COMMENTARY
The Future Of U.S. Local Television
Bill Harvey: It’s hard to sell local. Even before digital came along, advertisers who put 40% of their TV dollars into spot in the 60s …
COMMENTARY
Jeff Bezos Once Saved The Washington Post. Now He Needs To Do It Again
Margaret Sullivan: The paper’s reinvention, with the appointment of Will Lewis as publisher, is a mess – but there’s still time to turn …
AI & TV
Surviving Google’s AI Overviews: Expert Strategies For News-Based Publishers
Google's AI Overviews provide direct answers, creating a zero-click search experience. Learn why news orgs should be concerned and get …
AI & TV
Countering Google’s AI Summaries: A Survival Guide For News Organizations
Google’s AI Overviews now provide direct answers to user queries, creating a zero-click search engine experience. Here’s why news …
COMMENTARY
‘Daily Show’ Showrunner: Why We Switched Gears For The Election
Since Jon Stewart’s return, the Comedy Central flagship has been striving to reestablish itself as a mandatory stop for candidates in search …
COMMENTARY
NextGen TV: Lighthouse To Nightlight And Beyond
Could 3.0 datacasting someday fund a gentle shutoff of ATSC 1.0?
TVN’S MANAGING MEDIA BY MARY COLLINS
Broadcast TV Must Come To Terms With Its Maturity
Local TV broadcasters have two options in front of them: wind down or transition. For those that choose the latter, they still have assets …
COMMENTARY
Memo to Hollywood: AI Is a Threat — And an Opportunity
Evolving tech is blurring lines and encroaching on artists’ terrain. But rather than just fighting AI, the industry must harness it in …
COMMENTARY
Government Has No Business Trying To ‘Save’ Journalism
Jeffrey M. McCall: Solid journalism is, indeed, essential to the functioning of the nation. The constitutional framers knew that well, but …
RAISING THE BARR
Requiem For The General Manager
An unsettling trend of putting GMs in charge of multiple markets is creeping into the industry. It doesn’t bode well for those who hope for …
COMMENTARY
Why Doesn’t YouTube TV Carry C-SPAN?
Tom Wheeler: "Over the past four decades, we have come to take C-SPAN for granted. But this important public service is now threatened by a …
NEWS ANALYSIS
The Collapse Of The News Industry Is Taking Its Soul Down With It
Wounded and limping, doubting its own future, American journalism seems to be losing a quality that carried it through a century and a half …
THE PRICE POINT
Are The Broadcast Networks Killing Their Affiliates?
Programming fees have become so onerous as to threaten the future viability of affiliates. Networks need to remember: If stations go under, …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
Tackling Local TV News’ Pay Problem, There Are No Easy Answers
Sean McLaughlin: To assess local TV’s compensation problem in the cold light of day means acknowledging hard market realities. Here’s what …
AI & TV
AI’s Desperate Hunger For News Training Data Has Publishers Fighting Back. Here’s How.
As desperate AI companies face training data shortages, news organizations are finding new ways to fight back against the AI scraping of …
TVN’S MANAGING MEDIA BY MARY COLLINS
Noncompetes Are A Distraction From Media’s Real Issues
The FTC’s recent move to ban noncompete agreements and the media management uproar that ensued are a sideline from more pressing industry …
OPEN MIKE
Broadcasters, J-Schools Must Work More Closely To Solve TV News Recruitment Problem
Kevin Curran: Today’s journalism students are tethered to their phones for information. Their professors and the broadcasters who would hire …
OPEN MIKE
How AI Can Save Journalism
Cynthia Lieberman: In the right hands and with thoughtful application, artificial intelligence has the potential to save and revitalize …
COMMENTARY
Heard About The FTC’s Ban On Noncompetes? The Truth Is Worse
Scott R. Flick: "On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced a new rule banning employee noncompete agreements, treating them as …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
Local TV News’ Recruitment Problem Has A Solution
Across the country, open positions at TV newsrooms stay vacant or draw a drizzle of poorly equipped, unimaginative applicants. Changes at …
COMMENTARY
Vantage Points: Broadcast TV Sales Is Broken
David Buonfiglio: "I love TV. Always have. I’m still convinced it’s the single most effective branding medium ever created. I worked in (or …
COMMENTARY
Adam Sympson: Where We Are Headed And Why
We are in the midst of a shift in the media industry in which many companies are pursuing business models that have yet to be proven and may …
COMMENTARY
FCC Will Stay ‘Lost At Sea’ Until Antiquated Broadcast Ownership Rules Are Eliminated
Armstrong Williams: Depression-era regulations won’t protect local journalism in the digital age.
