WXIA Atlanta

Newsletters, documentaries, citizen journalism and better-quality UGC are driving better-engaged viewers in higher numbers to stations, leaders from Tegna, Graham Media and Sinclair said at a TVNewsCheck webinar last Friday, where they made clear that quality trumped novelty.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp talks with Madison Carter, a journalist with the Atticus investigative unit at WXIA Atlanta and Monika Diaz, content director at Tegna, about the work behind their new, three-part investigative series, A Different Cry, about rising suicide rates among Black youths.

When a Georgia county school hired a diversity, equity and inclusion administrator, parents criticized the move. Two agreed to interview experts and allow WXIA to report on what they learned and whether it changed their conclusions.

WPCH, WGCL, WSB, WAGA and WXIA are now broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 technology.

Brendan Keefe, WXIA Atlanta’s chief investigative reporter, explains how to bring creative storytelling and novel visuals to standups, day turns and investigative stories, and how working alone amps up innovation. For more insights from Keefe, check out this episode of TVNewsCheck’s Talking TV. This is the latest installment of How To, a TVNewsCheck original video series that solicits innovative, practical and actionable advice from TV experts in news, technology, sales and marketing. Earlier episodes: How To Animate A News Story and How To Sell Local OTT Advertising.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp talks with Brendan Keefe, chief investigative reporter at Tegna’s WXIA Atlanta, about how local news can rediscover creativity at every level — even day-turn stories — by looking at stories with fresh eyes.

WXIA Atlanta took an innovative approach to address concerns and mistrust over the COVID-19 vaccines. Instead of a reporter interviewing the experts, they turned the questioning over to an Atlanta viewer skeptical of the COVID-19 vaccines, a mom with two kids who was also a caregiver for her live-in elderly mother.

Brendan Keefe, chief investigative reporter at WXIA, Tegna’s NBC affiliate in Atlanta, has pretty much been a one-man-band since he was hired as a news photographer in 1991.  Today, Keefe is the leader of the investigative team at WXIA, and the corporate trainer for all 60 Tegna stations.

Cox Media Group’s WSB has been the beast in Atlanta for many years, but the race is tightening. Fox-owned WAGA is coming on strong with its relentless local content strategy, and the other players are shaking things up, too.

The Tegna-owned MNT affiliate WATL Atlanta (DMA 10) will debut news in primetime today from co-owned NBC affiliate WXIA. 11Alive News: Primetime will air from 8 to 10 p.m.

Creating more long-form, “nuanced” journalism is a way for local stations to grab younger viewers in an era where there is a growing dissatisfaction with the national news media. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)