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TV, Newspapers Struggle To Find Their Future

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By WALT BELCHER wbelcher

@tampatrib.com

Published: April 1, 2009

Is journalism dying or is it on the verge of being reborn?

Are we witnessing the end of newspapers, local TV and local radio news?

Or is there a brave new world of news delivery and consumption on the horizon?

For more than two years, newspapers seem to have been writing their own obituaries. All news about the news industry has been bad news.

Circulation is down. Advertisers have fled. The results have been layoffs, cutbacks, downsizing of product, bankruptcy and even closing up shop, such as the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.

For those lured to this business by of the excitement and romance of being a newshound like the characters in "His Girl Friday," "The Front Page" or - for a later generation - "All the President's Men," it's discouraging to see a Web site such as www.newspaperdeathwatch .com.
Television stations throughout the country are facing the same double whammy of an Internet that eats away at the audience and an unforgiving economic depression that has advertisers closing their wallets.

The announcement Tuesday that WFLA, Channel 8, is dropping its unprofitable midday newscast sends another chill through an already nervous Tampa area journalism community. There have been layoffs at just about every media outlet in town.

"I'm still here - today," is a common gallows humor greeting among those who work at the newspapers, radio stations and television stations here.
Television stations from New York to Seattle also have laid off staff. Some veteran longtime anchors in major markets have been forced into retirement. A few stations, like WFLA, have cut newscasts.

Much has been written about newspapers losing readers to the Internet, but local television news has been in decline for more than decade.

In 1998, nearly two-thirds of the public (64 percent) told the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press that they regularly watched local television news. By 2008, that number had fallen to 52 percent.

Some say the future of journalism is online, and we scribes here at the Tribune are working hard to feed TBO .com.

Online probably is the future, but I keep hearing from people who prefer newsprint to a laptop while downing that morning cup of coffee. But change is coming, and nothing is likely to stop it.

TV stations and newspapers are scrambling to find where this technology will lead us. Newspapers are launching live webcasts and delivering news to cell phones and other handheld devices.

A TV station in Ohio last month launched a newscast built around Twitter, Facebook and live chats with viewers. Instead of sitting behind a desk, the anchors report from the newsroom in front of their computers.

We're seeing this same kind of viewer-anchor interaction on WTSP, Channel 10, with the "10 Connects" newscasts. WFLA also has added this element with Facebook interaction on the News Channel 8 morning reports.

WFLA, the Tribune and TBO.com are working closer than ever before to cover the Tampa Bay area with whatever it takes to reach the public. I just hope the economy turns around in time for newspapers to find their future.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

"Life on Mars" 10 p.m., ABC

The series finale tonight promises to give us answers about Sam, Annie and whether he gets home to 2008.

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