In a mail survey of 283 television journalists (67 percent completion) who cover city government in the 214 U.S. television markets, respondents were asked about station commitment to local government news in terms of prominence, airtime, and perceived newsroom importance. Small-market stations were seen as more committed to covering city hall, a finding consistent with content analysis data about local news coverage. More veteran reporters perceived diminishing commitment and quality during the last five years, with fewer stories and less airtime.
In 1993,423 journalists who had worked in both competitive-and singledaily cities were asked their perceptions of how newspaper competition afects content. A majority of journalists said competing dailies provide higher quality local news, a greater diversity of news, and a greater diversity of editorial opinions than noncompetitive dailies. A majority also said that competing dailies are less likely to become complacent but more likely to sensationalize news. In the same survey, one-third of 1,667 journalists in single-daily cities said broadcast news offers an acceptable local news alternative to the daily newspaper.
The study used a survey of newspaper city hall beat reporters to explore the impact of newspaper and television news competition on their coverage of city hall. Newspaper competition was much more likely to affect content than TV news competition, but TV can have an impact on some reporters, especially in the absence of newspaper competition. Competition was related to reporters having less time for in-depth stories, reporting unimportant stories and, to a lesser degree, an increase in sensationalism in city hall news. Competition also was related to increases in the number of stories and an increased likelihood that reporters would cover stories they might have missed without competition. Perhaps the most interesting results were the strong relationship between competition and reporter-editor interaction and the impact of this interaction on reporters' perceptions of content changes.
Analysis of the news content of the Louisville Courier-Journal showed a mixed commitment by Gannett to the editorial quality of the previously family-owned newspaper. Under Gannett, the Courier-Journal substantially increased the size of its news hole, but the average length of stories dropped, hard news coverage declined, and the number of wire-written stories exceeded staff-written pieces.
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