TORONTO – Can local television news be profitable? Or is it a public service that should be funded as such?
These were just two of the many questions that were debated at a panel discussion Tuesday evening that examined the role and the state of local television news in Canada, hosted by the Canadian chapter of the Radio and Television News Directors Association at Ryerson University.
CHCH TV news director Mike Katrycz spoke about his station’s move to air back-to-back news shows with a local focus throughout the day, a format change that came about after the station was purchased by Channel Zero last month.
“Ultimately TV news is a business and has to operate like one, but it’s a push/pull to figure out how best to do this”, he said, also referring to the station’s format as “a work in progress.”
Sophia Hadzipetros, managing editor for CBC Toronto, agreed with Katrycz that one of the biggest challenges to covering news, particularly in a widespread market, is resources.
“There are never enough resources,” she said. “Not only is it the size of your market but there’s the problem of (traffic) congestion that must be factored in to getting things to air. You need those (news) trucks in the right place at the right time for the money shot.”
CBC Toronto recently moved its supper hour newscast up to a 5 p.m. start, and presents it like three consecutive but distinct shows over 90 minutes. Hadzipetros said that each show is heavy on local news and weather, because that is what audiences want the most.
“We reorganized our available resources and put them in to local programming, because it is local that is driving the national programming now – more than it ever has in the past”, she said.
So, is it working?
“It is a challenge getting the viewers to watch”, she admitted. “Viewers are demanding so much more of us that we can’t just be a supper hour newscast anymore. We have to have something new and unique, and bring value to a story that may have been brewing all day.”
Adrian Bateman, managing editor for ‘A’ Channel Windsor, was asked about what his station did to survive certain closure earlier this summer.
“Absolutely nothing,” he said with a wide grin. “We did nothing other than what we usually do which is the best local news in the area.”
Referencing support from the community and local politicians to keep the station on air, Bateman also said that the new local programming improvement fund (LPIF) was a significant factor in owner CTV’s decision to keep the station alive.
Calling local news “a very precious resource”, Bateman also touched on the fine balance between profits and news.
“News is not a profit centre, it never has been”, he said. “Even in the heyday of the big networks, news was always a loss leader. But the prestige that came from the service news provided had great value, and I submit that it still does.”
But not all local newscasts are cutting back.
City TV anchor/reporter Farah Nasser spoke about how her role is different now that the station is owned by Rogers, a merger that she calls “a wonderful marriage.”
“There is still a place for local news, it won’t die”, she said. “It’s what we start with, and where we are that is the most important to us.”
She said that reporting has become a lot more competitive now, and spoke of the challenge of having “to do more with less time” (in reference to filing for three newscasts), while still maintaining journalistic integrity.
Hadzipetros agreed with Nasser.
“The pace with which things happen means the reporter has to be vigilant about what they’re putting out”, she said.
But what about local news in smaller, more remote areas of the country?
“The smaller centres are the ones that are in trouble because there’s no money in them”, Hadzipetros said to nods from the other panel members. “Resources are being pulled into the larger centres.”
‘A’ Channel’s Bateman took it one step further.
“I suggest we have to begin with the concept that there is a necessary level of news service to a community”, he said. “And by ‘level’, I am speaking both quantitatively and qualitatively. We have to begin from that position as a given and work from there. I would further suggest that this is of such crucial public interest that society must institute some means of ensuring that this is done.”
