According to numerous sources, ABC News is going to cut 300 to 400 positions from its news staff, about 20% of the total. Citing the downturn in advertising revenue, executives plan to "restructure the labor-heavy newsroom", turning their news-gathering teams into "one-man band" reporters with digital cameras.
Following on the heels of recent cuts announced by CBS News, this announcement adds to the pressures broadcast journalists face in trying to stay employed.
But in addition to the jobs, the long-term viability of ABC as a news outlet is being threatened.
The executives at ABC are applying a short-term solution to their financial dire straits instead of having a long-term plan that leads to stability. Throwing around tired terms like "repositioning", "paring down", and favoring a "more nimble operation" does not establish how ABC News will survive in the long run.
Instead of turning its hatchet toward the staff that produce their product, ABC News should take a long hard look at what their executives and talking heads get paid. They need to decide whether their survival is bought by sinking millions into a pretty face for the camera, or by paying for the kind of reporting and quality journalism that its viewers expect to see from a news program.
If they move their expenditures away from the top levels and put it back into the newsroom, the viewers, and by extension, the revenue, will come back.
--Darrell McChesney
No solution is permanent mostly if that concerns economy. The only solution for media to survive is to cope or anticipate their future.
ReplyDeleteIt is this lack of anticipation that leads to the one-person outposts serving at the same time as reporter, producer and videographer. And it becomes easy to justify that by saying that digital technology allows to cover the world in ways that were unthinkable a generation ago.
What about quality? If this key ingredient is missing during news productions, viewers get superficial packages even broadcasts believe that are all they can afford by hiring unexperienced journalists.
Expertise and and quality are two things that attract viewers.
If media need to survive, they must produce qualitaty news as does NewsHour.
Therefore, there is a hope for journalists to keep their job.
Ramata