The 2020 elections will bring a record-setting windfall to local TV stations (thanks, Mike Bloomberg!).
But that cash will mask a looming crisis for broadcasters. The rate of people dropping cable TV, and with it in many cases their access to local TV stations, doubled last year. The remaining audience is aging. At some point, the core business will be reduced to auto dealer ads on live NFL broadcasts — and even that will be at risk at some point.
The most progressive broadcasting outlets will recognize this moment in time and use some of that election cash to go digital first this year. Local TV still rates in surveys as the most trusted source of news. And broadcasters have an opportunity to gain some of the local market share being ceded by newspaper companies who failed to confront their own crisis before it was too late.
On a parallel track, public radio and TV stations face similar headwinds with their traditional broadcast audiences. A number of them received a windfall of millions from the FCC’s recent broadcast spectrum auction, and with it the capacity to reinvent themselves.
Public and commercial broadcasters alike could look to how NPR affiliate KPCC in Los Angeles went digital first with its revival of LAist, and how it adapted some of the things public media is best at doing for a new audience.
Developing a digital audience beyond traditional broadcast channels and formats means more text-based reporting (pivot away from video?), more attention to authentic audience engagement, and maybe even commercial TV and radio digital subscription and membership programs.
And while there’s a strong tradition of investigative reporting by broadcasters, that transition will require breaking exclusive news on more routine matters. That means doing the local beat reporting that’s been lost as newspapers have cut back, not just doing an audio or video version of stories that other outlets have reported in text.
Matt DeRienzo is a media industry consultant who most recently as vice president of news and digital content at Hearst’s Connecticut newspapers.
The 2020 elections will bring a record-setting windfall to local TV stations (thanks, Mike Bloomberg!).
But that cash will mask a looming crisis for broadcasters. The rate of people dropping cable TV, and with it in many cases their access to local TV stations, doubled last year. The remaining audience is aging. At some point, the core business will be reduced to auto dealer ads on live NFL broadcasts — and even that will be at risk at some point.
The most progressive broadcasting outlets will recognize this moment in time and use some of that election cash to go digital first this year. Local TV still rates in surveys as the most trusted source of news. And broadcasters have an opportunity to gain some of the local market share being ceded by newspaper companies who failed to confront their own crisis before it was too late.
On a parallel track, public radio and TV stations face similar headwinds with their traditional broadcast audiences. A number of them received a windfall of millions from the FCC’s recent broadcast spectrum auction, and with it the capacity to reinvent themselves.
Public and commercial broadcasters alike could look to how NPR affiliate KPCC in Los Angeles went digital first with its revival of LAist, and how it adapted some of the things public media is best at doing for a new audience.
Developing a digital audience beyond traditional broadcast channels and formats means more text-based reporting (pivot away from video?), more attention to authentic audience engagement, and maybe even commercial TV and radio digital subscription and membership programs.
And while there’s a strong tradition of investigative reporting by broadcasters, that transition will require breaking exclusive news on more routine matters. That means doing the local beat reporting that’s been lost as newspapers have cut back, not just doing an audio or video version of stories that other outlets have reported in text.
Matt DeRienzo is a media industry consultant who most recently as vice president of news and digital content at Hearst’s Connecticut newspapers.
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Power to the people (on your audience team)
Gordon Crovitz Fighting misinformation requires journalism, not secret algorithms
Lauren Duca The rise of the journalistic influencer
Christa Scharfenberg It’s time to make journalism a field that supports and respects women
Nathalie Malinarich Betting on loyalty
Kourtney Bitterly Transparency isn’t just a desire, it’s an expectation
Joe Amditis Collaborative journalism takes its rightful place at the table
Irving Washington Leadership isn’t something you learn on the job
Rachel Schallom The value of push alerts goes beyond open rates
Fiona Spruill The climate crisis gets the coverage it deserves
Alana Levinson Brand-backed media gets another look
Sara K. Baranowski A big year for little newspapers
Helen Havlak Platforms shine a light on original reporting
Elizabeth Dunbar Frank talk, and then action
Doris Truong The year of radical salary transparency
Bill Adair A Nobel Prize, a Brad Pitt film, and a Taylor Swift song
Whitney Phillips A time to question core beliefs
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists get left behind in the industry’s decline
Matt DeRienzo Local broadcasters begin to fill the gaps left by newspapers
Don Day Respect the non-paying audience
Nicholas Jackson What’s left of local gets comfortable with reader support
J. Siguru Wahutu Western journalists, learn from your African peers
Jim Brady We’ll complain about other people living in bubbles while ignoring our own
Jeff Kofman Speed through technology
Dannagal G. Young Let’s disrupt the logic that’s driving Americans apart
