Most media outlets have hit already the panic button. Print, radio, and online publications are struggling to survive. TV, on the other hand, is still riding high. The Project for Excellence in Journalism identifies local TV as “one of the few sources of news that continues to be popular.” And TV viewership is currently at an all-time high, according to Nielsen, with Americans watching more than 151 hours of TV per month.
In spite of their huge reach, Michael Schaffer writes for the New Republic of a “fiery economic crash” for the local TV news anchors. The current recession may be helping the local anchors get famous in the short term, because television stations are running more promos for their anchors as they struggle to find advertisers. Long term, however, Schaffer writes that TV news will likely suffer the same gradual obsolecessence that other legacy news outlets are currently experiencing. The celebrity status held by the news anchors is simply making their fate creep a bit more slowly.
Maybe they could stave off their fate a bit longer if people saw a little more of this:
