Journalism

ABC and NBC claimed ratings crowns for their news programs in the 2016-17 TV season that ended last week, but their kingdom of viewers is still getting smaller. The average number of viewers watching network evening newscasts each night during the 2016-17 season was 23.1 million, down 4% from the 2015-16 season. In the morning, the three networks’ total was 12.2 million viewers, a decline of 5% from the previous year.

With $4.5 million, the Knight Foundation is launching a new commission — and funding more new projects — to address declining public trust in media.

During the past several days the feud between President Trump and the NFL regarding many of its players taking a knee during the national anthem has deepened an already divisive debate about the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and expression. What’s not as well known is that there has been a steady increase in efforts in many states to squelch public protests, an effort quite possibly borne out of the protests and rioting that followed the shootings of African-Americans by white police officers and others, which became more frequent three years ago.

They will be presented at the group’s Sept. 27 banquet in Washington. Rep. Marsha Blackburn to deliver the keynote address.

After deciding it had to evacuate its Cape Coral station in advance of Hurricane Irma, Scripps’ Fox affiliate in a technical tour de force  continued to provide full local coverage with an anchor desk in Tampa (above), news production in Detroit and master control in Indianapolis.

Bill O’Reilly, the longtime Fox News anchor, has been booked as a guest on Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. program. Fox News confirmed late Monday the lineup of Hannity guests for the rest of the week.

Morgan Murphy ABC affiliate KXLY Spokane, Wash., is looking for an executive news director. Sinclair/Eastern North Carolina is looking for a director of sales. A managing director is needed at HOMEBASE Digital (RJ Media Group) in Connecticut. To see all job openings, visit our Media Job Center here.

The deal will add Community Newspaper Holdings’ 110 newspapers and other publications to Raycom’s portfolio, less seven it has to sell to comply with media ownership rules. Raycom and CNH are principally owned by Alabama state pension fund and based in Montgomery. “There are general administrative costs we can take out of the business,” while taking advantage of content sharing and sales opportunities, says Raycom CEO Pat LaPlatney.

In her 60 Minutes debut as a special correspondent, she talked to 14 Americans about how they feel about the president — the results were decidedly mixed.