Commentary

TV Broadcaster, Newspaper Reporter, Lumberjack: Who Provides Most Value For Your Business?

Talk all you want about how important local TV news is to the future of TV stations.  And then talk to all those people who apparently want to work in those occupations.

Would you like to be a TV producer, or an on-air TV “broadcaster” -- one who delivers the news? Sounds exciting -- in theory. But in reality, perhaps, not so much.

CareerCast’s new 2015 Jobs Report says that out of 200 jobs, the job of “broadcaster” -- one who “prepares and delivers news and related presentations over the air on radio and television” -- is ranked 196 out of 200.

Hiring outlook? Weak, according to the survey. Average income? $29,347 a year. Work environment comes in at a  64.4 number, with a score of 81 being the worst, zero the best.

The best jobs, according to the survey are mathematics/statistics- related. One job near the top of the list is data scientist. Yes, we in the media/marketing industries all bow down these days to two words: Big data.

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Being a data scientist is apparently the sixth best job to have, offering a healthy average income of just over $124,000 a year. Now that’s a “News at 11” story for sure.

Come to your own conclusions about this growing world of “data-driven” businesses and journalism. Think about the type of stories and headlines that are written; the “shares” those stories get; and the monetization one’s media company figures out around the content journalists create.

We keep hearing how important local TV news programming is, yet the underlying structure of that business appears to be weak. Are local TV consumers getting the key news they desire?  Are TV stations doing enough to micro-target local communities’ informational needs?

Then again, maybe we got this all wrong. You could, after all, be seeking work as a newspaper reporter, which is ranked dead last as the worst of all 200 jobs.

Being a lumberjack is a bit better, at the 199 spot. Cutting down wood that turns into pulp and into newspaper might be the connection -- but one not needed in the digital world.

4 comments about "TV Broadcaster, Newspaper Reporter, Lumberjack: Who Provides Most Value For Your Business?".
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  1. Jon Currie from Currie Communications, Inc., April 16, 2015 at 2:44 p.m.

    Shoot, I am a data scientist who is a trained journalist when I am not out logging in Alaska. What to do, what to do?

  2. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, April 16, 2015 at 3:04 p.m.

    The chief problem with being a broadcaster or a journalist is that too many people want the job, so the pay is low, thanks to supply and demand. You may as well aspire to be work in sports PR.

  3. Leonard Zachary from T___n__, April 16, 2015 at 3:56 p.m.

    TV Broadcasters love to Embellish. The work reviews for several of the broadcast folks indicates cost cuts and consolidation of positions where the work loads are a multiplier effect beyond human endurance. Yet there are folks in the world that work 80 hours a week on minimum wage....

  4. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, April 29, 2015 at 8:48 p.m.

    If this were just a sad comentary, it would be hopeful. Douglas has a point, too.

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