In the wake of criticism that stations' online coverage of terrorist attacks in Paris wasn't thorough enough, I'd like to disagree. I don't think anyone turned to local stations’ websites expecting to see live, up-to-date coverage of that tragedy. And why should they? International news isn't their thing. Local is where their commitment is and should remain.
COMMENTARY BY PAUL GREELEY
Stations Need To Focus Online Efforts Locally
When news broke of the terrorist attacks in Paris, I suspect most news viewers turned immediately to cable news channels or their websites.
Perhaps some tuned into their local broadcast affiliates hoping to see live, continuous coverage of the story from the network news organizations like ABC or clicked into the network news websites.
I don’t think anyone turned to local stations’ websites expecting to see live, up-to-date coverage of that tragedy. And why should they? International news isn’t their thing.
In articles posted on their website, CJ&N consultants Steve Doerr and Steve Schwaid lamented that the local TV coverage of the terrorist attacks in Paris was disappointing.
Doerr writes that friends and relatives “were looking for information from their [his italics] local media sources and were coming up empty. One friend in the Midwest told me he had first checked the website of his favorite local news station, ‘but they don’t have anything yet.’ “
The local broadcasters were “getting crushed, their brands tarnished and their audiences going elsewhere for developments on the biggest international news story of the year.”
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Schwaid added: “Your competition is not the local television stations across the street. It’s the entire World Wide Web. You’re not only trying to lure on-air viewers, but every day you are also engaged in a fight in the digital world to establish credibility as a reliable information source.”
I respectfully disagree that stations should play in the international arena on their websites.
No TV station has the resources to provide substantial coverage of any international story. It’s not what they do.
Could they have copied and pasted some coverage from other sources? Sure, but I don’t think any reasonable news viewer would expect to get live, boots-on-the-street coverage from their local stations.
Yes, the Paris attacks were of vital importance to Americans. But the places to go for those are the networks. And I bet most Americans instinctively did.
I get that the digital and mobile side of local TV is growing. But, from what I’m told, that side of the business pales in comparison to broadcast, with most stations getting just 5% or 10% of their revenue from digital.
Given that, TV stations cannot afford to pour a lot of resources into their digital offerings. And what resources they do invest in them should be focused on what stations do best — local.
Paul Greeley covers television marketing and promotion for TVNewsCheck. You can follow his Market Share blog here.
Comments (7)
alan taylor says:
December 14, 2015 at 9:09 am
You’re probably in the minority based on the people I deal with, but I agree with you. Well said.
Matthew Castonguay says:
December 14, 2015 at 9:22 am
You are absolutely correct.
Wagner Pereira says:
December 14, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Well Paul, Too bad research disagrees with you and supports the opposing view. For example, it shows that people use between 10-20 Apps, and 10-20 websites, and wouldn’t you know…..watch 10-20 TV Channels. This is why sites like Google and Facebook have tried to expand to where they are the Portal of Choice. Even though International News scores very low with USA Viewers, that does not mean they do not want information on certain key events (like Paris). Local Stations that do not have have info image their News Brand if it is missing. CNN went live with CNN International Simulcasts all weekend. Fox News did not show their typical Weekend Programming and was live all Weekend. Even MSNBC was live all weekend without the standard weekend Cop/Prison Shows! That shows how important this event was when people wanted information. And you advise the local USA stations to not worry about it? lol. Proceed with that advice with your own peril!
bart meyers says:
December 14, 2015 at 5:40 pm
Dear Insider, You have me at a disadvantage. I would love to reply using your first name as you did in using mine. That’s the friendly way to do it.
In any event, I’m not an expert on this subject. I merely used common sense.
Wagner Pereira says:
December 15, 2015 at 7:17 am
Unfortunately, all Research shows your common sense is incorrect. In fact, even if you did not have the proprietary Research, every fact I have stated has been well documented by some measure in the Industry Trades – a large majority has been available on this site.
Wagner Pereira says:
December 15, 2015 at 7:23 am
BTW, as this event started happening roughly at 4PM ET (10PM in Paris) most of the “digital staffs” in TV Stations were getting ready to call it a week. I still find stories 4 days old early Monday Morning on many TV Websites as virtually nothing is touched or updated on the websites over the weekend. In Europe, virtually every News Outlet was gone for the weekend except for “the fox news” of France, BFM-TV, who busted their young butts to cover the story. The thing is, Brian Williams was only on for a few hours on MSNBC and should have been on all Weekend….and if this had happened after 8PM ET, Holt/Muir et al would have been gone – no different than what we have seen from Sawyer and Holt when Tornadoes and other breaking news has happened over the last 18 months on Friday Night.
Bijel Doshi says:
December 17, 2015 at 9:10 am
I’m with Paul on this one