TV’s One-Man-Band for News

WUSA television in Washington, D.C., has announced a significant change in how the station will cover and report news, a change that will certainly impact the quality, professionalism and accuracy of news reported by the station in the nation’s capital.

For decades, TV news people in larger cities have worked in teams – a reporter with a camera person, and sometimes, a person to operate the audio. The team often would include a producer to coordinate and assist.

Now, WUSA – owned by media giant Gannett, and the station that is dead-last in TV ratings in Washington – is taking advantage of the slumping economy to force a change on its newsroom and the unions. There is a reason WUSA is last in the ratings … think about it.

WUSA is replacing its reporter and camera crews, and hiring one-person, so-called “multimedia journalists,” who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly. In the TV news business, they are called, “one-man-bands.” The concept of a single person handling all those responsibilities has, to date, been limited to some of the smallest TV markets, where aspiring TV reporters often go to get a start.

Now, at WUSA in the nation’s capital, one person will try to take notes, ask questions, coordinate scheduling interviews, and operate the camera, sound and lights while attempting to cover a story. That person will then edit and present the story on the air, with little or no supervision from a producer or fact-checker. Such a practice opens a huge door to mistakes and inaccuracy.

WUSA’s more seasoned, experienced and higher paid reporters will, presumably, be forced out because they may lack the skills or ability to lug around a camera and lights.

This new direction Gannett and WUSA is taking quite likely could lead to the demise of local news coverage in the traditional sense. In a TV market, like Washington, audiences will not tolerate many mistakes or inaccurate stories attributed to a station’s cheap approach to news coverage in a quest to save money. In my opinion, it will eventually provide greater opportunities for new television news ventures online, an environment that will ultimately make WUSA … history.

Here’s a link to the story in The Washington Post.