is competingwith younger folks not expectingthe same pay. That’s a reality.”

Another factor that has yetto play out is the fact that it’s arare journalist who excels atmultiple aspects ofnewsgathering.

“If you’re wearing so manyhats, it’s going to take longer, nomatter how experienced youare,” said Deborah Potter, aveteran reporter who worked atCBS News and CNN and isnow executive director ofNewslab.org. “It isn’t just TV—changes are being asked acrossthe board [in journalism]. Theycould be terrible and terrific. Puta camera in the hands ofsomeone not professional andyou could get yourself in trouble.You could also find someonereally talented. I’m still reservingjudgment, but it doesn’t make iteasier to work in any of thosenewsrooms.”


correspondents, according toWestin, who also said thenetwork would cope withreduced manpower on breakingnews stories by employing morefreelancers — although a majorityof stories will still be covered bytraditional four-person crews.

“Some of what David Westinis advocating isn’t alarming orevolutionary,” said the ABCNews staffer, who said thatphysically shutting down somebureaus — as has been reportedbut not confirmed by newsexecutives — won’t harm newsproduction. “Why aren’t weutilizing the real estate of ouraffiliates? Why aren’t we havingreporters working at home with alaptop and a cell phone? Add acamera and producer and you canstill make TV.”

Assessing the FalloutYet experts are questioning howall the changes will affect thenewsgathering process. “Theramification is the public will notget the kind of coverage it is usedto from veteran correspondents,producers and camera people,”said Muller. “If there is a majorearthquake in Los Angeles, andyou’ve got two video journalistscovering the West Coast — goodluck with that.”

With experienced personnelat bureaus being put out topasture and others beingparachuted in, she said that it’snot only breaking news coveragethat may suffer.

“When you live in a place,you’re more apt to report itcorrectly and fairly and to knowthe people,” Muller said. “Thoseof us based in the West, we knowthe issues: water, the environment— all the things that matter thatmay not matter to New Yorkers.At some point, the pyramidcollapses when you don’t have theground troops.”

What long differentiated

INTERNET

TweetingNews WithTraditionalEthicsBy Dinah EngSocial media has changed theway news is delivered, andjournalists are moving to ensurethat ethical practices tailoredfor bloggers, Facebook andTwitter media users reflect thesame ethical principles at thecore of traditional journalism.

RTDNA CodeThe latest organization toaddress the issue is the RadioTelevision Digital NewsAssociation (RTDNA), whichhas supplemented its widelyused Code of Ethics withguidelines to address reachingaudiences through social mediaand blogs.

Stacey Woelfel, chairman ofRTDNA, said the organizationbegan talking about the socialmedia guidelines early last year.

“Everything’s so new and

complex, so we brought inseveral people to work on it,including Al Tompkins(broadcast/online group leaderat The Poynter Institute), whohelped us bring it all together,”Woelfel said. “The guidelinestalk about truth and fairness,and how it’s reflected in socialmedia; how we Tweet or text,

and use it in newsgathering. Itlooks at how we can better ourtransparency with the audience,so that they can see how we

cover the news.”Just as RTDNA changed its

name (from the RadioTelevision News DirectorsAssociation) to serve all thosein electronic media, theguidelines were designed toencompass all electronic mediaas well.

“If there’s any challenge to

“We wanted to writeguidelines with real worldapplications today.”

-Stacey Woelfel, RTDNA

LOU FERRARA, AP

ANDY SCHOTZ, SPJ

April 12 NewsPro Feeds:Template 4/4/10 8:53 PM Page 2

managing editor for sports,entertainment, lifestyles andinteractive for The AssociatedPress, oversees the socialnetwork arm of the editorialdepartment. He said the APhas ongoing conversations withemployees about social mediaguidelines as issues come up.

“A lot of companies getcaught up in creating newpolicies and reinventing thewheel with disruptivetechnology,” Ferrara said. “The

challenge is social media is farmore of a two-wayconversation with our audience,so we are having to look at itdifferently. We want our staffengaged in the way people areconsuming content, but stillstick to journalistic principles.”

For example, AP staffershave been told that re-Tweeting Tweets may bepermissible if accounts areverified and messages are notoffensive, but Tweets shouldnot be repeated if theoriginating account-holderdoesn’t own the copyright tothe material. When staffersblog, the content must gothrough an editor before beingposted.

For as Shepard notes,“Journalists need to rememberthat other people see what youdo in the digital world. Theonly real thing journalists haveis their credibility.”


Feedsthis, it’s that things are going tokeep changing,” Woelfel said.“We may reach the point in ayear or two where people won’tuse Twitter anymore, andsomething new will comealong. We wanted to writeguidelines with real worldapplications today, but whichare open to change.”

Guidelines NeededAlicia Shepard, ombudsmanfor NPR, teaches a mediaethics class at GeorgetownUniversity, and said very fewnews organizations have dealtwith the issue of ethicalguidelines for digital media.

“Many news organizationsare in trouble because theydon’t have ethical guidelines fordealing with a digital world,”Shepard said. “Mostorganizations have codeswritten in the mid-1990s.Journalists are starting newfrontiers every day withFacebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.”

Shepard said NPR’s NewsSocial Media Guidelines were

posted last October to addressNPR employees’ usage of socialnetworking sites and blogging.

“Whatever the ethics codesare in the legacy media, theyshould be used in the digitalfrontier,” Shepard said. “Thebiggest problem I see is that thedifference between personaland professional gets confused.

“If you’re going to be ajournalist and use Facebook,you have to decide if it’s goingto be a personal or professionalvenue. Are you doing anythingthat’s going to imperil yourcredibility, or your company’scredibility?”

She said another ethicalquestion journalists must faceis, just because technologyallows you to do something,should you do it? For example,it’s now possible to go onlineand get the names of jurors ona trial, or people who havelicenses to own firearms.

‘Cesspool’ of Information“Should newspapers put up adatabase link to the names?”she asks. “There’s a cesspool ofinformation out there, and itbecomes critical to decidewhat’s good, solid information.There should be guidelines forusing Facebook, since it’s sowidely used. Don’t put yourpolitical views on it. If you’recovering a campaign, friendboth sides of the campaign.”

Andy Schotz, chairman ofthe Society of ProfessionalJournalists (SPJ) EthicsCommittee, said SPJ will belooking at its Code of Ethicsthis year to see whetherchanges are needed to addresssocial media usage.

“RTDNA seems veryspecific in treating social mediaas a phenomenon on its ownwith special guidelines,” Schotzsaid. “I think the SPJ principlesstill apply, whether it’s forprint, broadcast or online, andhowever technology evolves.There’s a wealth of differentways to interpret the principles,depending on thecircumstances.”

Schotz said individual newsorganizations have toestablished their own codes ofconduct, and perhaps a similarapproach can be taken withsocial media. “One newsroommay not want their newsreporters to have a blog, andothers may encourage it,” he said.

Issue by IssueLou Ferrara, vice president and

“Mostorganizationshave codeswritten inthe mid-1990s.”

-Alicia Shepard, NPR

ALICIA SHEPARD, NPR

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April 12,2010 | NewsPro | 7

software so they could actuallylearn how to do things, so that when they go out intothe field they will be able to do what’s expected ofthem.”

EDUCATION

J-SchoolsMaking MacLaptops aRequirement

THERE IS A TREND INJOURNALISM SCHOOLS TOWARDREQUIRING MAC COMPUTERS.

By Allison J. WaldmanJournalism schools appear to be taking sides inthe ongoing Mac-versus-PC debate, and Maclooks to have the edge.

Based on the fact that Apple Computer’sMac products are the industry standard inmost art departments and production houses,schools are choosing Apple products asrequired tools for students.

The University of Florida, for instance, hasdecided to ask all incoming students in thedepartment of journalism to have as basicequipment a MacBook, a camcorder and adigital recorder. The price for all that is around$1,500, but it is a cost the school has determinedis a necessity, as much as the price of text books.

Required at UFAccording to William McKeen, department ofjournalism chair at the University of Florida,“We’ve been talking for years about a laptoprequirement. We could never agree on itbecause part of it was economic. We didn’t wantto be a program just for rich kids. But the pricesare such that we could have an equipmentpackage as part of our requirement for being amajor in our department. That’s importantbecause it’s not a university requirement; it’s justa requirement in the department of journalism.”

Practical ChoiceThe choice of the Apple laptop instead of a PCwas purely practical. “The MacBook seemed tohave the software that we thought our studentsshould be able to use,” McKeen said. “It’shaving an effect on our college, because nowthe other departments have to decide whetherthey want the same sort of packages.” Thepublic relations department at UF is also poisedto go all-Mac, he said.

But the University of Florida isn’t alone inchoosing Mac. “We had a model in theUniversity of Missouri school of journalism,”said Mindy McAdams, a UF professor who’dbeen part of the curriculum panel that made thedecision to designate Macs. “What we’re doingis not cutting-edge. We agreed that students hadto have a laptop and they had to have the

np06.qxp 4/5/10 11:26 AM Page 2


NEWSPRO Q&A

CBS News’ Steve Kroft: Emmys,Peabodys and Now a Paul White

Following in the footsteps of five current andformer “60 Minutes” colleagues before him, SteveKroft will be honored with the Paul White Awardat this year’s RTDNA convention. The awardrecognizes an individual’s lifetime contribution toelectronic journalism.Kroft, 64, started his journalism career in the

Army, when he was drafted for service in theVietnam War after receiving his undergraduatedegree in communications from SyracuseUniversity in 1967. He got the TV bug whiletaking crews to the front while assigned to theinformation office of the 25th Infantry Division,and later reported for Stars and Stripes. Afterleaving the service in 1971, he worked for WSYR-TV in Syracuse, got his master’s degree fromColumbia University’s Graduate School ofJournalism, and reported for two Florida stationsbefore joining CBS News as a New York City-based reporter in 1980. After a promotion tocorrespondent and stints at CBS’ Dallas, Miamiand London bureaus, Kroft was named acorrespondent on the newsmagazine “West 57th” in1986, jumping to “60 Minutes,” with his colleagueMeredith Vieira, in 1989 when “West 57th” wascanceled.

