CAMARILLO : News Coverage Choices Discussed
Television ratings and financially strapped news budgets have a large influence on the media’s coverage of international issues and other world events, according to a panel of experts speaking in Camarillo.
“We are in a fight for our lives,” said Heather Allan, bureau chief for NBC News in Los Angeles, addressing 100 people at the event sponsored Tuesday by the World Affairs Council of Ventura County. “It comes down to money and viewership.”
She said the pinched network is often forced to select one issue over another in its news coverage. It has been “an absolute financial decision,” she said, responding to criticism of spotty news reports about developments overseas.
But Allan said much news coverage is determined by what the media perceive the public’s interest to be.
She said a series of complaints from viewers kept the bureau’s telephones busy when a wrestling match was preempted for coverage of this year’s air disaster at Los Angeles International Airport.
Other speakers at the council were Dan Fisher, editor of the Los Angeles Times World Report section; Edwin M. Reingold, a senior correspondent for Time magazine, and Gary Smith, managing director of the U.S. Information Agency in Los Angeles.
The World Affairs Council of Ventura County is one of 60 chapters nationwide, with a goal of stimulating interest in international affairs. The 1 1/2-year-old chapter with nearly 500 members hosts a presentation about once a month.
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