Maximize
The Ticker: ABC Suit, Nightline, JK & Today...
> Even after a "full retraction and apology on the air," a California preacher is moving ahead with his... More>
CBS Hires A "Next Generation" Correspondent
CBS News has announced the hiring of Seth Doane, most recently a New Delhi-based correspondent for CNN International. President... More>
Vanity Fair's International Correspondent Doesn't Watch TV
Great interview with William Langewiesche, Vanity Fair's international correspondent, who's on assignment in Brazil. Of course,... More>
Paula Zahn, The Day After
The write-ups are in on the Paula Zahn resignation, reported first on TVNewser. Zahn tells TVWeek's Michelle Greppi, "I wanted... More>
The Decline of Broadcast News
A new report from the WGAE details the view from inside the newsroom.
More>
Broadcast Newswriters Speak About News Quality
A report from the Writers Guild of America, East
More>
Dow Jones Sale "Too Close To Call"
Two days after 33 members of the Bancroft family met in Boston (in person or by phone), the WSJ reports... More>
Now Cafferty Takes A Stand
First MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski refused to read, tried to burn, then shredded her script regarding the release of Paris Hilton... More>
John Mayer Threatens To 'Teabag' Drunk, Underage Fans
Over the weekend, 63 fans were arrested at a John Mayer concert in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Our resident pop crooner-cum-standup... More>
CNN-YouTube Debate: Success, Or Viewer 'Fatigue'?
The numbers, via TVNewser: The ratings are in for last night's CNN/YouTube debate. And either viewers are getting... More>
The Scoreboard: Monday, July 23
25-54 demographic: (LS)Total day: FNC: 387 | CNN: 768 | MSNBC: 164 | HLN: 145 | CNBC: 35Prime: FNC: 296... More>
The Scoreboard: Sunday, July 22
25-54 demographic: (LS)Total day: FNC: 187 | CNN: 133 | MSNBC: 185 | HLN: 102 | CNBC: 42Prime: FNC: 222... More>
The Scoreboard: Saturday, July 21
25-54 demographic: (LS)Total day: FNC: 166 | CNN: 128 | MSNBC: 210 | HLN: 87 | CNBC: 76Prime: FNC: 182... More>
Mahindra Group to back IAAC fest
NEW DELHI -- The seventh annual Indo-American Arts Council Festival will have the backing of leading Indian business conglomerate... More>
Venice plans 'Vacation' for trend sidebar
ROME -- "Sad Vacation," from Japanese director Aoyama Shinji, will open the Orizzonti sidebar at this year's Venice Film... More>
CNN/YouTube: The Ratings, Part II
One demo we forgot to include in the earlier post about the CNN/YouTube debate ratings, the 18-34 year old crowd.... More>
Nancy Grace Breaks Her Foot
The Nancy Grace fan club (yes there is one) alerted us that the Headline News anchor broke her foot. A... More>
NBC Sued Over Suicide | $20M For Hamptons Papers? | Fox News Web Team 'Embarrassed' | TNR's Suspicious 'Baghdad Diarist'? | Oh Lo No
Daily News: Drew Carey Gets Job Bob Barker Wanted Rosie to Get NYT: Who is The New Republic's 'Baghdad... More>
CNN/YouTube: The Ratings, Part I
The ratings are in for last night's CNN/YouTube debate. And either viewers are getting debate-fatigue, or the debate may not... More>
Small World, This Business
Today's announcement that Paula Zahn is leaving CNN, reminded one TVNewser emailer of the one degree of separation between... More>
Bancrofts Boston To-Do List
So the Bancrofts have had a tough day negotiating at Hilton hotel in Boston's financial district, and they deserve... More>
ABC's Comings ... And Goings
On the same day we learned three longtime ABC News correspondents are out the door, ABC News president David Westin... More>
Jonathan Ames Returns To The Ring
Bored? Nothing going on tonight? Like blood? Five-foot-ten, 156-pound Brooklyn humorist, Marilyn Manson profiler, friend of... More>
Paula Zahn Out @ CNN — Less Than 24 Hours After Campbell Brown's Arrival
Brown forces Zahn's hand @ CNN Roughly 55 hours after Campbell Brown announced she was leaving NBC, and a... More>
The Decline of Broadcast News
WGAE
July 25, 2007
The news about the news is not good, according to a study released today by the Writers Guild of America, East. The report, entitled Broadcast Newswriters Speak About News Quality, traces an ongoing decline in the quality of broadcast news driven by the continual reduction of newsroom staff.
