Consumers abandon newspapers, local TV as quality of coverage sinks
| Washington
Cutbacks at newspapers and local television stations have left the news聽industry undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories or dig聽deep into public issues, according to the on American聽journalism.
That conclusion might be expected to matter most to聽journalists struggling to keep their jobs. But members of the general public have noticed the cutbacks in quality, which have caused them to turn away聽from news outlets, reports聽Pew, a respected nonpartisan organization.
Nearly one-third of US adults have stopped using a news source because聽it no longer provided them with the quality of coverage they were聽accustomed to getting. 鈥淲ith reporting resources cut to the bone and聽fewer specialized beats, journalists鈥� level of expertise in any one聽area and the ability to go deep into a story are compromised,鈥� the聽report said.
The woes of the newspaper industry are well known. A more recent聽development is that 鈥渓ocal TV finds itself newly vulnerable,鈥� Pew聽said. Or, as , 鈥渓ocal TV news is following聽print鈥檚 path.鈥澛�
Local TV audiences were down in every time slot and across all聽networks in 2013. While advertising purchases during the 2012聽election provided a temporary boost to revenues, average revenue for聽news-producing TV stations fell 36 percent from 2006 to 2011.
When Pew surveyed local TV news content, it found sports, weather, and聽traffic account for 40 percent of the average local news broadcast.聽The length of reported stories is shrinking.聽News providers face a vicious cycle. 聽As customers leave, news聽organizations can afford fewer reporters. That hurts quality and can聽lead to a further reduction in audience size.
鈥淭he relationship聽between the declining fortunes of news outlets and the shrinking of聽their audiences is a difficult one to untangle, a chicken-and-egg聽problem," notes Forbes blogger Jeff Bercovici.聽鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 a lack of quality that caused consumers to start聽turning away from their local papers and TV stations in the first聽place, there鈥檚 evidence that it鈥檚 now contributing to the trend in a聽real way.鈥�
The public鈥檚 increased use of mobile devices to access news is a聽positive development in some ways. Thirty-one聽percent of tablet users 鈥渟pend more time with news since聽getting their mobile devices and 43 percent said that the device is聽adding to the amount of news they consume,鈥� .
But traditional news providers such as newspapers and local TV stations聽are having a hard time getting their share of mobile ad sales. highlights the fact聽that 72 percent of the mobile ad market goes to just six companies,聽including Facebook. Pew found that improved geo-targeting lets聽national advertisers turn to Google and Facebook rather than buy ads from local media outlets.
In search of a viable business model, the newspaper industry 鈥渕ay have聽reached a tipping point in 2012鈥� in using a pay wall model in which subscribers pay for their access to news, Pew found. Some 450 of the聽nation鈥檚 1,380 daily papers now have a pay wall or plan to implement聽one.
鈥淚ncreasingly, it鈥檚 not just a question of what people want,鈥� former聽ABC News President David Westin told The Associated Press. "It鈥檚 what people are willing to pay for.鈥�
Amy Mitchell, acting director of the Pew Research Center鈥檚 Project for聽Excellence in Journalism, will on the report鈥檚聽findings in a webinar on Wednesday.
