 Virginia Professional Chapter The Society of Professional Journalists |
Mission Statement: The mission of the Virginia Pro Chapter is to represent and bring together Virginia journalists on issues of importance to the profession to achieve fellowship, education, and support, and to improve our credibility with the public. |
May 25, 2007 New audience, habits affect nightly news By Gayland Hethcoat RICHMOND – There are no ifs, ands or buts about it: Fewer Americans are watching television news, despite broadcast news outlets’ efforts to use increased online content to divert viewers back to TV. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 54 percent of Americans regularly watched local news in 2006, down from 77 percent in 1993. During the same period, nightly network news saw viewers decrease by more than half, from 60 to 28 percent. Even cable TV news has begun to see shrinking percentages, from 38 percent in 2004 to 34 percent in 2006. Anchor Aaron Gilchrist of NBC 12, in Richmond, Managing Editor Pam Harris of CBS6 News, in Richmond, and Associate Professor Deb Wenger of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Mass Communications pondered the death of the newscast in a discussion at the March 31 Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 Conference, held at Virginia Commonwealth University. “People have other things that they need to be doing,” Gilchrist said of declining viewership. “Spending a lot of time watching local news or network news, or cable news for that matter, doesn’t necessarily fit into people’s lives the way it used to.” Harris said the dilemmas broadcasters are facing have less to do with viewership losses and more to do with changing habits, particularly among youth.
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