Steve Kroft receives the Paul White Awardat this year’s RTDNA convention.

He’s remained at “60 Minutes” ever since. Hisexclusive interview of Bill and Hillary Clinton in1992, following allegations of marital infidelity onthe part of the then-presidential candidate,brought him to prominence. His work has wonfive Peabody Awards, two duPonts and 10Emmys. In 2008, he landed the first interviewwith Barack Obama after his election to president. He recently discussed his career with NewsPro

correspondent Elizabeth Jensen.

NewsPro: You were off serving in the Army at atime when many of your storied ‘60 Minutes’colleagues were also in Vietnam, making theirnames with their reporting. Did you ever cross pathswith them? What did you learn from your militaryservice, if anything, that served you later in yourcareer?

Steve Kroft: I ran into Morley very briefly in CuChi in 1970 where I was assigned to the 25thInfantry Division’s information office. He doesnot remember, but his mere presence scared thedaylights out of all the brass. I’m sure they musthave had something to hide. I learned a lot from my experience in the Army.

It gave me a sense of discipline, and anopportunity to watch some great reporters inaction. When I joined Stars and Stripes later in mytour, I got the chance to cover the biggest story ofmy generation.

NewsPro:You had already done war reporting andlocal reporting when you went back to get a master’sdegree in journalism. Why did you decide you neededmore training that you couldn’t get on the job?

Kroft: I knew I wanted to become a networkcorrespondent eventually, and thought a year inNew York at Columbia would improve mycredentials if, and when, the opportunity presenteditself. I also wanted to learn from the great FredFriendly who was a professor there and becamemy first mentor. It turned out to be a greatdecision.

University of Missouri doesn’trequire students to choose Macs,butrecommendsit.

Apple OK in Oklahoma In the mass communications

department at Oklahoma CityUniversity, Apple products are alsothe computer of choice. Rod Jonesof the school’s media relationsdepartment said, “We provide threecomputer labs for our students andall of these contain Mac computers.However, students are not requiredto purchase (Macs). We simplyprovide Mac computers becausethey are the industry standard.“The majority of newspapers,

magazines, graphic design firms,advertising agencies, PR firms,broadcast production companies,stations, etc. use the Macintoshplatform,” he added. “We have used Mac products

for almost 25 years. We are onlytrying to educate our students onthe platform they’ll likely use intheir media careers, especially inthe creative media arts.”

Feeds

The American Copy EditorsSociety’s 14th annual conferencewill take place April 15-17 at theLoews Hotel in Philadelphia.Sessions at the event will

address such topics as ethics,social media strategies, freelanceoptions, health care editing andpolitical editing.ACES’s Glamann Award,

recognizing achievement in thecraft of copy editing, andRobinson Prize, awarded forcontributions to the industry,will be presented at a banquetApril 16.

-- Tom Gilbert

TRADE GROUPS

ACES toConvene

FINAL FEEDS Pt. 2.1:Template 4/4/10 9:09 PM Page 2

April 12,2010 | NewsPro | 9

NewsPro: ‘60 Minutes’ has been one of the rareshows that survived a transition from a veryheavy-handed founder, Don Hewitt, to a newleader, Jeff Fager, and it has actually thrived. Wasthere ever a time when you felt the future of thefranchise was in doubt and to what do youattribute the successful transition?

Kroft: I think everyone at ‘60 Minutes’ wasconcerned about what might happen when DonHewitt and Mike Wallace eventually steppedaside. The transition was handled very adeptly byLes Moonves and the CBS News management.The addition of ‘60 Minutes II’ to the scheduleallowed Jeff Fager to run a shadow ‘60 Minutes’for a number of years and develop some youngertalent like Scott Pelley and a cadre of producers,who would eventually join the mother ship. Theinfusion of new talent energized the operation,and Jeff’s leadership has been brilliant.

NewsPro: Now that Mike Wallace has retired andMorley Safer has moved to part-time, you are thesenior member of the ‘60 Minutes’ reportingteam (not counting commentator Andy Rooney),after being the ‘baby’ for so long. Will you befollowing in the footsteps of some of yourcolleagues and working into your 80s?

Kroft: No. Don, Mike and Andy were and arefreaks of nature.

NewsPro: The prominent platform of the PaulWhite Award has often been used by honorees as anoccasion to rally the industry to a higher standard.Not to put too much pressure on, but give us apreview of what you plan to say.

Kroft: As of this writing, I am just beginningto think about it. I know I will address, insome way, the challenges journalism faces inthis very difficult economic climate, and whatchanging technologies mean for the future ofour profession.

NewsPro: Are you optimistic or pessimistic aboutthe future?

Kroft: Generally, optimistic. Journalism is tooimportant to disappear, but someone is going tohave figure out new and effective ways to pay forit as new technologies continue to evolve.

np06.qxp 4/5/10 11:35 AM Page 3

10COVER STORY

It’s time again to name NewsPro’s 10 Most Powerful in TV News. This year there’s an unseen puppeteer pulling the strings behind thescenes. Call him (or her) Moneybags. Or Wall-E Street. Or Quarterly Profit Mistress. By any name, the economy rightfully belongs at thetop of the list as the most powerful force that has been reshaping the TV news business in the past year.

Two of the Big 3 network news divisions have announced large layoffs in recent weeks, as corporate masters try to keep the profit marginsup. The third is expected to soon find itself with a new owner, as a result of the Wall Street-driven push to media consolidation.

Local newscasts have disappeared in some cases; in others, stations are adding newscasts but not personnel, and everyone is working longerhours for less pay, with fewer resources. Local television ad revenue fell 22 percent in 2009, triple the decline of the year before, according to


April Top Ten NewsPro2:Template 4/4/10 9:14 PM Page 1

10APRIL 12, 2010 | NewsPro | 11

MOSTPOWERFULIN TV NEWS

Industry StandoutsNavigate a CoursePlagued by theEconomy, Layoffs andRatings Declines

By Elizabeth Jensen

the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Local late news ratings also dropped, as did local stations’ early evening news and morning news ratings. Collectively, the network

newscasts’ ratings also continued to decline — down 2.5 percent in 2009 for the Big 3, PEJ reports, to an average 22.3 millionviewers each night. Ditto for the network morning shows, down 2.4 percent to an average 12.8 million people.

Both numbers dwarf cable news’ collective numbers, but the trend is in cable’s favor. PEJ reports that median prime-timeviewership for the three main cable news channels grew 7 percent in 2009 to 3.88 million, and daytime rose 16 percent, to 2.16million. Add in the growth in online news usage, and it’s clear where this business is headed.


NBC News continues toroll along, its “Today” showand “NBC Nightly News

With Brian Williams” easilymaintaining first place in theirrespective time periods. At a timewhen the collective networkevening newscasts continue to loseground, “Nightly News” was theonly one of the Big 3 to add

12 | NewsPro | APRIL 12, 2010

MOST POWERFUL IN TV NEWS

Last year, there were plentyof pundits willing tospeculate that Fox News

was going to have a hard timethriving in a world where BarackObama was president and a newspirit of bipartisanship had arrived.But that feel-good moment wasfleeting as partisanship is moreintense than ever. And Fox? It justhad a record year followed by aneven stronger first quarter.

The network ended 2009 withan average 2.2 million total viewersin prime time, up 7 percent year-to-year, and a total day average of1.2 million, up 13 percent, whichwas the most total viewers in its 13years on the air. Results wereequally strong in the keydemographics, which was good

2

1

Steve CapusPRESIDENT, NBC NEWS

Phil GriffinPRESIDENT, MSNBC

Mark HoffmanPRESIDENT, CNBC

Roger AilesCHAIRMAN AND CEO,

FOX NEWS, AND CHAIRMAN,

FOX TELEVISION

STATIONS GROUP

news for parent News Corp.Analysts estimate that the unit willbring in $700 million in operatingprofit this fiscal year, according toThe New York Times.

While opinion shows such as“The O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity”and“GlennBeck”certainlytoppedthe ratings, the network’s straightnewsshowsalsoperformed,asBretBaier settled into Brit Hume’s oldslot, and Shepard Smith keptchugging along.

Meanwhile, Ailes and histeam also seem to be makingprogress with the thorny FoxBusiness Network. The arrival ofJohn Stossel from ABC’s “20/20”is drawing viewers on Thursdaynights. And there has been a stringof big-name hires, includingCNBC’s Charlie Gasparino andGerri Willis, formerly CNN’spersonal finance editor. None ofthem likely came cheap, but themoves may help finally put thenetworkontheratingsmap.

viewers in 2009. Likewise, CNBChas remained steady.

