Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- We Interrupt This Newscast
- 1 A Prologue: What This Book Is For
- 2 The Knowledge Base
- 3 “I-Teams” and “Eye Candy”: The Reality of Local TV News
- 4 The Myths That Dominate Local TV News: The X-Structure and the Fallacy of the Hook-and-Hold Method of TV News
- 5 The Magic Formula: How to Make TV That Viewers Will Watch
- 6 Steps to Better Coverage
- 7 Putting It All into Action: Techniques for Changing Newsroom Cultures
- 8 The Road Ahead: The Future of Local TV News
- Appendix A Design Team Members
- Appendix B Quality Grading Criteria and Value Codes
- Appendix C Content Analysis Intercoder Reliability Analyses
- Appendix D Sample of Local TV News Stations
- Appendix E 2005 Follow-up Study
- Notes
- References
- Index
6 - Steps to Better Coverage
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- We Interrupt This Newscast
- 1 A Prologue: What This Book Is For
- 2 The Knowledge Base
- 3 “I-Teams” and “Eye Candy”: The Reality of Local TV News
- 4 The Myths That Dominate Local TV News: The X-Structure and the Fallacy of the Hook-and-Hold Method of TV News
- 5 The Magic Formula: How to Make TV That Viewers Will Watch
- 6 Steps to Better Coverage
- 7 Putting It All into Action: Techniques for Changing Newsroom Cultures
- 8 The Road Ahead: The Future of Local TV News
- Appendix A Design Team Members
- Appendix B Quality Grading Criteria and Value Codes
- Appendix C Content Analysis Intercoder Reliability Analyses
- Appendix D Sample of Local TV News Stations
- Appendix E 2005 Follow-up Study
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
Many local television news stations could do a better job in their coverage by taking the path already traveled by successful stations. How can reports about serious issues such as politics, health, education, and crime draw viewers? In this chapter we explain by looking at how the “typical” story is crafted in each topic area and then offering ways that stations can improve on those stories. Most importantly, we show that this kind of coverage will not lose viewers and can actually increase audience and ultimately revenues.
COVERAGE OF CRIME
If there is one area where a station might want to alter its coverage it is crime. Crime stories make up nearly one-quarter (24%) of all stories broadcast. Moreover, crime stories are most likely to be first in a newscast. Whether this kind of attention is warranted is a valid question. In terms of audience appeal, crime stories get nearly identical ratings as noncrime stories. And this is true whether or not the story is local or national. But because of local TV's focus on crime, learning to cover the topic successfully may help stations to better build and hold their audiences.
The Typical Crime News Story
The typical crime story is highly local. Of all the topics we studied, crime is the second most likely to be local in nature (social issue topics are first). This may not be surprising given the fact that audiences are more concerned with crime in their immediate communities rather than crimes elsewhere.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- We Interrupt This NewscastHow to Improve Local News and Win Ratings, Too, pp. 125 - 160Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007