If the future is digital, why are local and national news outlets so tied to television?

Like many others in class who have commented on this topic, local broadcast news does nothing for me. It's not relevant, it's too time consuming to watch, and I can't stand the "After the break, we'll tell you how this one everyday habit is killing your children" format. With the rapidly changing televison landscape, I feel that traditional TV broadcast news will continue to decline, and producers should invest in shifting their reporting to other media, with an emphasis on digital and mobile.

Traditional TV news broadcasting follows a rather expensive business model. Production is time-consuming and requires many people on staff. But as ratings, and therefore ad revenue, have dropped, local TV producers have been forced to make drastic cuts, while requiring more from their staff--now, in addition to producing a TV news broadcast, they must also maintain the social media, blogs, reply to comments, etc. To do all this, and do it well, and with fewer resources, is a very difficult thing to keep up. Something needs to go, and I think that something is going to have to be traditional TV.

Traditional TV just isn't speaking to the modern media consumer anymore.  We want a conversation, not a lecture. This just isn't possible on traditional TV. People want to share, comment, connect, argue. They don't want to be talked down to by some coiffed-up reporter interspersed with condescending advertisements for products you don't use.

And with an increased focus by advertisers on ROI, advertising on TV is simply not a viable option for many businesses anymore. Why would a marketer choose to spend thousands of dollars on a TV ad, when they can advertise digitally for a fraction of the cost and with the ability to track ad effectiveness with microscopic clarity?

The potential for the mobile and digital market is huge, where news can be delivered exactly as requested, and ads can be highly targeted. Imagine the possibilities for local news and advertisers: local, relevant, time-sensitive ads delivered to people who actually care. Clickable ads, interactive ads, ads related to the news content. This would be much more compelling for an advertiser than a TV ad that may or may not reach the people it's supposed to.

And yet, the switch to all-digital formats by traditional publications is still seen as a failure. The Seattle PI went all-digital only when there were no other options. Newsweek went all-digital after several years of declining journalistic quality and dwindling ad interest. Both were interpreted as the publications folding and failing.

Although it will not be easy, I feel that the costs that are now devoted to maintaining a quality local TV broadcast should be gradually shifted over to creating quality online content. Journalists could maintain a local news blog, or partner with community bloggers to bring in interesting content. News videos can be posted on YouTube or the news website in 1 minute clips, easily searchable so the viewer can find just what they're looking for. Does digital content have to mean dumbed-down, entertainment-only news? Like others have said, I don't think so. It could mean more hyperlocal news, or easy-to-use collections of national news, made relevant to the local reader.

You can look at this two ways. One, it's all about customer value, and an increasing number of media consumers simply don't find value in TV news anymore, so local news needs to shift this to where their viewers are migrating--mobile and digital. Or, you could say it's all about the advertisers, in which case you would need to give the advertisers a reason to advertise with you in the first place. If the readers/viewers are not there, the advertisers won't be either.

Either way, I think the local news needs to draw out an actionable plan for splitting from TV and going digital--making the choice, before they are forced to cut their traditional TV broadcasts due to increasing budget cuts and dwindling ad dollars. If the switch is made with confidence and not as a last resort--as a smart and practical way to reach the next generation of media consumers, it will allow local news outlets to evolve, build customer loyalty, and keep the ad dollars flowing in.