What's the Most Important Type of News for Morning TV News?

Based on the promos that run on local stations for their local news programs, you might think that the most important type of news is breaking news. All across the country, local TV news stations talk about how they cover breaking news -- first.

But breaking new is not the reason people tune in for morning news -- despite the "If it bleeds, it leads" catch phrase that has been the overall mantra of local news. And the morning news directors know that -- even though they don't usually run promos for the things that people do tune in for: weather reports.

Watching the morning news today, I noticed that after a brief, 2-minute intro or welcome to the stories they plan to cover over the next half hour, the first thing each national morning show cut to the national and local weather.

After we get the weather report, we then get the so-called important stories of the day.

That shouldn't be surprising, but people pitching morning news programs often forget the priorities that news producers have.

Don't believe me? Here's Alex Beam in the Boston Globe writing about the formula for the new 4:30am broadcast news programs:

Here is the formula that every station manager has adopted for this time slot: WEATHER/newsfiller/newsfiller/newsfiller/whiffofsportsorbusinessreporting/advertising/WEATHER/newsfiller/newsfiller/whiffofsportsorbusinessreporting/advertising/WEATHER.

Weather is so important, that the New York Times and other papers list the weather each day on the front page, above the fold, even above other headlines.

On radio, the only thing as important as weather are traffic updates.

Sure, they get to the other stuff, including local sports, but people truly tune to morning news for the weather. Yet, the only time stations promote their weather expertise and latest in Doppler technology, is before, during and after an expected storm or Nor'easter.

The important aspect for PR functions here is to understand the structure of morning news programs so that you can set reasonable expectations for coverage. Of course, that could change if you have a strong weather-related story!

Meanwhile, check out Alex Beam's article about the very early morning news here.

Can Local Papers Survive?

I think they can. But it's not going to be a cakewalk. Local broadcasters are having trouble this year.

Check out an interesting profile in the Times by Richard Perez-Pena, "A Reporter With a ‘Tom Sawyer Business Plan’ Buys a Newspaper.

WSJ Article Validates Another of Our Media Predictions for 2009: rocky time for local broadcast

The Wall St. Journal ran a fascinating look at the impact of the current media environment -- declining ad dollars and users (formerly known as viewers) fleeing to the Internet.

Check out "Local TV Stations Face a Fuzzy Future as Revenue Declines" by Sam Schechner and Rebecca Dana.

The TV/broadcast environment is changing, just as mainstream media everywhere is. One difference is that the business model for TV is the same as news on the web: it's been free, supported by advertising. So for users stuck in front of the laptops, why not just access TV shows online?

But that move is having a big impact local broadcasters. If you can get network shows online, why tune in with your TV?

The article suggests that some on-air networks will switch to cable because they can get a piece of the subscriber fees even during a drop in advertising. Since most of use already use cable boxes and since the rest will have to get digital converters, users may not feel much impact -- except to see their cable bills increase. Which is not a surprise.

Still, the impact on local market TV is that there won't be much local programing.

Check out the article; it's worth reading.