The report, based on 10 months of in-depth research culled from news
quality surveys and the WGAE's own extensive member information
database, includes direct interviews with WGA members at local and national ABC and CBS News television and radio outlets.
Among the reasons for the declining quality of news cited in the report are:
- Recycling of news is becoming more commonplace as fewer newsroom employees mean less stories being developed on a daily basis. With fewer stories produced, they must be repeated more frequently to fill an increasing mount of available air time.
- Increased job responsibilities have made research and fact-checking low-priority tasks in most newsrooms. Because many employees now handle two or three job functions, there is little time for research and fact-checking to ensure accuracy before a story is put on air. The paper quotes one news employee as saying "Quality is the first thing that is expendable... never mind going beyond a Wikipedia bio."
- There is a dramatic and growing shift away from hard news to more lifestyle/ entertainment or "infotainment" news. The paper quotes a CBS news writer saying "We take a lot of stuff from Entertainment Tonight. We watch it at 6:30 and decide what to use."
- Union contracts, such as those with the Writers Guilds of America, provide essential protection for professional journalists as they uphold standards of quality journalism. The paper cites instances where employees refused to air news that was not fact-checked or that was incorrect. Their union membership protected their right to refuse management's insistence to air these inaccurate news stories.
"The declining quality of news is staggering and disturbing," said
Chris Albers, president of the Writers Guild of America, East. "This
paper details what our members have been telling us for a long time -
that corporate pressures to cut costs are negatively impacting their
ability to bring the public objective, high-quality news. We hope our
white paper serves as a wake-up call that something must be done now to
stop the rapid decline in news quality."
"News quality remains one of the key reasons our members have been working without a contract at ABC and CBS for more than two years," Albers continued. "We will not enter into a new contract that allows the companies to cut more people from our union, consolidate newsrooms in markets to result in even more job loses, and that doesn't properly respect the contribution of our members."
Broadcast Newswriters Speak About News Quality offers a series of recommendations to address declining news quality:
- The FCC should hold public hearings specifically regarding localism and broadcast news quality in top U.S. markets
- The appointment of a commission or working group to develop
standards for broadcast news quality as a public interest requirement
- Continue support of the Center For Media and Democracy's proposals for video news releases
and have U.S. government agencies funding or producing video or audio
for broadcast use be required to makes such material public and archive
it online
- Make infractions to these public interest requirements punishable by fine and require adherence to these standards for license renewal
The release of Broadcast Newswriters Speak About News Quality follows recent Congressional interest in the issue of news quality and in the WGAE's stalled contract negotiations. On July 6, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) toured the New York newsrooms at 1010 WINS, CBS Radio 880AM, CBS Network Radio and ABC Network Radio. WGAE members told Congressman Weiner about the impact of proposed consolidations at CBS-owned stations, loss of union protection proposed in ABC's most recent contract offer, and these actions' impact on the quality of news and their working conditions. Many of these issues are addressed in this report, and Congressman Weiner pledged to continue looking into the issue.
Congressman Weiner and other key legislators have received copies of
Broadcast Newswriters Speak About News Quality. The WGAE expects their
findings will elevate the issue on fall agendas. Prior to its release,
the Writers Guilds also received other Congressional support in their
campaign for news quality. Congressman Maurice Hinchey (NY),
Congresswoman Diane Watson (CA) and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL)
sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin saying "We are troubled by
the effort of CBS to fundamentally alter the structure of newsrooms
under its jurisdiction...It appears that CBS seeks the authority... to
terminate workers in the event of mergers, and even merge the newsrooms
of competing stations. If such actions proceed unchallenged, audiences
will be denied the variety in news sources and local coverage necessary
for an informed participatory democratic society."
News quality is a paramount concern for the Writers Guilds of America,
East and West and their memberships. CBS's last proposal demands the
ability to combine newsrooms in markets, such as WCBS-AM 880 and
1010-WINS in New York, KNX and KFWB in Los Angeles, and stations in
Illinois. It also demands the ability to transfer current WGA
responsibilities to non-WGA employees. The WGA-CBS membership rejected
this offer by an overwhelming 99% vote in November 2006. ABC's last
proposal maintains the company's demand to strip newswriter/ producers
from their union protection, which helps them maintain their
objectivity, and ultimately the quality of news, despite rising
corporate pressures.
View Broadcast Newswriters Speak About News Quality >>
Filed Under:
Labor/Guilds, TV, Journalism
Printer Friendly
Email Content