MSNBC, meanwhile, movedinto second place in 2009. Thatwasn’t because of its own gains —the prime-time lineup actuallydropped 3 percent year-to-year inits key 25-54 demographic with anaverage viewership half that of FoxNews — but because CNNdropped more. And the strengthat the network is concentratedalmost entirely in prime time. Itsdaytime lineup went through yetanother shakeup at the beginningof year, away from opinion andback to straight news. Still, thenetwork has NBC News as thefinancial cushion that ABC andCBS don’t have.

There are other chinks in thearmor, including “Meet the Press,”which appears vulnerable underDavid Gregory after years ofdominance with the late TimRussert at the helm. And a majorunknown remains just a re -gulatory-approval away, whenComcast gets the go-ahead fromWashington to close on its deal totake control of NBC Universal.

So the power at NBC Newsthis year may lie with ComcastCOO Steve Burke. Then again,with NBC’s serious prime-timewoes and a money-losing WinterOlympics behind it, NBC News— which had its major cutbackstwo years ago unlike ABC andCBS — is one of the few areas ofthe company that he doesn’t needto worry about for the moment.

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np06.qxp 4/5/10 11:47 AM Page 4


10np0034.qxp 4/1/10 1:05 PM Page 1



CBS Sports pulled in thelargest audience intelevision history with its

Super Bowl XLIV coverage, its106.5 million viewers dethroningthe 1983 final episode of“M*A*S*H.” That accomplish -ment didn’t distract McManusfrom keeping a firm hand onCBS News, however. Thedivision continued to haveanother stable year; although itsgains were few, it didn’t losemuch ground, either.

“CBS Evening News”remains in third place, as does“The Early Show.” But “60Minutes” remains the highest-ranking news broadcast; “CBSSunday Morning” has been infirst place for more than a year;and “48 Hours” is a very reliablecontributor of revenue to thebottom line. There have onlybeen a couple rounds of the once-

Jon KleinPRESIDENT, CNN / U.S.

Sean McManusPRESIDENT, CBS NEWS AND CBS

SPORTS

Ken JautzEXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,

CNN WORLDWIDE,

RESPONSIBLE FOR HLN

CNN actually had moreviewers in 2009 than in2006 or 2007 (although

not the election year of 2008).Sister network HLN’s prime-time ratings jumped 9 percentfor the year to its best numbersever. The company’s profitsgrew by double digits, to thehighest level in its history, evenas it added employees and madesignificant investments — inprogramming for CNNInter -national and HLN, a redesignedCNN.com, a popular iPhoneapp, and on the main domesticnetwork with the launch ofSunday’s “State of the Union.”The investment has continuedthis year, with John King takingover the 7 p.m. slot kicking offprime time. CNN by far topsMSNBC and Fox News indigital usage.So why does it feel as though

the place is falling apart? Perhapsbecause one of those majorinvestments was for a new dailyCNNInternational show for thebrand’s best-known worldwideon-air personality, ChristianeAmanpour, who less than a yearinto her new show is bolting forABC News’ “This Week.” Orbecause even in the first quarter,when Anderson Cooper, one ofits highest profile stars, turned inwhat is sure to be award-winningwork from the scene of theHaitian earthquake, his 10 p.m.show dropped 42 percent inviewers year to year, and oftenfinished behind MSNBCrepeats. And for the first time,CNN in 2009 finished in thirdplace in the prime-time ratings.In the 25-54 demographic, itwas down 9 percent from 2008.That leaves a lot riding on JohnKing’s new 7 p.m. show.

3

4

regular rumors that “EveningNews” anchor Katie Couric wasready to bolt when her contractexpires next year. Layoffs of about100 in the winter were dwarfed bythose of ABC.Also on Sunday mornings,

McManus’ success a few yearsback in convincing Bob Schieffernot to retire has paid off. “Facethe Nation” on Sundays hasmoved solidly into second place inviewers and at times challenges orbeats NBC’s “Meet the Press” inkey demographics. Outsiders are taking note, as

well. CBS News was the only oneof the three broadcast networks totake home a duPont Award thisyear, and in fact it took hometwo. One was for the alreadymuch-honored Couric interviewof Sarah Palin. The other was fora pet project of McManus, thedivisionwide “Children of theRecession,” which revived theprestigious “CBS Reports”mantle to examine the impact ofthe economic crisis on children.

Jim WaltonPRESIDENT, CNN WORLDWIDE


APRIL 12, 2010 | NewsPro | 15

The real news/faux newsdivide keeps getting nar -rower as the years go on,

and Jon Stewart continues to bethe bridge-builder at “The DailyShow.” On every news story ofsignificance, Stewart is right therewith a video compilation or wrycommentary, puncturing balloons.

His decision in February toengage with his sometimesnemesis Bill O’Reilly on the latter’sFox News Channel show was oneof his occasional seemingly

Westin has done a yeo -man’s job trying to spin therecent massive cutbacks in

his division — some 300 to 400 ofthe staff of 1,500 — into a boldvoluntary move to a brighterdigital future. Will there be apayoff down the road? We won’tknow for some time and he couldvery well be right. But for the nearfuture, it’s hard not to be unsettledby the sheer size of the cuts and thenear certain shaking-out period tocome, as the remaining staffattempts to recalibrate their

working routines to reflect theabsence of what could be nearly 25percent of their colleagues.

It’s been a year of transition forABC News, and not all of itsuccessful. Diane Sawyer hassettled in to “World NewsTonight” after the retirement ofCharlie Gibson, and Westin wasable to persuade a reluctantGeorge Stephanopoulos to takeher “Good Morning America”role, where he appears to besettling in nicely. But ratings forboth shows are down compared toa year earlier. Stephanopoulos’ oldanchor chair at “This Week”remained empty for months,leaving the show, which waspulling in its highest numbers inyears and challenging NBC for topplace, adrift with a rotating cast ofsubstitutes. That situation hasbeen remedied now with thearrival of CNN’s ChristianeAmanpour, but she doesn’t startuntil August.

Jon StewartHOST OF COMEDY CENTRAL’S

“THE DAILY SHOW”

5

David WestinPRESIDENT , ABC NEWS

6

calculated ventures into the real-world realm. He’s done it in thepast — his 2004 appearance onCNN’s “Crossfire” in which heattacked the hosts as “partisanhacks” comes to mind — but thisforay felt different. O’Reilly was on“The Daily Show” followingPresident Obama’s election, butStewart last appeared on “TheO’Reilly Factor” in 2004. Thistwo-parter — with an uneditedversion of the entire exchangeposted on the Web — felt like ameeting of equals.

Stewart’s appeal to a youngeraudience means he finds much ofhis audience not on TV but on theInternet the next morning. Willthe absence of “The Daily Show”from Hulu hurt it, followingViacom’s decision to pull itsprograms from the platform?More likely it will be the otherway around. Stewart’s influence inthe news universe seems only onthe upswing.

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np06.qxp 4/5/10 11:48 AM Page 5



ABC’s daytime talk show“The View” represents agrowing phenomenon in

TV news. Like “TMZ,” anothersuch hybrid, it bills itself asentertainment but increasingly hasa news agenda that others aretaking note of. “The View” hasn’thad the news home run that“TMZ” did when it broke thestory of Michael Jackson’s death,but its roundtable talk is becomingincreasingly political, a far cryfrom the fashion, celebrity andrelationship issues that oncedominated the show, now in its13th year.

To look at the listings, itwould appear that nothing haschanged. Justin Bieber! PaulaDeen! Danielle Steel! But as theL.A. Times noted, the president’s

The two Fox News hosts— cerebral Bill O’Reillyand hotheaded Glenn

Beck — are nothing alike, butthe pair’s “Bold & Fresh Tour,”the two on stage debating the

issues, just sold out five showsacross the country this winter.(The Virginia one was postponeduntil May because of weather.)

Together, along with SeanHannity, they have powered FoxNews to its record year. O’Reillyremains on top, with an average3.6 million viewers each night.Even at 5 p.m., Beck is in secondwith 2.8 million viewers, justahead of Hannity at 9 p.m.

Beck’s quick rise — he onlyjoined the network in January2009 — hasn’t been all good forFox. When he called PresidentObama a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people orthe white culture” it cost himadvertisers. His role outside thenetwork, as a driving force in thebuilding Tea Party movement,doesn’t sit well with all of hiscolleagues, according to reports.

At the same time, somethink O’Reilly has mellowed.He’s never parroted theRepublican talking points, but ata time when the right isratcheting up the inflamedrhetoric, he’s been calling formore measured debate. Even JonStewart took note, telling thehost when he appeared on “TheO’Reilly Factor” in February,“You’ve become in some waysthe voice of sanity here, which, asI said, is like being the thinnestkid at fat camp.”

7

8

Bill O’ReillyHOST OF “THE O’REILLY

FACTOR,” FOX NEWS CHANNEL BarbaraWaltersAND THE WOMEN OF “THE

VIEW”

Glenn BeckHOST OF “GLENN BECK,” FOX

NEWS CHANNEL

health care bill has been on theagenda all winter. The hosts —Barbara Walters, WhoopiGoldberg, Joy Behar, ElisabethHasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd— have debated gay marriage,the Sept. 11 terrorist trials andthe president’s State of the Unionaddress. Evan Bayh skipped thetraditional Sunday talk showsand went to “The View” toexplain why he plans to leave theSenate — and got a grilling.Democratic strategist KikiMcLean told the L.A. Timesthat the show is a factor incampaign strategic planning.

This year, the show is drawingnearly 4 million viewers onaverage. Next year, who knows?ABC is reportedly consideringmoving it to the afternoon—either on ABC stations or byconverting it to a syndicated show— to take advantage of the voidthat will be created when OprahWinfrey ends her popular talkshow in September 2011.

