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San Bernardino shooting shows how important TV news is: ‘You can’t not watch’

Jeff Zucker, president of CNN, in November.

Jeff Zucker, president of CNN, in November.

(Larry Busacca / Getty Images)
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The San Bernardino shooting rampage showed that television news is still vital in the social media age.

Fox News, CNN and MSNBC saw their audience levels surge Wednesday as viewers watched the real-time drama that included a police search and a climactic shootout.

ABC, CBS and NBC devoted hours of airtime to continuous coverage led by their signature anchors, some of whom got on planes later that night to report on the investigation at the scene Thursday.

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“Breaking news will always require wall-to-wall coverage, and television is the place for it,” said Judy Muller, a USC journalism professor and former correspondent for ABC News. “It’s a visual story. It’s unfolding in front of you. How is that different from ‘CSI’? We’re so accustomed to watching crime unfold and be wrapped up on television. As horrifying as it is and as appalled as we are, you can’t not watch.”

But TV news professionals believe that breaking stories with life-and-death outcomes also heighten the value of their medium, which has seen its market share diminish against new competitors and technologies. Even younger viewers who grow up without the TV news habit turn to established networks and personalities in times of crisis.

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“Everybody is a reporter now because they can tweet,” CNN President Jeff Zucker said. “Everybody is a reporter now because they have a blog. Whatever it is, social media has changed everything. We’re very conscious at CNN that you’re going to find out about what’s going on Twitter or Facebook or whatever social media that you frequent. But we know that you’re going to come to CNN to see if it’s true. And that’s really the role we think we play now.”

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith agreed that the stream of information online only makes it more of an imperative for television — which still has the largest news audiences — to ensure a trusting bond with viewers.

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“It’s not ever a time to try to win,” Smith said. “It’s not a time to get scoops. It’s a time to let the facts unravel without getting people alarmed. I’ve always felt if we keep it calm and always tell people what we don’t know as well as the things that we do, our relationship will be maintained.”

The broadcast network news divisions were able to rely on their locally owned TV stations in the Los Angeles market for their San Bernardino coverage, and Muller believed that they did well. “The networks can go to them because who knows the territory better?” she said. “And most Americans get their information from local TV news.”

But as the casualties escalated and the investigation into the backgrounds of the shooters, who killed 14 people and injured 21, intensified, the broadcast networks needed to make the call on whether to send anchors to the scene.

Although viewer interest in a major breaking story can be a high-profile platform for TV news talent, “there is no one-size-fits-all approach” on the decision to dispatch a big name, CBS News executive editor Steve Capus said.

CBS turned to “CBS This Morning” co-anchor Norah O’Donnell, who was in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, to interview President Obama when news of the shootings spread. After she delivered her exclusive report on the president’s first comments from the White House lawn, O’Donnell and “This Morning” executive producer Chris Licht flew to Southern California, where she co-anchored the program the next morning.

“There was a moment where we looked at each other and said let’s go,” Licht said. “By adding your anchor there, it signifies it’s a big story, but there are a lot of big stories where you don’t send your anchor there. We always ask, ‘Is this going to be value added?’ It’s a case-by-case valuation.”

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Licht’s competitors came to the same conclusion. In addition to O’Donnell, anchors Matt Lauer of NBC’s “Today” and Amy Robach of ABC’s “Good Morning America” were set up in the cold, predawn hours in San Bernardino to report for their programs’ East Coast feeds. All three were once simultaneously employed by NBC News, but no one was in the mood for a reunion.

“You just put your head down and do your thing,” Licht said. “It’s such a horrible story and nobody wants to be there.”

But being there does help the networks as law enforcement officials will spend more time talking to a news personality they recognize and trust.

“They are less likely to brush you off,” Licht said. “That’s the best way to put it.”

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