This just in: Local TV news changing

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

What would Edward R. Murrow think of television reporters today tweeting, blogging and posting on websites?

Those are some of the tools Utah's news stations are using to remain relevant in an ever-evolving digital world.

Over the past five years, viewers have been abandoning traditional TV newscasts for online sources and 24-hour cable networks. As a result, Utah's four newscasts have seen the biggest shakeups inside their newsrooms in decades.

Three of the four stations -- KUTV Channel 2, KTVX Channel 4 and KSL Channel 5 -- have laid off dozens of employees, while trimming budgets and scaling back on resources, such as eliminating weather helicopters.

The number of households watching the 10 p.m. TV news in Utah has fallen 27 percent since 2005 from 99,000 to 72,000. The all-important ratings that determine advertising revenue have dropped 39 percent, according to Nielsen figures.

Local eyeballs follow national trend

The drop in local ratings mirrors a national trend. Audiences for local TV stations around the country dropped an average of 5 1/2 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism's The State of the News Media report. That drop has occurred as the number of households with TVs has gone up.

"It's a combination of the recession and a serious impact by the introduction of the Internet continuously grabbing more and more audience," said KSL News Director Con Psarras, who has been in the Utah television news business for 25 years.

In the past several years, three of Utah's four stations have undergone ownership changes and management restructuring. KSTU, KUTV and KTVX are currently owned by financial equity firms. Only KSL, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remains independent.

In front of the camera, Utah's two most familiar anchors, Dick Nourse at KSL and Michelle King at KUTV, retired at the end of 2007, while KTVX has replaced its nightly anchors a couple of times.

Killing the golden goose of TV news

Dale Cressman, assistant chairman of Brigham Young University's communications department and a veteran of television news, says he can notice the effects of these sweeping changes in the nightly newscasts -- and he doesn't like what he sees.

"The substantive enterprise reporting has been diminished," Cressman said. "They are relying more on so-called breaking news and features, less beat reporting. Also, I'm noticing a lot of faces I don't recognize that come and go, and I'm seeing much younger faces."

He also notices that fewer producers are each working on more pieces, and complains that news teases appear sloppy, while each channel is using more automation during newscasts. He blames these less-than-transparent cost-cutting measures on corporate thinking.

"It's the biggest downfall of American journalism -- becoming a smaller cog in a bigger machine," Cressman said of the corporate takeover of news outlets. "We have killed the golden goose that lays the golden egg for short-term profit."

Efficiency -- and new technology

But Utah's local news directors counter that belt-tightening has led to more efficient operations while reporters are still able to concentrate on in-depth, long-form stories.

KSL's Psarras points to a recent series on immigration and his station's launch of a new public-affairs program this spring, "Sunday Edition with Bruce Lindsay," as examples of local TV examining issues with more detail.

KUTV's Steve Carlston said newer technologies like lower-cost high-definition cameras, mobile communications and computerized editing have made reporting easier and faster. And KTVX's news director, Pat Livingston, insists his television newscast concentrates on local issues with better-crafted storytelling, something you can't get from websites or blogs.

"You have to cover the news of the day, but you have to add perspective," Livingston said. "You have to give them news you can use. I hate that cliché, but you're always looking to give something to the viewer that your competitors aren't."

'Think differently'

Meanwhile, the news stations have embraced the Web, social networking and new media technologies to help them deliver the news to more viewers, they said.

KSL leads in the online arena with users, thanks especially to its free Web classified section that draws the state's largest Internet audience daily. Yet all the local stations have forged ahead in the digital domain, beefing up their websites, assigning reporters and anchors to use Facebook, as well as to blog and send Twitter posts.

In the immediate future, more changes could be in store for KSL as owner Deseret Management Corp. (the for-profit management company for the LDS Church) is looking for strategies that will enable the Deseret News and KSL stations to work together to eliminate duplication and conserve resources.

KSTU's general manager, Tim Ermish, also believes the next step for stations is to move into mobile devices like smartphones. KSTU and KSL have launched native iPhone applications for immediate news delivery.

"You have to think differently," Ermish said about all the changes stations have endured. "You have to operate smarter and reach out to that younger generation."