Is the TV Nightly Newscast An Artifact of a Bygone Era?

"TV news isn't just television news anymore and the newscast is an artifact of a bygone era." Phil Kurz, TVNewscheck 12/31/15

I read this and gulped. You know that gulp. The one you see in the movies when someone realizes the reality of their situation.  

I am a broadcaster. Have been all my life, from the first time at age 16 that I sat down behind a microphone at WJLM-FM in Roanoke, VA pulling my first graveyard shift to most recently as head of a television station or two.  

So is the newscast an artifact of a bygone era? Gulp. Are we witnessing the end of an institution that is a key source of local television stations' revenue? Big Gulp. 

I don't think so.  The nightly news is still the preferred source for information for millions- there's something about live human beings that we welcome into our living rooms every night that provides comfort that an article on a screen cannot. 

Should newsrooms stop the daily copy/paste of their rundowns?  I say yes. Rundowns haven't changed much for the last 40 years. Sure, there's been some tweaks here and there (dropping the weekly "Adopt a Puppy" segment for a "From Social Media" segment) but for the most part, strongest story in the first block, tease weather, back to top stories, break, more local stories, break, international, weather, sports, kicker.  This newscast structure is from a bygone era- after all, do you really wait for the weather forecast now? If you want to see if your team won, do you first read the top news stories on Google News, then proceed to international stories, run to the bathroom, then come back and check the forecast and THEN see if your team won? Neither do I, and I'm a broadcaster. I'm supposed to watch things in order because it's my business. After all, if even the broadcasters aren't waiting for the scores or the weather, why should anyone else?  Here's Phil Kurz's take:

"Rather than working to create a rundown for the nightly newscast or newscasts, the newsroom workflow should be centered on the story, which lives in various iterations on the Internet, social media, mobile, radio and, yes, also on TV..."

News Directors take note, and blow up your rundowns for the New Year.  Your competition isn't just the other local stations that you are monitoring in your offices.   It's Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, Banjo etc. AND the websites of the local and national news organizations where there are no rundowns that make you wait for information. 

So where is the future for local TV news? 

It's in the content. Always has been, always will be. Focus on telling the story in depth, use and recognize all angles in your storytelling.  Show how different mediums approach or add to the story, and stop ignoring them because they aren't "truly journalists".  Everyone with a smartphone can be a journalist (in the loosest sense of the word)  these days, so embrace the information, video, images and opinions, and recognize them as sources. The future of TV newscasts lies in our ability to adapt, providing the audience with what they can elsewhere, but allowing us to do the work to put it all together and make it relatable and ultimately human.  That's our differentiator. That's our future. Who will be first? 

You can find Phil Kurz's article here: https://www.tvnewscheck.com/playout/2015/12/my-top-10-tv-tech-wishes-for-the-new-year/