Peter Bale Lies get further normalized
Brian Moritz The end of “stick to sports”
Jasmine McNealy A call for context
Sarah Schmalbach Journalist, quantify thyself
Brenda P. Salinas Treating MP3 files like text
Michael W. Wagner Increasingly fractured, but little bit deliberative
Nico Gendron Make better products if you want to reach Gen Z
Linda Solomon Wood Everyone in your organization, moving toward a common goal
Victor Pickard We reclaim a public good
Logan Jaffe You don’t need fancy tools to listen
Anthony Nadler Clash of Clans: Election Edition
Candis Callison Taking a cue from Indigenous journalists on climate change
Meredith Artley Stronger solidarity among news organizations
Heather Bryant Some kinds of journalism aren’t worth saving
Sue Robinson Campaign coverage as test bed for engagement experiments
Talia Stroud The work of reconnecting starts November 4
Mike Caulfield Native verification tools for the blue checkmark crowd
Annie Rudd The expanded ambiguity of the news photograph
Jeremy Gilbert and Jarrod Dicker A call for collaboration between storytelling and tech
Eric Nuzum Podcasting finally creates another mega-hit show
Felix Salmon Spotify launches a news channel
Rachel Davis Mersey The business of local TV news will enter its downward slide
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The business we want, not the business we had
Craig Newmark Formalizing newsrooms’ battle against disinformation
Rick Berke Incoming fire from both left and right
Jennifer Brandel A love letter from the year 2073
Sonali Prasad Climate change storytelling gets multidimensional
Heidi Tworek The year of positive pushback
Logan Molyneux and Shannon McGregor Think twice before turning to Twitter
Raney Aronson-Rath News deserts will proliferate — but so will new solutions
Alice Antheaume Trade “politics” for “power”
Josh Schwartz Publishers move beyond the metered paywall
Jeremy Olshan All journalism should be service journalism
Cindy Royal Prepare media students for skills, not job titles
Mario García Think small (screen)
Bill Grueskin Our ethics codes get an overhaul
Kathleen Searles Pay more attention to attention
Cory Haik We’re already consuming the future of news — now we have to produce it
Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young The promise of nonprofit journalism
Tonya Mosley The neutrality vs. objectivity game ends
Mira Lowe The year of student-powered journalism
Catalina Albeanu Rebuilding journalism, together
Monique Judge The year to organize, unionize, and fight
Pablo Boczkowski The day after November 4
John Keefe Journalism gets hacked
Francesco Zaffarano TikTok without generational prejudice
AX Mina The Forum we wanted, the forum we got
Cristina Kim Public media stops trying to serve “everybody”
Sarah Stonbely More people start caring about news inequality
Jonas Kaiser Russian bots are just today’s slacktivists
Matthew Pressman News consumers divide into haves and have-nots
Ståle Grut OSINT journalism goes mainstream
Dan Shanoff Sports media enters the Bronny era
Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yafit Lev-Aretz News coverage gets geo-fragmented
Mariana Moura Santos The future of journalism is collaborative
A.J. Bauer A fork in the road for conservative media
Ben Werdmuller Use the tools of journalism to save it
Jake Shapiro Podcasting gets listener relationship management
Tom Glaisyer Journalism can emerge newly vibrant and powerful
Julia B. Chan We 👏 take 👏 breaks 👏
Meg Marco Everything happens somewhere
Barbara Gray Join local libraries on the frontlines of civic engagement
John Garrett It’s the best time in a century to start a local news organization
Lucas Graves A smarter conversation about how (and why) fact-checking matters
Kerri Hoffman Opening closed systems
Kristen Muller The year we operationalize community engagement
Joshua P. Darr All that campaign cash will make the media’s problems worse
Steve Henn The dawning audio web
Zizi Papacharissi A president leads, the press follows, reality fades
Ernie Smith The death of the industry fad
Stefanie Murray Charitable giving goes collaborative
Elizabeth Hansen and Jesse Holcomb Local news initiatives run into a capital shortage
Masuma Ahuja Slower, quieter, more measured and thoughtful
Sarah Alvarez I’m ready for post-news
Kevin D. Grant The free press stands against authoritarians’ attacks on truth
Richard Tofel A constraint of the reader-revenue model emerges
Laura E. Davis Know the context your journalism is operating within
Sarah Marshall The year to learn about news moments
Beena Raghavendran The year of the local engagement reporter
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, collaboration in a time of state attacks
Tamar Charney From broadcast to bespoke
M. Scott Havens First-party data becomes media’s most important currency
Errin Haines Race and gender aren’t a 2020 story — they’re the story
Simon Galperin Journalism becomes more democratic
Tanya Cordrey Saying no to more good ideas
Carrie Brown-Smith Engaged journalism: It’s finally happening
Margarita Noriega The platforms try to figure out what to do with single-subject newsrooms
Jakob Moll A slow-moving tech backlash among young people
Alexandra Borchardt Get out of the office and talk to people
Juleyka Lantigua A changing industry amps up podcasters’ ambitions
Knight Foundation Five generations of journalists, learning from each other
Geneva Overholser Death to bothsidesism
Greg Emerson News apps fall further behind
Colleen Shalby Journalists become media literacy teachers
Nushin Rashidian Are platforms a bridge or a lifeline?
Joanne McNeil A return to blogs (finally? sort of?)
Seth C. Lewis 20 questions for 2020
Imaeyen Ibanga Let’s take it slow
Joni Deutsch Podcasting unsilences the silent
Emily Withrow The year we kill the news article