• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 3 hours ago

More pressure on local TV journalism is now coming to your friendly local TV news show.

Think about a TV news show without anchors -- or other visual elements that viewers are accustomed to.

TV station group owner E.W. Scripps is making a dramatic move to save local TV production costs. And that comes with laying off 268 employees including news anchors, reporters and production staff across its stations.

Scripps is starting this process with the long-time core TV station in Baltimore -- WMAR, an ABC affiliate. This includes three of its most recognizable on-air anchors, who are getting the heave-ho.

What remains is a total restructuring of what a TV news show looks like: Just pre-recorded individual video news stories from reporters with the usual voiceover and/or standups packaged one after another with no introductions that have traditionally been provided by anchors.

Scripps executives say they are embracing an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, 24/7 streaming model as part of a dramatic change in the way the company does business, with Scripps looking to be a technology-forward company.

There is no mystery over why this change is being made. Local-over-the air TV stations have seen crushing trends of sinking profit margins, thanks to nonstop digital media -- in particular social media, where it is reported consumers are regularly tapping into for information.

Pew Research Center has estimated that 54% of all U.S. adults report getting their news from social platforms, at least “sometimes.”

The positive is that local TV stations still get increasing benefits from every other year's big political election seasons -- from consumers looking for live content featuring officials looking to run for government office.

But in those non-election "soft" news periods, digital media is increasingly filling the bill for modern digital on-the-go consumers.

To compete, more 24/7 AI-inspired news models will creep into TV stations' schedules.

We are guessing big breaking news stories on Scripps and other stations may still see TV stations featuring some on-air anchors or news presenters getting facetime.

But the trend is clear -- especially when it comes to run-of-the-mill daily news coverage. That is something many feel AI can handle.

Modern, savvy news consumers will be pulled into this.

But what if AI gets it wrong? Will AI-generated news reports issue corrections -- like virtually all traditional print and TV media have done for decades?

That would be news --- so to speak.