• by November 14, 2000

In the face of precipitous declines in ratings, many local television news broadcasts are cutting back on the very type of programming that attracts viewers, finds a major new study of local TV news released yesterday by a journalists' group affiliated with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

"Stations are turning to flash and hype to sell stories, when the data show that thoughtful, quality news - featuring enterprise reporting, localism, topic breadth, innovation and sourcing - builds its own audience," said Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ), Director Tom Rosenstiel, a former media critic for the Los Angeles Times and Washington correspondent for Newsweek.

"Stations ignore these findings at their own peril," he added. "They truly are at risk of slowly c."

The PEJ study, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, ranked 50 newscasts in 15 cities over two weeks using criteria developed by a team of veteran news professionals. For the third year in a row, it found that quality local TV news sells, contrary to the myth that the medium must play to the lowest common denominator.

Overall, stations earning high grades in the study ("A"s or "B"s) are more likely to be enjoying ratings success than ratings declines. Among the top 10 stations in this year's study, only two had negative ratings trends and six were climbing. Over three years, 64% of "A" quality stations were building ratings, a higher percentage than any other grade and nearly double that of most grades.

The project measured lead-in retention-or how well newscasts held onto the audience from preceding programs-and found that quality is the surest way to hold onto viewers. In a test of 28 stations, only one "A" station failed to add to its lead-in, while only two "C" grade or lower broadcasts added to their audience.

Some stations that scored well on the study's quality scale were able to beat the ratings of their lead-in program by more than 20%.

"There's no question that the show leading into a newscast is important, but this year's findings suggest that a quality newscast can be as important as whether you follow E.R.," said Carl Gottlieb, PEJ Deputy Director and a former broadcast news executive with the Tribune Company and Fox. "Viewers will seek out quality."

The study also found that local news across the board is getting thinner. Enterprise is withering, while the amount of out-of-town newsfeeds and recycled material is growing. The majority of stories studied this year were either feeds or footage aired without an on-screen reporter.

The best way to build or hold onto ratings is to cover a broad range of issues and topics in the community. Stations that cover less of the community, narrowly focusing on crime or everyday events for instance, are most likely to be losing ratings.

Shorter isn't better. Stations building ratings do fewer very short stories and more longer stories. Eye candy, it turns out, is a turn-off. Info