• Broadcasting & Cable, Monday, October 17, 2011 2:32 PM

A number of TV stations, including several NBC-owned ones, are bucking the trend of cutting investigative journalism "to reinforce their brands, firm up the relationship with viewers and, ultimately, increase ratings points and revenue," writes Michael Malone.

Such stations are also "capitalizing on the demise of newspapers in their markets and the billions of dollars in political revenue set to gush in over the next 12 months."

Malone provides a number of case histories on this encouraging trend, including stations where ratings, staff morale, and community goodwill are up because of such pieces as, say, "KNXV Phoenix’s piece on fudged kidnapping statistics that brought down the city’s police chief."

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