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APRIL 12, 2010 | NewsPro | 17

Lesley Stahl brokethe gender barrier onthe Sunday political

talk shows when she moderated“Face the Nation” on CBS from1983-91; Cokie Roberts served asco-anchor with Sam Donaldson ofABC’s “This Week” from 1996-2002; and Gwen Ifill leads PBS’Friday night “Washington Week,”but by and large, the weekend

Richard Leibner and hiswife Carole Cooper, thepowers behind Bienstock,

are survivors, proving adept atredirecting some of their agentbusiness into cable as network andlocal broadcasts cut back.

Where once Dan Rathertopped their roster, now it’s thetriumvirate of Bill O’Reilly,Glenn Beck and AndersonCooper. HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell has proved able to runthe distance. Paula Zahn atDiscovery Investigation isbringing in encouraging numbersin her first months on thenetwork-in-transition.

In broadcast, they representseven of the “60 Minutes” crowd:Executive Producer Jeff Fager; thisyear’s RTDNA Paul WhiteAward winner Steve Kroft; Bob

shows from Washington havebeen a white male bastion. Now,the gender balance is shiftingradically.

At CNN, long-toiling seniorpolitical correspondent CandyCrowley was a surprise pick to fillher network’s “State of the Union”host chair, left vacant when JohnKing decamped for a daily prime-time show. Crowley, who retainsher reporting post and plans to hitthe campaign trail when it’s time,has said she wants to lighten upthe genre, but otherwise the showis going to evolve as she goes.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour,meanwhile, is leaving the networkwhere she has worked foressentially her entire career for thehost chair at ABC’s “This Week.”Amanpour, perhaps the best-known foreign correspondent inthe world, is expected to bring anew dynamic to the Sunday show:less domestic politics and moreinternational news and reportsfrom overseas on occasion. She’sperhaps the biggest wild card inthe new lineup. She’s the oppositeof previous host GeorgeStephanopoulos, a Washingtoninsider who once worked inPresident Bill Clinton’sadministration (as did Amanpour’shusband Jamie Rubin.)

Both Crowley and Amanpourare plunging into a wide-openfield ratings-wise. NBC’s longdominant “Meet the Press” hasslipped, giving all the competitorsa chance to shake things up.

9

10

ChristianeAmanpourABC NEWS

Candy CrowleyCNN

N.S. Bienstock

THE STAFF OF THE N.S. BIENSTOCK AGENCY

Simon; Lara Logan; commentatorAndy Rooney; one of the newestmembers of the team, Byron Pitts;and CNN’s Cooper, an occasionalcontributor.

At ABC News, they representthe newest member of the “GoodMorning America” team, JujuChang, as well as co-host RobinRoberts and Executive ProducerJim Murphy. And “20/20”Executive Producer David Sloan iswith them, as well.

This year, the firm hasnegotiated a high-profile deal atPBS, where Alison Stewart, whohas a cult following from her daysat MTV, MSNBC and NPR, willbegin co-hosting a new Fridaynight prime-time show, “Need toKnow,” in May.

np06.qxp 4/5/10 11:49 AM Page 6

By Elizabeth JensenIt’s been a rough year for employees in the electronic newsgatheringbusiness and the Radio Television Digital News Associationconvention is offering help for those grappling with the fallout.

From a “Super Session” on the “Future of Broadcast News”to two panels on how to handle management demands on a newsdepartment to churn out more revenue, the convention has puttogether numerous opportunities to explore the new realities ofthe business.

“After coming through a very difficult financial climate, a lotof news organizations have found themselves having to try tomaintain a quality product while having fewer resources, whether


people or whatever,” said Mark Kraham, RTDNA’s chair-electand chair of this year’s convention, which runs April 11-14 at theLas Vegas Hilton.

“I think broadcasters — radio and television and digital mediafolks — all of us are looking for how do we get this done: put out aquality product without compromising the quality of it or not gettingit done. I hope they come and find the basic essentials they need tokeep doing quality work.”

Last year’s convention attendance took a hit because of smallertravel budgets at stations, said Kraham. RTDNA this year isexpecting around 600 attendees, similar to last year’s number,according to Executive Director Jane Nassiri.

Monday afternoon, CBS News’ Russ Mitchell will moderate anRTDNA/NAB “Super Session” on the future of broadcast news,both the challenges resulting from slashed budgets and reduced staffsand the opportunities for “repackaging and delivering” news product.Panelists will include Harvey Nagler, longtime vice president of newsfor CBS Radio, and Paul McTear, the president of Raycom Media.

A joint RTDNA and National Association of Broadcasterssession with the Television Bureau of Advertising later that sameafternoon will look at a related issue, the blurring of the lines betweennews and sales at this difficult economic time.

Even the strictest of news directors are being asked to do thingsthey may be uncomfortable with, said Kraham, who is the newsdirector at WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, Md. “They’re being askedand required to talk about product,” and, he added, they areare

RTDNA@NAB 2010

SOME 600 ATTENDEES ARE EXPECTED AT THIS YEAR’S RTDNA CONVENTION

In its final annual go-round in tandem with the National Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Television Digital News Association gathersto help its members grapple with the economic challenge ofmaintaining high-quality work.

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April RTNDA:Template 4/4/10 9:32 PM Page 1

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10np0025.qxp 3/26/10 1:20 PM Page 1

TOP IN NEWS

questioning, “‘Where do you draw the line?’”Panelists, including Tom Bier, station manager at WISC-TV, in

Madison, Wis., and Louis Wall, president of Sagamore Hill Broadcasting,will explore with attendees the concerns from both sides of the business— sales and news — and experiences of how to maintain the integrity ofnews and still help meet the station’s needs.Tuesday afternoon, the discussion will turn to “News and Product

Integration: Too Close for Comfort?” Steve Schwaid, director of news anddigital content, CBS Atlanta News and CBSAtlanta.com, will lead a morenews-focused discussion among anchors and news directors on how tomanage requests from the sales department.

Paul White Award to KroftFinishing off Monday evening, Steve Kroft, longtime correspondent atCBS News’ “60 Minutes,” will be honored with the RTDNA Paul WhiteAward. His speech is expected to continue the theme and deal with thechallenges that journalism is facing as a result of the economic climate andrapidly evolving technology.As in recent years, there are a number of sessions devoted to social

networking and digital media, including two that deal with newsgatheringby phone.RTDNA Chairman Stacey Woelfel will be joined on Monday by Al

Tompkins of the Poynter Institute and Chip Mahaney, director of digitalcontent at E.W. Scripps, to discuss the RTDNA’s new social media andblogging guidelines, which lay out the professional and ethical standardsfor such endeavors.That same morning, a panel will look at coming technologies, from

“real-time debate analysis tools” to devices to toggle between cell and TVvideo. Another afternoon session will examine tools being adopted byjournalists worldwide.

iPhone Newsgathering PanelTuesday’s breakfast panel will take a look at an iPhone newsgathering

application, while later in the morning Scripps’ Mahaney will conduct ahands-on seminar on using social media to build a newsroom brand. In theafternoon, creating content with a cell phone will be explored. Interspersed throughout the convention days are sessions on some of

the more traditional concerns of the business. A topical panel on day onewill look at the recent experiences of those who covered the Haitianearthquake. “We’ll be talking to some of the people who were on theground in Haiti, the challenges they had to deal with in getting their storyout, but also in dealing with the basic essentials,” Kraham said.A Monday panel will grapple with the increasingly controversial

questions posed by how stations cover children in jeopardy. OnWednesday, the late Walter Cronkite’s legacy will be assessed. The rest of the schedule is packed with sessions that prove popular year

after year, said Kraham, including those targeted to students and youngprofessionals that explain how to assemble a demo reel and craft a résumé.Theconfab’swritingseminarisaperennialfavorite,hesaid,andthisyear

itwillbeledbyBobDotson,anationalcorrespondentforNBC’s“Today.”�

“I hope they come and find thebasic essentials they need tokeep doing quality work.”

-Mark Kraham, RTDNA

News Directors Have a Fall2011 Date With the Society ofProfessional Journalists By Elizabeth Jensen

I t’s going to be a long break for RTDNA conferenceattendees after this year’s event closes on April 14. Thisconvention will be the last that RTDNA shares with the

spring meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters, whichit’s been doing since the September 2001 event was canceled in thewake of the 9/11 attacks. Next year, the organization will partnerwith the Society of Professional Journalists for a joint conference,and the decision was made to stick with the SPJ’s traditional fallmeeting time (which also used to be RTDNA’s time), which willbe about a 17-month gap for RTDNA convention attendees.Talks of a joint event have been going on for about 18 months,

said Stacey Woelfel, news director at KOMU-TV, in Columbia,Mo., and the outgoing RTDNA chair. Declining conventionattendance due to cost-cutting was one spur, he said, noting thatthe supposition was “if we tried to put all of our conventionstogether we could see more people at one time.” Joe Skeel, SPJ’s executive director, said there was also a feeling

of “wouldn’t it be great if there was one giant mega journalismconference, if people didn’t have to pick and choose where they

went, if we could all joinforces and put on anamazing professionaldevelopment program.” The RTDNA event last

year drew about 600attendees; the SPJ’sconvention has beenaveraging around 700people. Overlap was small,Woelfel said. Official details of the

late September 2011 eventare under wraps until RTDNA’s convention this month, but it’s abadly kept secret that the joint event will take place in NewOrleans. “I have unofficially acknowledged that it’s in NewOrleans,” Woelfel said. The Louisiana locale will give a break toEast Coast members who’ve had to travel to Las Vegas in recentyears, he said. The goal is not two parallel events, but “truly one integrated

convention that draws the best programs and speakers,” said Skeel.At a time of journalistic convergence, he said, “We want to cross-pollinate into the different cultures.”The two organizations will have some events unique to each of

them — the Paul White Award will remain an RTDNA honor,for one — but members from both groups will be invited to attend,Woelfel said. He noted there have not been any discussions ofmerging the two organizations, as some have speculated.Meanwhile, for RTDNA members who can’t bear the thought

of going so long without a convention, RTDNA will have a one-day schedule of workshops at next year’s NAB.


