Give Them Quality, and They Will Watch

I am 19 years old. I grew up with video games and a short attention span and cellphones. I can talk to my friends across the country online. I am a child of Google and Yahoo. I can watch anything I want. I can get news from any source I want. There is a reason why I do not watch the local news. It is worthless.

In a 2004 survey conducted by the Pew Charitable Trusts, nearly half of the local journalists polled said they believe that local journalism is heading in the wrong direction. It is hard to understand how a diet of celebrities such as Michael Jackson or Brad and Angelina can be moving in the right direction. At a time when world-changing events are occurring in the Middle East that could legitimize the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq, Southern Californians are subjected to the car chase du jour.

Local news is under pressure. Most local broadcasts are losing ratings. Gimmicky formats, teasers, smiley twentysomething personalities and consumer investigations (which often wreak havoc on small businesses) are the main fare at the expense of national and international news. Gimmicks can grab viewers’ attention. But only content will keep them.

Further, local news can’t compete on speed of delivery with the 24-hour cable news channels and the Internet. But they come up short too. Although CNN and Fox News offer a lot of stories, there is little in-depth discussion, other than the daily afternoon shout fests between pundits. Here is an opportunity for local news to offer something different.

A study conducted by Indiana University’s Institute for Communication Research compared four news programs. Each news program varied in story length and speed. The 18- to 22-year-olds preferred a fast-paced newscast, and they also liked longer stories that moved quickly. Older age groups showed no preference. The 18- to 22-year-olds also retained the most information from long stories.

This indicates that a format with a few long stories told at a quick pace could attract younger viewers without losing older ones. Instead of competing with 24-hour news channels, the local news could act as a supplement. Instead of reporting up to 25 stories in segments ranging from 30 seconds to a minute, the news could show between six and 10 in-depth stories.

More content does not necessarily make the news boring. Stories could use multiple graphics and dramatic footage and offer analysis and opinions on some issues.

Improved quality in stories may help maintain a station’s lead-in audience from network programming. After watching an hourlong network drama, such as “ER,” a viewer must be pulled in by something more than what he can flip through in a newspaper or browse on the Internet.

As the Internet and 24-hour cable news gain ground, local television news will become obsolete unless it offers something different. My generation does not lack for sources of information. We do, however, lack quality information. Give us content and analysis we cannot get elsewhere, and we will watch.

Andrew Barr is a sophomore at Claremont McKenna College.