Both our local newspapers reported the other dqy that KRQE-TV/13 News won the ratings war at 10 PM for the first time in eons.
That is certainly to the credit of the Channel 13 folks and to CBS; as the stories indicated, the network shows preceding the 10 PM newscast were very popular and some viewers just didn't change the channel.
What was missing from the stories was that the total number of viewers of local TV news is down, way down, for each of the competing stations. Viewership has been sinking for years now.
(The stations will tell you that's because viewers have more choice. Take that with a grain of salt; nobody but local stations offers local news.)
So why didn't the newspapers tell us Channels 4,7 and 13 are losing viewers for their local TV news programs?
Because they have no beat reporter covering TV. Or "media."
Funny. Years ago, when I worked in TV news (unaware that the phrase is an oxymoron), we were jealous of newspapers because they had staff. They could assign beats. Almost every TV reporter had to be a generalist.
Beat reporters learn a lot about their area of focus. Generalists? Not so much.
If I were running a newspaper today, I would ask myself if the beat system needs updating. As a newspaper reader, I miss and would institute the following beats asap:
• A business reporter. Not another booster, mind you, a reporter.
• A news mediums reporter.
• A religion/spirituality reporter.
I would appreciate your ideas on this.