Documentary explores why real news is disappearing from local TV newscasts

The current state of local news — both in newspapers and on television — has prompted the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute to form a commission to study whether people are getting enough information about their communities to make informed decisions. According to a new documentary from two Quinnipiac University professors, local television stations are failing to provide much in the way of news, reports Andy Bromage of the New Haven Advocate in Connecticut.

In "Deadlines and Dollars," Karin and Bill Schwanback, in a photo by Kathleen Cei, follow four local news reporters in Connecticut to examine why so little airtime goes to stories beyond the usual "crime and grime" stories. "On WFSB Channel 3, crime and spot news (those on-location reports that jazz up a newcast) typically get 58 percent of total news coverage, the film says, while government stories get just five percent," Bromage writes. "WTNH Channel 8 also does 58 percent crime/spot news, and 10 percent government. Lending credence to the 'if it bleeds, it leads' cliché, crime and grime lead Channel 8's newscasts 70 percent of the time and Channel 3's 80 percent of the time!"

Karin Schwanback explains those stats, which were the result of a six-week survey of the station's 11 p.m. broadcasts, are the a result of the increasingly profit-driven nature of local TV.

Crime and spot news are easy to produce with fewer reporters, which keeps costs down and profit margins up. Unlike the newspaper industry, which sees profits in the 18 percent range, TV networks are posting 40 to 50 percent profits.

Schwanback says she just as easily could have focused the film on photographers, editors or news directors. "They're all facing the same problem: They're working for publicly traded companies in which the mandate is to make a profit," she says, but chose reporters because she's sympathetic to their dilemma. (Read more)