JOE SKEEL, SPJ; STACEY WOELFEL, RTDNA

THE FUTURE OF RTDNA


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10np0019.qxp 3/12/10 2:58 PM Page 1

When the National Association ofBroadcasters’ 2010 NAB Showexhibit floor opens in Las Vegas April12, attendees will find the annualevent focused, more than ever, oncontent. “Where content comes tolife” is the show’s tagline,emphasizing the fact that NAB isreaching out not just to the

“broadcasters” in its organization’s name but toanyone in the business of creating content.

News is still a big piece of that content pie,whether the destination platform is the TV screen,Web site or mobile phone, and, as is typical for thisseminal convention, many exhibitors use NAB as aplatform for launching their latest gear. NewsProhasculled a few of the important trends and productdebuts we’ll see at NAB 2010 with regard to newsproduction and distribution.


RTDNA@NAB

Delivering Across PlatformsDelivering across platforms is a potent trend for broadcasters, who arerepurposing content on their Web sites and, now, mobile feeds.Manufacturers are answering the call by providing multiplatformworkflows

Avid is announcing the Avid Integrated Media Enterpriseframework, “a new business model” for a “content anywhere”environment with an open media catalog, rich media repository andmodular, open architecture framework. This new framework is based,in part, on Avid’s recent acquisition of Blue Order, a media assetmanagement solution. With this acquisition, Avid will expand itsproduction-asset management solution Interplay into a full media assetmanagement solution.

“As content is being sourced from and distributed to multipleplatforms, our customers are looking at how they can become moreflexible in their operations and better monetize their assets,” saidPatrick McLean, Avid director of enterprise segment marketing. “TheAvid Integrated Media Enterprise is a new open framework basedaround a modular Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that willenable our customers to address these needs.”

Celebrating its 20th year in broadcast, Dalet will showcase the latestrelease of its Dalet Enterprise Edition, an open Media AssetManagement (MAM) platform for collaborative workflows acrossmultiple platforms for the newsroom, sports and other broadcastapplications. Integrated with Dalet’s Newsroom Computer System,

Shop ’tilYou Drop

A Guide to Important Trendsand Product Debuts at NAB

By Debra Kaufman



the Enterprise Edition is based on SOA and natively integrates toolsfor ingest, logging, production, playout, archive and distribution ofcontent across platforms. Also debuting at NAB 2010 will be amanagement of digital rights and genealogy for any type of contentincluding news, programs and sports clips, to simplify tracking ofrights metadata in the newsroom.

Signiant demonstrates how its latest version of its ContentDistribution Management system was used by NBC to deliver itsvideo-on-demand (VOD) service to Microsoft Silverlight players (viaAkamai’s Content Distribution Network) for the Winter Olympics.Its CDM system will also be used by LaserNet to manage delivery ofWorld Cup news and events across South Africa and for otherbroadcasters. At NAB, Signiant also shows three new products —Content Transporter, Content Point and Content Transfer Engine— to improve the CDM process.

For newscasters interested in the possibilities of new mobileinitiatives of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, the Mobile DTVpavilion — with its display of shipping devices tuned to the mobilefrequency — will also be a must-see destination.

The Tapeless NewsroomThe tapeless newsroom has been a trend for the last few years, andnumerous manufacturers are helping the process along this year.

From DVS comes Venice, a digital video server that was released atlast year’s ßIBC exhibition and conference, but is brand new for the United

States. “It replaces four decks in one,” explains DVS Worldwide BusinessDevelopment Manager Dan Germain. “The reporter in the field can useit to ingest various camera formats natively, from Sony XDCAM toPanasonic P-2. Venice can also transcode formats on the fly if it’s recordedsomething that FCP doesn’t work with. Venice then can be used to edit,either on location or back at the station. And, when it’s ready, the exactsame unit can playout the news.”

The protocols by which Venice can be remotely controlled for bothingest and playout are VDCP; GPI and GPO; MOS; SOAP; andRSS422. “It can work in any news production environment today,” saidGermain. “It handles everything on the fly in hardware, and is part of thestation becoming tapeless.”

After announcing at IBC 2009 their intent to work collaboratively,

OASYS, VIDEO TECHNICS AND COMPUPROMPTERWILL DEMONSTRATE A TAPELESS NEWSROOMWORKFLOW AT NAB.

DVS’ VENICE DIGITAL VIDEO SERVER



RTDNA@NAB

By Debra KaufmanAlthough 3-D TV is in its most nascent stage, Weather Central’s3D:LIVE real-time broadcast weather platform is ready. At this month’sNational Association of Broadcasters’ 2010 show in Las Vegas, 3D:LIVEwill be demonstrated producing true stereoscopic images. “Even though broadcasters may be trying to figure out what their plans

are going to be and what they’ll have to do in the world of stereo 3-D, wewant to make sure they know that if the market goes that way, the systemwill be able to do it,” said Weather Central Senior VP Steve Smedberg. Staying in front of trends is a necessity for manufacturers of weather

systems, whose products power one of local stations’ most crucial offerings.That’s why manufacturers are making aggressive moves at NAB 2010 toreach viewers on alternate screens: digital tiers, mobile, Web and socialnetworking sites.

Repurposing for MobileMoving weather content to the mobile platform is one important trend toemerge, and AccuWeather, Weather Central, WSI, Weather Metrics andBaron Services are among those that will be showcasing the ability torepurpose content for mobile devices.AccuWeather, for example, offers its own mobile Web site, an iPhone

app and a service that creates branded mobile Web sites for stations.AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers, who said its system is compatible with80 percent of the world’s handsets, notes that the latter option providesconsistency across platforms as well as opportunities to create revenue fromads and co-branding. “The station needs to stay in touch with the audiencefrom day to day and just sitting in front of the TV doesn’t cut it anymore,”said Myers. “Stations look for Web, mobile and now social media to reachpeople wherever they are.”WSI offers a similar “white label app” with its Weather Active Digital

Solutions, which enables the user to look at weather forecasts on the iPhoneand, soon, Android phones. “The station can brand it as their own,” explainsWSI GM Bill Dow. “Then they’ll get brand extension and ad space.” Weather Metrics’ FlexChannel Mobile supports the station in

delivering hyper-local information and advertising in an integrated hyper-local mobile TV channel with tools for content ingest, scheduling,commercial playback and billing.Social networking and widgets (portable, stand-alone applications that

can be embedded into third-party sites) are the latest twist in an effort torepurpose weather content, and, at the same time, encourage “virality” andmaximize brand. Weather Central surveyed weather departments in TV stations

across North America and learned that, although stations enjoyedincreased visibility on alternate platforms, it also took precious resourcesand time to feed them. That’s why many of the new tools to repurpose

Oasys, Video Technics and Comprompter will demonstrate at NAB 2010a tapeless broadcast workflow for different broadcast scenarios, includinga newsroom workflow. The three companies comprise products for ingest,asset management, editing, shared storage, archive, newsroomautomation, master control and automated playout, all of which will beconfigured in several ways to create a broadcast workflow of automationtools or integrated with other broadcast gear. Grass Valley is introducing version 2.0 of its GV Connect plug-in for

Final Cut Pro users, for a closer integration with K2/Aurora tapeless newssystems, via MOS protocol. The result is that scripts are more tightlylinked with audio/video clips, for a more efficient digital news productionpath. With the new GV Connect 2.0, an Aurora Edit LD workstationoperating on the same network as an FCP client can seamlessly sharework, allowing the editor to do a rough edit in the newsroom on Auroraand send it to an FCP editing system for finishing, without transcoding.GV Connect 2.0 also lets users export a file cut with FCP directly to anAurora rundown list for inclusion in the evening’s newscast.A file-based live video workflow comes from Broadcast Pix, which will

introduce Granite, a native HD, 1080p-ready live video production system.Granite combines the company’s Fluent workflow software with a new HDswitcher and server, and will be shown in three models. Fluent providesup to 120 hours of clip store, a graphics system with a new Harris CG,multiview that displays video and file sources, watch-folders that streamlinefile import from editing systems and macros for file-based effects.

