commentary

If the snapshot of this time is George Floyd on the ground, Derek Chauvin’s knee hard on his neck, society moves in one direction. But other images entice with a competing narrative: looters loading stolen goods into waiting cars; rogue protesters setting fires; graffiti on national monuments in Washington. For too many nights now, that narrative has gained strength — and moves the country closer to an outcome where force can be seen as both a short-term tactic and a long-term solution.

Preston Padden: “In Nixon’s railing against the liberal bias of the networks, one can almost hear Mr. Trump railing against social-media companies.”

Edge Networks’ Todd Achilles: “Many cities and towns in America have only a single local TV signal, importing network programming via long-distance cable and satellite feeds. Now that ATSC 3.0 has begun its march across America, there’s a real opportunity to hitch our future to a powerful stagecoach — particularly for viewers in mid-sized and small markets.”

Enlightened businesses who will survive today’s challenging environment will realize the value of reaching customers via equally savvy media companies that can provide both core media products along with broader exposure for marketing messages via today’s emerging services like over-the-top, podcasting, geofencing, branded content and retargeted banners.

The latest consumer research shows Americans are fatigued with hearing “we’re all in this together” from advertisers. They want a deal, touchless buying and deferred payments, not empathy.

Some trends in local television are making themselves clear as the country slowly reopens, among them a growing pressure to consolidate, a need to find new revenue streams and greater workplace portability.

Van Gordon Sauter: To many journalists, objectivity, balance and fairness — once the gold standard of reporting — are not mandatory in a divided political era and in a country they believe to be severely flawed. A return to balance would be commercially unviable. The best solution may be an honest embrace of bias.

The pandemic will affect the shows, attendees and exhibitors for years to come. Each of us now has a chance to think about where we as an industry go from here.

TV stations have seen their ad revenues take a sharp hit in the pandemic. Now is the time to be proactive about shoring up their morning newscasts, working closely with wary advertisers and vying for localized national ad dollars to chart a path through the crisis.

With every generation relying on media from a multitude of sources to inform and distract more than ever before, there is a huge opportunity for media companies to engage a captive audience. Forward-thinking media companies will be focused on creative solutions to keep engaging content flowing to consumers across a variety of platforms while continuing to find ways for advertisers to reach their potential customers.

As 1Q earnings come to a close, it’s clear that 2020 will no longer be a year of double-digit ad growth driven by record political spending. On the plus side, local TV has proved once more that the business is fundamentally sound and resilient. Also, Dennis Wharton has had enough.

The next front line in the COVID-19 battle will be struggles with the psychological damage. Concerns over society-wide anxiety and depression are increasing as people face the physical and economic fallout of the pandemic. But there’s a contributing factor to that growing alarm hiding in plain sight. Call it the “pundemic,” the parade of on-camera and online pundits delivering daily doses of dread and doom, based less on science and more on science fiction.

Margaret Sullivan: Trump wants America to ‘normalize’ coronavirus deaths. It’s the media’s job not to play along.

American Idol and The Voice, usually oversized spectacles, have become test cases for TV under lockdown. The results so far have been both affecting and unsettling, emotional and apocalyptic.

Lis Smith: If he can win the battle for our screens, he can benefit from the death of the traditional presidential campaign. Democrats should use the media to highlight Biden’s empathy and position him as the presidential warm blanket that a scarred America will need.

Local TV is facing a brutal quarter ahead, but the industry has shown creativity and endurance when dealing with past downturns. There’s every reason to believe it will do so again, and its first efforts are already visible.

Soo Kim took a shot across the bow at Tegna’s management in conceding his loss in a proxy fight last week. But beyond his Tegna stake, he’s backing other broadcast ventures in which a larger strategy is harder to see. Bonus news and commentary: The pandemic could hurt retrans revenue as well as ad revenue; group stock prices can’t get much worse; Nexstar offers a hard plan to soften AE woes; and TV and radio take another step toward full newsgathing equality.

Station business managers are critical to the organization’s success. Sometimes overlooked, they’re a GM’s partner in running the station and essential to realizing its strategic plan.

Journalist Ray Suarez clung to the middle class as he aged. The pandemic pulled him under.

Staffers at PBS affiliate WLVT and NPR affiliate, WLVR-FM in Lehigh Valley, Pa., feel the weight of the pandemic’s historic power in their everyday reporting. It’s keeping them motivated through an intensely difficult and uncertain time.

The rough-and-ready video quality of journalism during the coronavirus crisis is changing the way we engage with the media.

If there ever was doubt employees are our strongest assets, that should be gone. Engineers, to cite only one example, have repurposed, reworked and scrounged everything from laptops to boom mikes. And that same creativity and positive attitude has been on display in every other department at TV operations.

Phishing campaigns are increasingly targeting users’ fear and uncertainty over the coronavirus with media brands particularly vulnerable. Employing some basic strategies now can help reduce exposure.

Margaret Sullivan: The Trump administration is muzzling government scientists. It’s essential to let them speak candidly to the press again.

In these pandemic times, local newscasts are developing creative stories that offer real answers to viewers’ main concerns. They are finally opening two-way communication channels with the viewers’ and answering their questions in meaningful ways. In short, local TV newscasts have finally found their way out of their self-created rut by becoming relevant to their audience once again. And ratings have followed.

Reliable work-from-home options may find a more lasting place in local weathercasts even after we’ve reached the other side of the pandemic. These are some possible scenarios for weekday and weekend forecasts, along with severe weather and traffic.

Reliable work-from-home options may find a more lasting place in local weathercasts even after we’ve reached the other side of the pandemic. These are some possible scenarios for weekday and weekend forecasts, along with severe weather and traffic.

Joe Ferullo: “It turns out broadcasting delivers us something suddenly in short supply: human connection. The universal themes and populist appeal of most network shows allow everyone stuck at home to watch something together. And the set-in-stone broadcast TV schedule means you share that viewing experience in real time with millions of other people across the country.”

The coronavirus will not be the last disaster to rock the United States. In preparing for the next, policymakers must make sure that broadcasting is just as capable and resilient as the internet and wireless networks. To that end, they must mandate that smartphones, so crucial in emergencies, be equipped to receive FM and the new ATSC 3.0 TV signals.

In a time of pandemic crisis, when we need new voices, new ideas, and more thorough verification of claims, we’re headed to a media world with significantly fewer outlets, fewer fresh faces and fewer media resources.

Margaret Sullivan: “A month ago, it would have seemed unlikely — ridiculous, even — that the most riveting duo in America would be the Empire State’s combative governor and his kid brother, the wide-eyed cable-news host. But here we are. Sometimes comical, sometimes somber, sometimes emotional, their joint TV appearances have become one of the strangest outgrowths of the coronavirus pandemic.”