The state of the media in the US was the focus of one of the panels at the AEJMC annual conference.
Bob Papper of Hofstra University reported on the state of TV news in the US from a survey of local TV stations.
His message was that things aren’t as bad as they seem. TV news was still making money, though there has been a slight decline in revenue, coupled with a fall in loses due to cost-cutting.
Papper said 45% of station revenue came from news, a figure that has held steady for more than a decade.
The number of jobs in TV had dropped by 5.8% since 2007. But Papper put this in context by pointing out that the figure mirrors what is happening in the wider economy in the US.
In 2009, started with 770 TV stations producing local news and ended up with 762.
Papper said TV news departments are supplying content to more outlets than ever behalf, with half providing content to local radio outlets and to mobile devices.
“The big picture is that the TV news department is not just on TV,” said Papper.
He suggested the figures showed that TV stations had realised that they will have to make up on loss television revenue by moving to other platforms.
Another trend was TV stations being more heavily involved in cooperative ventures, with 60% collaborating with somebody else.
Papper said the typical station has several digital channels. Only 4% had all news channels, with just over 20% offering a weather channel.
TV stations seem to be embracing social media. 67% are covering it newscasts, 58% incorporating it in storytelling and 78% integrating it in website. But, Papper added, the quality and way of using social media varied widely.
In terms of Twitter, 38% of TV newsrooms constantly used it and 35% used it on a daily.
69% of stations had a three screen strategy: TV, web and mobile, with TV as the top priority.
By comparison, 61% of radio stations were not using social networking.
The picture for pay was promising, said Papper. TV news salaries rose 2.5% in 2009 while radio news salaries were uncharged.
Starting salaries remained low, with the median being $24,000 in TV and $19,000 in radio.
Papper predicted there could be further news expansion, with more all news digital stations and a rebound in jobs in television.
He forecast that TV could recoup all the job losses that took place in 2009.
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