News Production From a BackpackNews production from a backpack is aimed at all those stations on abudget that want to send more reporters into the field. “Instead ofrolling out a highly expensive satellite truck and much more expensivesatellite transmission costs, a station can have a reporter jump in a carwith a backpack and be on the air pretty much instantly,” said VBrickCOO John Shaw, whose company is rolling out the MobileBroadcast System at NAB 2010. “It’s a much better ability to breaknews quickly.” VBrick’s Mobile Broadcast System is a backpack-sized appliance

that takes the video signal from a camera, digitizes and compresses itand then transports it over a bonded 3G or 4G connection,” saidShaw, who explained that “bonded” means that up to six 3G/4Gconnections are put together to create a fat virtual pipe. “With thebonded connection, VBrick’s Mobile Broadcast System can get HDquality video over the wireless network.” Users can bond cards fromdifferent wireless carriers to overcome the limitations of any onecellular network. The product also features one-switch operation, SDIinputs/outputs and H.264 video compression.It doesn’t fit in a backpack, but Streambox Live fits nicely inside a

laptop or mobile phone, to send out live video straight to the station.According to product manager Ryan Davis, Streambox Live allowsbroadcasters to download theStreambox encoder to a laptopor iPhone

for free. “They can thensend video from theiPhone (via AT&T 3Gnetwork) or laptop to theStreambox Live server,andbroad cas terscanviewarchived clips or previewlive video and send itstraight to on-air for

playout,” saidDavis. �

WeatherReportStaying on Top of All Platforms

VBRICK’S MOBILE

BROADCAST SYSTEM



content to debut at NAB 2010 will also streamline the process.AccuWeather, Weather Central and WSI are among weather systems

providers that make it easy for meteorologists to deliver informationwithout adding significantly to their workload. WSI is introducing twotime/cost-saving tools for digital platforms. “Max One allows the weathertalent to record a complete weather hit without tying up master control,”said Dow. “On his own, the meteorologist can create weather forecasts forthe Web and even mobile. Stations are limited how often they can createvideo for Web/mobile, and this allows them to do more with fewerresources.”

Prism is a “digital publishing engine” that allows automatic distributionto mobile phones, the Web and other digital devices. “Prism can take anon-air seven-day forecast and create a movie that automatically formats andposts for Web and mobile, with the same consistent brand,” said Dow.

AccuWeather, which also offers a one-step way to repurpose graphicsvideo headlines to Facebook and Twitter, is introducing weather widgets,not just for TV stations but also for TV set manufacturers. According toMyers, Internet-capable TV sets featuring AccuWeather widgets will beginshipping this spring.

Touchscreen LookOther trends in weathercasting are a continuation of more long-term

efforts. Manufacturers continue to up the ante when it comes to the lookand sound of a station’s on-air weather programming.

Whereas meteorologists on national weathercasts have benefited fromthe sleek look of interactive touchscreens, that’s been too pricey for a localTV station — until now. At NAB, AccuWeather will introduce itstouchscreen for CinemaLive HD. “There’s a movement towards trying toget Hollywood movie studio quality on local weathercasts,” said Myers.

WSI is launching SkyCast 4D, which adds audio enhancements as wellas improved visuals. “It takes realism and [immersiveness] to a new levelwith sound,” said Dow, who said 82 percent of their test audiences hadsurround sound with their HDTVs. “When we show a beautiful pictureof the forecast, you’ll also hear the rainfall, the thunder.” SkyCast 4D alsoadds 3-D cityscapes.

Flying Animations Weather Central’s next-generation on-air graphics system 3D:LIVE

introduces Fusion, which takes advantage of solid-state technology andimproved hardware. “Animations of maps fly in real-time instead ofrendering them,” said Smedberg, who notes that workflow enhancementsalso enable centralized content creation, a reflection of smaller newsrooms.

The transition to HD is still taking place in local TV newsrooms, saidDow, who notes that only 30 percent of the TV news market has gone HDin some way, and that the dismal economy has slowed conversion. “Lastyear was a tough one for everyone, especially for local stations,” he adds.“As the capital budgets have been loosening this year, stations are startingto get back with the program.”

Broadcasters have been buffeted by the double whammy of theeconomy and the need to constantly upgrade equipment. With HD stillon the checklist and mobile DTV coming into play, now 3-D looms asanother potential — and quite expensive — item to absorb.

In this constantly changing digital landscape it’s nice to have anycertainty, and that’s what AccuWeather is offering this year with its“indestructibility” insurance. “I can’t tell you over the years the number ofTV stations that have called us up and said someone spilled coffee on thecomputer,” said Myers. “With our new insurance, bundled into the price,we cover lightning strikes, power surges and spilled coffee. You pay for thesystem once and never again, no matter what you do with it.” �

WSI’S WEATHER ACTIVE DIGITAL SOLUTIONS ENABLES USERS TO LOOK AT STATION-BRANDED FORECASTS ON THE IPHONE



RTDNA@NAB

By Jon LafayetteWhen Walter Cronkite died, the nation mourned one of the most trustedand influential figures in the history of television news.

But when Frank N. Magid died in February, few TV viewers knewwho he was, despite the impact he had on the local newscasts that they see.

“His influence has really affected my whole professional life in termsof his impact on television,” said Stacey Woelfel, news director ofKOMU-TV, Columbia, Mo., and chairman of the Radio TelevisionDigital News Association. “It’s probably apples and oranges to compareCronkite and Magid, but at the same time here’s a person that mosttelevision viewers never heard of and they don’t realize what sort of impacthe had on what they were able to watch on television news over the lastcouple of generations.”

That’s probably the way Magid, known as a modest man, would havewanted it.

Magid, after earning Master’s degrees in social psychology andstatistics in 1956, became one of the first television station consultants.

By introducing viewer studies to television news, creating the livelyand much copied “Action News” format that is still dominant today,popularizing morning newscasts, and advising stations in nearly everymarket, Magid and his company put their stamp on the industry. He alsorecommended Walter Cronkite as the solo anchor of CBS’ “EveningNews” and helped start “Good Morning America.”

“The guy was an absolute genius. He would see things that no oneelse saw,” said Stanley S. Hubbard, chairman and CEO of HubbardBroadcasting, who worked with Magid for 40 years.

According to Hubbard, Magid believed that “people want to knowthe news, they want to know what’s going on, but they wanted itpresented in a fashion that’s interesting.”

Hubbard recalled the way Magid reviewed the work of one newsanchor. “You see how that person’s lip curls? People are going to noticethat, and they’re not going to watch that person because they’re going totake the focus off the news where it should be,” Magid concluded,according to Hubbard. “Details, details. He was really into details.”

Beginning at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, “Action News” was a ratingswinner, but Magid’s work was also criticized for creating local newscaststhat were indistinguishable from market to market and which panderedto the audience with stories about crime and happy talk from anchors.

“Thanks to him, local newscasts throughout America are like airportsor fast food joints; they lack all traces of indigenousness,” wrote TomShales of The Washington Post in 1982.

“I think a lot of it is sour grapes,” said Brent Magid, now presidentof his father’s company, Frank N. Magid Associates. “I think you’ve gota lot of ‘capital J’ journalists who didn’t really make the cut as the businessbecame more competitive.”

“I remember Peter Jennings hated Frank Magid,” recalled Hubbard.

Magid’s research provided an objective look at the way journalists’work was being received by the public.

“No one likes to know they’re not as good as they think they are,”Hubbard said. “Frank Magid put up with a lot of abuse.”

And after being told what viewers said they wanted to see, somestations responded with more crime and less in-depth reporting.

That’s not necessarily what Magid was recommending.“They labeled it ‘Happy News.’ ‘Here’s this Magid guy coming in and

creating all this flash and dash with no substance.’ That’s pure malarkey,”said Brent Magid.

Woelfel, the RTDNA chairman, said that “there are plenty of peoplethat would say that research and the consultation has taken stations downpaths where trying to turn ratings for the quarter hour that you’re in ismore important than some of the big important stories, the policy stories,the significant stories in the community.”

But he added that his station was at times a Magid client and “I didn’tfeel like I was advised to do anything that rubbed me the wrong way orsent me down a path that I didn’t want to go down, so I was a happycustomer,” he said.

Brent Magid said that in recent conversations his father was sad aboutthe current depressed state of local TV, with its focus on cost-cutting anda reluctance to invest in innovation, as technology changes viewers’ lives.

“As my father used to say: ‘Nobody takes your business away. Yougive it away.’” Brent Magid said. “Anytime in any business in which youfail to innovate beyond just superficial items — changing the set,changing the lighting, ‘Oh, we went to HD’ — and unless you get tothe real meatiness of understanding what business you’re really in andhow you’re doing it better than anybody else, you’re going to findyourself in trouble.”�

The Magicof Magid RememberingaNewsPioneer

FRANK MAGID, 1931-2010


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10np0028.qxp 3/26/10 4:14 PM Page 1


By Jon LafayetteWhile the newspaper industry searches for abusiness model that monetizes the all-consuming Internet, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is generating revenue online whilemaintaining its print circulation.

Democrat-Gazette stories that appear inprint can be accessed online only by readers whoget the paper via home delivery or those who buydigital subscriptions for $5.95 a month. At thispoint, 3,600 are ponying up.

Significant Revenue Possible

Newspaper experts say that the Democrat-Gazette’s approach may not sweep the industry,but it is starting to look like the notion thatInternet users will never pay for content is fadingand that publishers may soon be generatingsignificant revenue streams online, especially asviewers begin to access information on devicessuch as Apple’s iPad.

The Democrat-Gazette says its strategy hashelped keep it from losing readers, which meansit has been able to avoid the big staff cuts thathave taken place at many larger papers sufferingfrom loss of readers to the Internet and declinesin advertising revenue.

“Our business philosophy is we charge foronline content to protect our newspaper,” says

Conan Gallaty, the paper’s digital director.“That’s for a very simple reason: The ad rates thatwe get on our newspaper are usually more than10 to 1 what we can get online. So it makes sensefor us to protect the part of the business that paysfor 95 percent of the operation.”

Gallaty says that if you do the math, onlinerevenues are just $21,400 per month.

