Local television newscasts around the country look alike and are filled with crime, accidents, and disasters. Interviews with more than 2,000 TV journalists around the country demonstrate that news looks this way because of the ingrained belief that 'eye-ball grabbers' are the only way to build an audience. This book contradicts the conventional wisdom using empirical evidence drawn from a five-year content analysis of local news in more than 154 stations in 50 markets around the country. The book shows that 'how' a story is reported is more important for building ratings than what the story is about. Local TV does not have to 'bleed to lead'. Instead local journalists can succeed by putting in the effort to get good stories, finding and balancing sources, seeking out experts, and making stories relevant to the local audience.
• Contradicts the conventional wisdom about what succeeds on television news • Describes a Magic Formula for ratings success for newscasts regardless of time slot, market size, level of competition, or network affiliation • Gives specific advice about how to craft news stories on particular topics, based on actual ratings data from 154 stations in a 5-year study • Contains realistic advice from news practitioners about how to change the culture of a newsroom so that these ideas can be put into practice
Contents
Acknowledgments; 1. A prologue: what this book is for Dante Chinni and Tom Rosenstiel; 2. The knowledge base Tom Rosenstiel and Marion Just; 3. 'I-Teams' and 'Eye Candy': the reality of local TV news Wally Dean and Atiba Pertilla; 4. The myths that dominate local TV news: the X-structure and the fallacy of the hook and hold method of TV news Wally Dean, Atiba Pertilla and Todd Belt; 5. The magic formula: how to make TV that viewers will watch Todd Belt and Marion Just; 6. Steps to better coverage Todd Belt and Marion Just; 7. Putting it all into action: techniques for changing newsroom cultures Wally Dean; 8. The road ahead: the future of local TV news Tom Rosenstiel and Dante Chinni; Appendix A. Design team members; Appendix B. Quality grading criteria and value codes; Appendix C. Content analysis intercoder reliability analyses; Appendix D. Sample of local TV news stations; Appendix E. 2005 follow-up study; Notes; References; Index.
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