REINVENTING THE NEWS
How To (Actually) Change A TV Newsroom Culture
The industry’s focus on newsroom culture is critical, but nothing can fundamentally change unless leaders take these active and essential …
COMMENTARY
Local Approach May Be Key To Combating Digital Discrimination
Stuart N. Brotman: "Recently, Los Angeles became the first major U.S. city to ban digital discrimination by expanding L.A.’s authority to …
COMMENTARY
Remembering The Time Long Ago When Journalism Actually Meant Something
Adam Buckman: "Robert MacNeil, who died last week at age 93, may have been the last of his generation of broadcast journalists who set …
COMMENTARY
The Real Story Behind NPR’s Current Problems
Alicia Montgomery: Yes, the broadcaster is a mess. But “wokeness” isn’t the issue.
REINVENTING THE NEWS
Sometimes, Local News Just Needs To Know Where To Stop
Time- and staff-starved newsrooms often cling tightly to practices they’ve always had, impeding their ability to take on newer, more …
THE PRICE POINT
Local TV’s Hiring Crisis Has A Solution
Local TV can still attract a truly talented younger generation of workers. But it will need to excite them with the prospect of inventing a …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
For TV News, Sacred Cows Are A Fatal Impediment To Change
If local TV journalism is to have a future, its leaders need to assess the true value of everything it holds sacred and empower the change …
OPEN MIKE BY JERALD FRITZ
Stepping On The Gas For NextGen TV Broadcast Deployment
ONE Media’s Jerald Fritz: NextGen broadcasting provides new essential tools for broadcasters to serve their viewers as well as generate new …
TVN’S MANAGING MEDIA BY MARY COLLINS
NAB Show Offers An Expansive Gen AI Primer
One look at the schedule for the 2024 NAB Show and you might be convinced that artificial intelligence (AI) offers the solution for all that …
JESSELL AT LARGE
FCC’s Heavy Hand With Nexstar And WPIX Is Misguided, Out-Of-Date
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel is in a position to do much good for TV journalism, but she chooses to do harm. On March 21, the agency fined …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
For Bolstering Local News, Weather Remains The Most Powerful Tool
How a station handles weather — and the caliber and connectedness of weathercasters in a local market — are critical to a successful news …
RAISING THE BARR
Baltimore Bridge Collapse Reinforces The Essential Need For Local Coverage
Local reporters, anchors and news helicopters played an invaluable role in telling the story of Tuesday morning’s shocking disaster in …
NEWS ANALYSIS
Inside Media’s 12 Splintering Realities
You can't understand November's election — or America itself — without reckoning with how our media attention has shattered into a bunch of …
OPEN MIKE
Not So Fast On Sidelining The News Anchor
KSTP’s Kirk Varner: To jettison the anchor as one means of averting an “iceberg” facing local TV news would be the absolute worst move, as …
OPEN MIKE
It’s Time For A Reset On NextGen TV
AWARN's John Lawson: The ATSC 3.0 transition is stalled. A new public-private partnership could jump start it.
COMMENTARY
Just Because The FCC Can Regulate Broadcasting, Should It?
David Oxenford: To conclude that it is deregulation, not marketplace forces, that is decreasing localism is to ignore the media marketplace …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
Is It Time To Sideline The Local News Anchor?
TV anchors in their conventional form have outlived their sell-by date. It’s time to think about jettisoning many and putting those worth …
OPEN MIKE BY TIM SEWELL
For FAST Channels, Server-Side Ad Insertion Is A Potent Revenue Tool
Broadcasters need to harness SSAI cost-effectively to get the most monetization opportunities from the FAST channels they’ve embraced. The …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
To Improve TV Reporting, Start With Station Priorities
TV stations throw many impediments in the way of reporters trying to produce quality work. Clearing the way for their success starts with …
OPEN MIKE
Using AI In Media Planning And Buying
The benefits of AI and generative AI are becoming glaringly evident in the world of media buying and planning, where smarter trendspotting …
THE PRICE POINT
Faced With Unprofitability In ’25, Station Groups Must Pivot Now
Some local station groups must lean into creativity, experimentation and the prospect of divorcing their networks if they’re to survive an …
REINVENTING THE NEWS
Local TV News Faces An Iceberg In ’25. Here’s How To Steer Clear Of It
Local audiences no longer see the value of TV news, and newsrooms are barreling towards the end of their runway to change that. But there …
TVN’S MANAGING MEDIA BY MARY COLLINS
A Cure For Media Malaise
The media industry, roiled by layoffs, coverage of a deeply contentious election and trust issues, is seeing morale plummet. Good managers …
THE PRICE POINT
Why TVNewsCheck Matters
TVNewsCheck’s daily newsletters and original stories are essential reading for our industry. It’s absence from our inboxes is already keenly …
COMMENTARY
New Sports Joint Venture Is Too Small
Ted Hearn: The joint venture formed this week by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery promises a massive slate of sports programming …