“It’s a small number and it growsincrementally each month,” he says. “We’re notgetting rich off that by any means. But the realpurpose of it is we don’t want to encouragepeople to stop subscribing to the newspaper toget that same content on our site for free.”

The paper’s weekday circulation is 169,458,according to the September Audit Bureau ofCirculation report. On Sundays, circulation is258,160.

“Over the past 10 years, it really hasn’tdropped very much at all compared to somemetro markets that lost 10, 20, 30 percent ofcirculation,” he said.

The paper also has a digital staff that createsoriginal blogs, videos and other content for theWeb. Some of that content is created by adedicated Web staff and is paid for by onlineadvertising.

But more than 50 percent of the site’straffic comes to view paid content, most of

which is very local. Sam Eifling, who covers local media for

Arkansas Business, says that while theDemocrat-Gazette, like other papers, has gottenthinner over years, the Web strategy has helped.

“They didn’t lay anybody off before lastspring,” he said. “And even then it was not thesort of Tribune Co. draconian slashing that yousaw. They lost some people here and there, butthat was to be expected in almost any industry.”

While there’s competition from local TVstations and an alternative weekly online, beingbehind a pay wall hasn’t affected the Democrat-Gazette’s status as the state’s leading paper. Butthere may be a downside.

“It’s tough to find people in my demographicbracket who read or talk about the Democrat’smusic coverage or art coverage at all,” saysEifling, who is in his 20s. “And it’s largelybecause there’s a well-run source on the Webwhere information flows much more freely.”

Other papers have tried the pay wall to lesssuccess. In October, Newsday, on New York’sLong Island, made its content free to printsubscribers and to subscribers of parent companyCablevision Systems’ cable TV and high-speeddata service; everybody else had to be willing topay $5 a week. A recent report in the LongIsland Press indicated that only 35 subscriberssigned up for the site.

‘Shortsighted’ View

“Both papers’ publishers have mentionedthat they want to use online subscriptions as away to protect their print revenues,” said ShafqatIslam, CEO of NewsCred, which consults withnewspapers about online strategy. “As such, Ithink both of them have a shortsighted view onthe future of the industry. If anything, they aresacrificing long-term success with short-termrevenue gains based on a [print] product that isdying.”

Islam noted that the Gazette’s publisherrecently said that print is what brings in thedollars right now. If online paid as well as print,he said, “I’d be willing to junk the press.”

New York Times Initiative

All eyes are currently on The New YorkTimes, which has signaled that it is about tomake a new attempt to charge for its content

BusinessMaking Online News Pay A 200,000-Circulation Daily Finds a WorkableStrategy for Charging for Access to Web Content

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE SAYS ITS ONLINE PAY MODEL HAS HELPED IT MAINTAIN ITS READERSHIP.

NewsPro March Business -1:Template 4/4/10 9:58 PM Page 1


starting next January with a “metered model,”which will allow users to view a certain numberof stories before being asked to pay a flat fee forunlimited access.

The Times has experimented with a pay wallbefore, charging offshore readers for a time in the1990s and, in the mid-2000s, asking a fee foraccess to its editorials and columns.

The change of attitude toward a pay wall hascome suddenly.

Belden Interactive, which did a study on paidcontent for the American Press Institute inOctober, found that about 2 percent of anewspaper’s circulation would pay for an onlinesubscription. (Surprisingly, the study found thatthe amount the paper charged had nothing to dowith how many people bought subscriptions.)

But a more recent report, released in January,indicates that things have changed.

“We all thought paid content couldn’t work.

We were very convinced of that,” said GregHarmon, CEO of Belden Interactive. “Just overthe last year, looking at this and differentapproaches, we’ve been persuaded that not onlyis it possible for paid content to work, but thereis a real opportunity that if properly approached,properly marketed, properly priced … [while it’s]certainly not going to replace all print revenue,there is likely to be a really viable importantbusiness model here that we justdidn’t think existed before.”

The strategy the Times ispursuing appears similar to thatof the Financial Times, whichhas more than 30 percent of itscirculation paying for onlineaccess, Harmon said.

Another game changer is therise of the iPad and Kindle.

“We’re fairly convinced at

the moment that the principal medium forthe digital future of newspapers isn’t going tobe Web sites, it’s going to be [electronic]readers and mobile phones, which willcompletely change all the business modelsagain,” Harmon said.

However it’s accessed, Harmon is convincedthat the best content will be paid content.

“The idea that information has to be free forpeople to be informed ispretty much justnonsense. The truth is,paid things work farbetter than amateurthings. And over time— and I think this timeis rapidly approaching— paid content is goingto drive out almost allfree content.” ❑

“The idea thatinformation has tobe free for peopleto be informed is... just nonsense.” -GREG HARMON, BELDEN INTERACTIVE

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np06.qxp 4/5/10 12:36 PM Page 9


By Hillary AtkinWhen a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti onJan. 12, news organizations around the worldscrambled to get their people to the devastatedCaribbean country to cover the huge story thatunfolded, and which dominated the news cyclefor weeks.

With the infrastructure on the islandcrippled by the disaster, one of the biggestchallenges was getting live pictures out. Butwithin hours, communications links via satellitewere being established to broadcast news fromHaiti to the rest of the world.

Intelsat, the leading provider of fixed satelliteservices, immediately began work on allocatingcapacity on its birds to news entities and wasable to get a coordinator on the ground beforeToussaint Louverture International Airport inPort-au-Prince was shut down.

“Whenever anything sudden and urgenthappens, we get calls instantly,” said TimothyJackson, Intelsat’s vice president of mediaproduct management.

“Together with one of our customers, wechartered an aircraft out of Miami to Port-au-Prince right before [the Haitian airport] wasclosed. It was tough to get in, with no power,but the weather allowed them to go in visually

and get started.” Shortly afterward, broad casters from around

the world began arriving at the airport andbegan using the facilities that were set up on theground. “Everything that could have been usedto transmit from Haiti was pretty much dead,”said Jackson. “We came in with equipment andgenerator power to set up a temporary uplinkright away, providing on-site coordination andtransmission services to media outlets. We werereally the only ones on the ground, and the firstone to establish communications.”

By the next day, Intelsat had twocommunication networks in operation — onein C-band and one in Ku-band — servicingclients including CNN, CBS, the BBC,Reuters, and independentservices such as Arqiva and OnCall Communications thatprovide services todownstream video content toother customers — a total of27 global broadcasters.

“It was like a war zone. Wehad one guy, Special EventsCoordinator Neil Butterfield,working 24 hours a day andeating food he brought in until

he got infrastructure,” Jackson said. “We camein and effec tively operated in a corner of theairport with portable eq uip ment that wasbrought in. It was initial chaos. The [Haitian]military had to organize things. The team wasoperating inside the airport perimeter, notaccessible to be public. They had come withfood and water. It started becoming crazy andthe local military kept order.”

For the first eight days after the earthquake,Intelsat remained at the uplink location at thePort-au-Prince airport to ensure 24-hourservices were available at a moment’s notice. ByJan. 22, it had uplinked more than 500 hours ofvideo content.

SES World Skies also provided capacity onits satellites to news organizations on the groundin Haiti. Its clients include Al Jazeera English,which, after the chaos of the airport, set up abureau at a local hotel, as did many of the otherbroadcasters covering the tragedy.

“Satellite networks play a quintessential rolein disaster recovery, when speed is at essence,”said Rob Bednarek, president and CEO ofSES World Skies. “We acted immediately, soour satellites could quickly provide the vitalcommunication links for the benefit of thepeople of Haiti, who have been struck by oneof the worst natural catastrophes in history.”

Satellite industry executives say thatcompared to other recent major disasters, likethe recent earthquake in Chile or HurricaneKatrina in 2005, the situation in Haiti wasunique because of the island’s destroyedinfrastructure and major transportationchallenges in getting to the disaster zones.

“It’s pretty rare to have a situation like this,”said Jackson. “During Hurricane Katrina, we

had the ability to moveequipment in and out andthat made it a lot easier.”

The satellite industryalso supportedHaiti’s im -mediate communicationrequirements and estab -lished a foundation forrebuilding its long-termcom munications in fras -truc ture after its terrestrialand wireless networksfailed. �

TechnologyTheScrambletoCoverHaiti

“It was like a war zone ... Itstarted becomingcrazy and the localmilitary keptorder.”

-TIMOTHY JACKSON, INTELSAT

Satellite Operations Hit the Ground Running to GetLive TV Signal Out of Quake-Devastated Country

SATELLITE SERVICE PROVIDERS WERE ABLE TO ESTABLISH LIVE LINKS WITHIN HOURS OF THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE.

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By Hillary AtkinSome are calling it “the newsroom in the palmof your hand.” For news professionals acrossall strata of the business, the recentproliferation of information-based apps foriPhones and other smart phones has been aboon to the newsgathering process — as wellas for audiences.

MSNBC, CBS News, CNN, The NewYork Times, NPR, Bloomberg, TimeMagazine, Slate, the BBC, USA Today,Huffington Post, ABC News — just aboutevery major news organization, publication andWeb site has a mobile app. Several localstations, including NBC affiliate 9NewsDenver, ABC7 Los Angeles and WALAFox10TV, have also jumped onto the mobilephone screen with their own applications.

Exponential Growth

The evolution of up-to-the minute informationhas been remarkable. “For me, it’s dramatic,even from yesterday. It seems to grow every day.The beauty is it keeps growing exponentially,”said Steve Lange, news director and vicepresident of content or KNBC-TV, LosAngeles. “You can grind down to veryspecific niches, which helps in coverage andshaping stories. You can sit in one place andsurvey what’s going on and get a sense ofdifferent voices on complex subjects likehealth care reform.”

