We Interrupt This Newscast
How to Improve Local News and Win Ratings, Too

The main argument of this book is that local TV news can practice high-quality journalism without sacrificing commercial success.

Tom Rosenstiel (Author), Marion Just (Author), Todd Belt (Author), Atiba Pertilla (Author), Walter Dean (Author), Dante Chinni (Author)

9780521691543, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 April 2007

244 pages, 11 tables
23.5 x 16.1 x 1.4 cm, 0.35 kg

"We Interrupt This Newscast is must reading for everyone in local news—print and broadcast alike—and for any citizen or student who cares about the future of news in their community. Through compelling evidence and analysis, the authors demonstrate how and why audiences reward quality journalism and why short-term thinking about profits is a lousy long-term ratings strategy."
Thomas E. Patterson, Harvard University

Local television newscasts around the country look alike and are filled with crime, accidents, and disasters. Interviews with more than 2,000 TV journalists around the country demonstrate that news looks this way because of the ingrained belief that 'eye-ball grabbers' are the only way to build an audience. This book contradicts the conventional wisdom using empirical evidence drawn from a five-year content analysis of local news in more than 154 stations in 50 markets around the country. The book shows that 'how' a story is reported is more important for building ratings than what the story is about. Local TV does not have to 'bleed to lead'. Instead local journalists can succeed by putting in the effort to get good stories, finding and balancing sources, seeking out experts, and making stories relevant to the local audience.

Acknowledgments
1. A prologue: what this book is for Dante Chinni and Tom Rosenstiel
2. The knowledge base Tom Rosenstiel and Marion Just
3. 'I-Teams' and 'Eye Candy': the reality of local TV news Wally Dean and Atiba Pertilla
4. The myths that dominate local TV news: the X-structure and the fallacy of the hook and hold method of TV news Wally Dean, Atiba Pertilla and Todd Belt
5. The magic formula: how to make TV that viewers will watch Todd Belt and Marion Just
6. Steps to better coverage Todd Belt and Marion Just
7. Putting it all into action: techniques for changing newsroom cultures Wally Dean
8. The road ahead: the future of local TV news Tom Rosenstiel and Dante Chinni
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.

Subject Areas: Press & journalism [KNTJ], Media, information & communication industries [KNT]