Many local television news stations could do a better job in their coverage by taking the path already traveled by successful stations. How can reports about serious issues such as politics, health, education, and crime draw viewers? In this chapter we explain by looking at how the “typical” story is crafted in each topic area and then offering ways that stations can improve on those stories. Most importantly, we show that this kind of coverage will not lose viewers and can actually increase audience and ultimately revenues.

COVERAGE OF CRIME

If there is one area where a station might want to alter its coverage it is crime. Crime stories make up nearly one-quarter (24%) of all stories broadcast. Moreover, crime stories are most likely to be first in a newscast. Whether this kind of attention is warranted is a valid question. In terms of audience appeal, crime stories get nearly identical ratings as noncrime stories. And this is true whether or not the story is local or national. But because of local TV's focus on crime, learning to cover the topic successfully may help stations to better build and hold their audiences.

The Typical Crime News Story

The typical crime story is highly local. Of all the topics we studied, crime is the second most likely to be local in nature (social issue topics are first). This may not be surprising given the fact that audiences are more concerned with crime in their immediate communities rather than crimes elsewhere.