The staffers in KNBC’s Burbank, Calif.newsroom — like those in newsroomseverywhere — generally find themselves in oneof two camps: iPhone or BlackBerry. “Wehave wars going on here,” said Lange. “Buteverybody is copying that iPhone app format,so whoever is supplying it, you’re getting thesame kind of stuff at your fingertips. It gives usmore information and then we figure out howto use it.”

Although other cell phones are notprecluded, BlackBerrys are the company-

approved device at the Hearst Televisionstation group, which is working on rolling outits “next-generation newsroom” initiative. Itincorporates cell phones, laptops, webcams andediting tools in an effort to integrate everythingand enable publishing, posting and broad -casting on any platform.

Revolutionizing Newsgathering

“UsingappsonourBlackBerrysallowsustotypetextquickly, and sendpictures andvideoback,”said Brian Bracco, vice president of news forHearst Television. “The smart phone itselfuntethersusfromthenewsroom,andletspeopleget documents in the field quickly, like contactlists. It’s one of the tools that is quicklyrevolutionizinghowwedoourjob.Italsoallowsus toput thingsonTwitter andFacebook rightfromfield,attachingaphotoorashortvideoclip.”

Bracco said he is excited by all the newtechnology that makes newsgathering moreefficient, but he is mindful of the fact that whenit comes to mobile phones, especially, manybecome obsolete within about 18 months.

“Whether it is new devices or apps fordevices, it’s mind-numbing and amazing howfast the technology is changing,” he said. “Whilewe are currently using BlackBerrys, there maybe something else on the horizon that’s better,that will make our jobs easier in gettinginformation faster to all these platforms.”

Lange, who reflected back on the days whenreporters had pagers and then alphanumeric

pagers before they carried basic cell phones —which they often didn’t answer — said that withevery bit of technology, the communication alsogets infinitely better. He counts The New YorkTimes, ESPN and the Los Angeles Timesamong his go-to mobile phone apps, saying,“There’s great access to a lot of different thingsthat can help you.” �

OnlineSmart Phones, Smarter News

“You can grind down tovery specific niches,which helps in coverageand shaping stories.”

-STEVE LANGE, KNBC-TV

Mobile Apps Untether News Professionals From the Confines of the Newsroom

March online:Template 4/4/10 10:02 PM Page 1

NewsmakersLucas Altman has joined CNN in NewYork as a studio director.

Jose Diaz Balart has been named anchor ofthe “Noticiero Telemundo” nightlynewscast. Balart will also anchor “Enfoque,”a new Sunday morning public affairs show.

Andy Carson has been renewed at KPTV inPortland, Ore., as weathercaster and co-hostof the morning news program “Good DayOregon.”

Lisa Chavarria has joined KHOU-TV inHouston as a reporter from WTVF-TV inNashville, Tenn.

Asa George has joined WDJT-TV inMilwaukee as weekday morning anchor fromanchor-reporter at WKEF-TV in Dayton,Ohio.

Amanda Grace has been named weekendevening anchor at WHDH-TV, Boston,from reporter.

Vera Jimenez has joined KTLA-TV in LosAngeles as prime-time weather anchor fromKCBS-TV in Los Angeles, where she hadbeen the morning traffic anchor andweathercaster.

Shelley Lewis has been named executiveproducer and Alison Stewart has beennamed anchor for “Need to Know,” a newcross-media current affairs magazinepremiering on PBS in May.

Scott Light renews his agreement withKPNX in Phoenix as morning anchor.

Nannette Miranda has been renewed atKABC-TV in Los Angeles, where she coversthe California state capitol in Sacramento.

Britt Moreno has joined KSAZ-TV inPhoenix as a reporter from KRGV-TV inWeslaco, Texas.

Andrea Nakano has joined KING-TV inSeattle as weekend sports anchor–reporter

from XETV and KFMB-TV in SanDiego.

Mellisa Paul has joined KXTV inSacramento, Calif., as middayweathercaster and reporter from KIVI-TVin Boise, Idaho.

Bruce Perlmutter has been named senior

VP, news and online, for E! Entertainment.

Derrick Rose has joined WBTV inCharlotte, N.C., as a reporter from WAVY-TV in Norfolk, Va.

Rhonda Walker has added the new 4:30 a.m.newscast to her regular weekday morninganchoring duties at WDIV-TV in Detroit. ❑

CLOSE-UP

Christine Ferriera toWEWS Morning Show

Christine Ferreira has joined WEWS-TV,the ABC affiliate in Cleveland, asmeteorologist for “Good MorningCleveland,” the station’s morningnewscast.

Ferreira joins WEWS from KOIN-TV inPortland, Ore., where she wasmeteorologist for the morning and noonnewscasts. Prior to that, Ferreira was thechief meteorologist at KATU-TV inVictoria, Texas.

Ferreira holds a Bachelor of Sciencedegree in meteorology from MillersvilleUniversity in Pennsylvania.


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np06.qxp 4/5/10 1:03 PM Page 10


addy Chayefsky, the novelist/screenwriter whowrote the 1976 film classic “Network,” has a quotethat speaks to the love-hate relationship somepeople have with TV in today’s multiplatformworld: “It's the menace that everyone loves to hatebut can't seem to live without.” Some say television — especially local TV news

— is in a death spiral and nearly kaput. It’ssomething we can do without, displaced by the Internet and mobile as thenew content platforms of choice. You might think lead lines like “Almost all the indicators for local TV

are pointing down,” from the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s recentlyreleased study “The State of the News Media,” would be just enough tosend TV news directors in search of the nearest and highest ledge.You’d better think again. Call it basic survival instinct, or whatever you want, but the latest

RTDNA/Hofstra study has found a remarkably large percentage of newsdirectors challenged with the demands of multiple platforms are not justsitting on their hands. Rather, they’re embracing the concept of feedingcontent to broadcast, Internet and mobile media on a 24/7 basis, manyhaving re-engineered their news departments to take an aggressive three-screen approach with considerably reduced staff. “A lot of people may be surprised to learn how many news directors have

a three-screen approach already in place,” said Bob Papper, HofstraUniversity’s Journalism chair and the person responsiblefor directing the RTDNA’s research. “It’s much higherthan I expected and more widespread, and it’s not just abig-station, big-market phenomenon.” Papper won’tspill the exact number until his presentation at theRTDNA@NAB Convention this month.

Social Networking at What Cost?

But Papper’s finding begs the question, are we social networkingourselves to death, and making broadcast news take a backseat to thedeliver-it-now approach of the Web and mobile media? Where’s the linebetween a savvy three-screen approach and putting a knife in the back ofthe broadcast news business?“That conversation is over. Forward thinkers are using this time to

position themselves,” said Bill Carey, news director at WPIX-TV, theTribune-owned station in New York. “The notion of three screens andtreating them separately is yesterday. Homes already have merged screens.If you have FIOS from Verizon, you can switch from ‘Gossip Girl’ toFacebook on your flat-screen TV.”For Carey and news managers at other media companies — like the

Quincy Broadcast Group — the re-engineering process of newsroomsis way behind them. They’re already servicing customers with an

Sign OffDirecting News Across the Platforms

aggressive three-screen approach. There is no choice but to take a three-screen approach, according to

Perry Boxx, news director at WKOW-TV, the Quincy-owned station inMadison, Wis. “If you’re going to be in the game and a serious newsorganization, you’ve got to be the first place everybody turns to whensomething is happening,” he said. Boxx contends, however, that the Web and mobile screens can’t compare

to TV in terms of sensory experience. “Television is such a powerfulmedium, and you can’t replace it with Tweets and Facebook,” he said. “Youcan’t give the emotion of a sound bite in a Tweet. You can’t give all the colorand feel of a story on Facebook. It’s a different sensation and experience onthe Web. But you do commit suicide if you’re not engaged in it.”

The Newsroom’s New Mix

News directors like Boxx have come to realize that the three screensdemand a different approach and have organized their newsrooms toaccommodate the differences. Boxx’s newsroom, for example, is a mix ofbackpack-equipped multimedia journalists, “classic” reporters, and anassortment of new technology and online tools like CoverItLive, whichBoxx uses to stream live TV coverage and generate live chats wherepeople can voice opinions, ask questions, take part in polls and get real-time response from inside the newsroom. One of the challenges Quincy news directors and other news managers

now face is a question of balance. How much do you publish on what

platform, and with what level of detail? Do you save anything for air? Brian Bracco, vice president of news for the Hearst Group, points to

the differences and values of each screen in striking that balance. “It’s stillmore interesting to watch video on a high-definition, 52-inch screentelevision versus the screen you get on a desktop or mobile phone,” he said.“But we’re now looking at stories on two and three screens and we have todevise ways of telling different stories for each one of them.” Menace or not, you have to wonder what would happen if television

went away. “If we went away, what would be the tie that binds the local

community,” said Bracco. “How would they know what’s happening intheir community? How would they know about a fire or how to contributeto the fund for flood victims? People still value the local newscast. Is it thegathering place that it once was? Probably not. But will it go away anytimesoon? Absolutely not.” �

“We’re now looking at stories on two and threescreens and we have to devise ways of tellingdifferent stories for each.” -BRIAN BRACCO, HEARST TELEVISION

BY TOM PETNER

PRTDNA Study: A Surprising Number of Stations Take a Three-Screen Approach

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