commentary

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.”

David Zurawik: “Sounds of coughing and moaning throughout the room. Corridors overflowing with gurneys bearing COVID-19 patients, some in postures of distress. Sheets of plastic taped to walls, makeshift borders aimed at protection and some semblance of privacy. This is what ground zero looks like in the war on COVID-19, according to a CNN report that aired Monday. I believe we need to see more of these images from media outlets of the horrible truth shown here.”

General managers are showing their true quality in these extraordinary times, putting public service and concern for their staffs above all other considerations.

In an apocalyptic advertising downturn, ideas that would have been unthinkable weeks ago deserve immediate consideration.

WCPOCinccinnati’s Evan Millward: “If you told me three weeks ago that I would soon be anchoring a newscast from my living room, I would have laughed. Maybe rolled my eyes. Said, you clearly don’t understand how my job gets done. Well … joke’s on me.”

Margaret Sullivan says President Trump has begun using his daily press briefings on the coronavirus pandemic as a substitute for his sidelined campaign rallies rather than the critical venues for public information they should be. In response, she says news organizations should stop taking the briefings as live feeds and instead cover the news within them with context and fact checking at every step.

The recommended isolation to combat the coronavirus provides an ideal growth medium for a media business focused on immersive storytelling and social media interaction. Couple that with the recent suspension of most live sports and the resulting hole in television (and some radio) schedules and growth is almost inevitable.

Six months after the merger of two Top Four non-failing stations under Gray ownership, increased news offerings and wider signal coverage are among the results.

Hamiloton Nolan: Ten years ago day-to-day media reporting in New York City, which meant that the media news cycle was anchored by what was happening at New York media companies. Many of those outlets have since faded away. Today, one of the biggest employers of media reporters and critics in America is … the Washington Post. Has the center of media writing shifted from Gotham to DC?

The senator’s sweeping critique of coverage has more merit than we in the media like to admit.

You cannot be blamed at first glance for thinking the new AT&T TV is yet another OTT service. Actually, it is something else entirely; more akin to DirecTV than cable light. When one looks at the details and long-term pricing, it becomes easy to see AT&T TV is intended to replace DirecTV.

Margaret Sullivan: “Trump and his chosen spokespeople are attempting to dramatically play down the seriousness of the coronavirus and to blame the legitimate news media for doing their jobs of informing the public. In reporting what Trump has to say, the news media has a huge responsibility not to repeat and amplify his misleading spin — a spin that may serve his political interests but is not in the public interest.”

During the run-up to elections, stations are inundated with requests for political ads during newscasts and stations are happy to oblige. However, for news directors that can mean less time in the broadcasts for news. Hard decisions have to be made such as, “Do we even have time for sports tonight?” News director “victimhood” is often on display. Rather than just acting like a victim, here are some things that might make life a little more bearable.