Category: Reinventing Local TV News
Animating the pandemic: TV storytelling techniques in the time of Covid
The global Covid-19 pandemic has forced every industry to evolve as a new normal sets in. This is no different for local television news. Having to work from home, tell […]
Introducing the Experimental Storytellers
Hello again from Northeastern University’s Reinventing Local TV News Project. It’s been a busy year since we released our research report, which identified new ways television newsrooms can work to grow their audience […]
Come join us as funded master’s degree Video Innovation Scholars!
For prospective graduate students interested in video innovation — new techniques and approaches, as well as VR and AR — the School of Journalism is offering special Video Innovation Scholarships […]
Covering gun violence and national politics: Talking topic and tone with Channel 9 Denver’s Marshall Zelinger
There has been a lot of discussion in the journalism community over how we can use engaging graphics and techniques to grow our audience. One thing we can’t leave out, […]
Northeastern teams up with two leading local TV news organizations and Stanton Foundation for video news research project
BOSTON, MA – Monday, July 1, 2019 – Media researchers at Northeastern University School of Journalism in Boston, Mass., will partner with two leading local news stations, WLS-TV/Chicago and WCVB-TV/Boston, […]
Anchoring the 2020 Electorate: The Need for Quality Local TV News Storytelling
Originally published at RTDNA. Local TV news could help inform and enlighten the electorate in 2020 — and maybe even decide the election. We’re not kidding. We all know local […]
Breaking news!: We are unveiling findings from our national study on reinventing local TV News
After nearly two years of work, we are today unveiling the results of our national study of news consumers and our experiments in remixing local TV news segments. The results are fascinating, and […]
Remixing hard news in local TV: A possible recipe for growth
Hello again from Northeastern University’s Reinventing Local TV News Project. Our research is in the home stretch. We just received our data after surveying 600 viewers in six television markets […]
Local TV news’ challenge of attracting the next generation of viewers
Bill Fine remembers driving past a billboard in Baltimore about 20 years ago that resonated with him. On it, one of the local television news stations in the market had […]
How one Pennsylvania station hopes to reinvent local TV news by embedding reporters in communities
Last month, a television station in Pennsylvania launched “Reporter Corps” – an ambitious initiative aimed at reinventing local TV news. PBS39/WLVT, which is based in Bethlehem, Pa., plans to hire […]
Local TV news legends reflect on past, look to future
Local TV news trailblazers Natalie Jacobson and Liz Walker both stepped away from their respective anchor desks more than a decade ago, but they remain two of the most recognizable […]
Podcast: Northeastern alumni weigh in on the challenges facing local TV news
There’s no denying that local television news is at a crossroads. Traditional broadcasts face increasing competition from the internet, forcing stations to either adapt or face the possibility of losing […]
Old dogs and new tricks: Tom Rosenstiel on reinventing local TV news
As “We Interrupt This Newscast,” one of the largest research projects about local television news, was on the eve of landing on bookshelves nearly a decade ago, Tom Rosenstiel, one […]
Storytelling 101 with WCVB’s Maria Stephanos
WCVB-TV anchor Maria Stephanos visited Northeastern University recently to talk to journalism students about video storytelling techniques. While Stephanos is one of Boston’s best-known television personalities, she says she’s focused […]
How KTUU worked with Carto to create a map of the station’s 360 content
Kyle Hopkins, now special projects editor for the Anchorage Daily News, is a former reporter and managing editor for KTUU in Anchorage, Alaska. While at KTUU, he spearheaded the station’s […]
Lessons from the “Golden Age” of Boston TV news
The Boston television market has a storied history. In 1981, The New York Times declared in a headline about WCVB-TV: “Some some say this is “America’s Best TV Station.” But […]
Local TV news stations experiment with podcasting
A mystery that’s shaken a small southern Michigan town for more than eight years and has several times found its way into the national news spotlight is being told again […]
Getting started with 360 video
An opening caveat: 360 is an emerging medium. It’s constantly evolving. So, “rules” are constantly changing and being broken. Many of these tips cite examples from local newsrooms but while […]
Getting started with stringr for textual analysis in R
Manipulating characters – a.k.a. non-numerical data – is an essential skill for anyone looking to visualize or analyze text data. This tutorial will go over a few of the base […]
Figuring out local TV’s future with the help of the industry
It’s no secret the media landscape is evolving. Social media dominates. People’s faces are glued to their smartphones. But their thirst for news and information hasn’t disappeared. If anything, it’s […]
Local TV news is important. Seriously.
Hello again from Northeastern University’s Reinventing Local TV News Project. We’re entering an exciting phase as we begin experimenting with new methods for video news storytelling and searching for better […]
5 digital practices every local TV station should be thinking about
All local television newsrooms, sooner or later, will have to accept the challenge to go digital. Some stations, though, are seeing the transition more as an opportunity than a burden […]
How remote anchors are helping local TV news stations cut costs
High staffing and production costs are just two of the challenges TV newsrooms face right now. Some stations, though, are getting creative with the way they address those issues and […]
From breaking news to adding cinematics: What drones can add to storytelling at local television stations
Whether you’re CNN, CBS 2 in Chicago, or KOLN in Lincoln, Nebraska, what has become deeply important in television news today is that the storytelling be compelling. One way those organizations […]
Measuring the impact of investigative reporting by local TV news stations
School bus drivers in Texas running red lights? Kansas police departments failing to run background checks on their own officers? Those important – and worrying – stories, run by KXAS-TV […]
The trouble with today’s local TV news station buying spree
On a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver pointed out the consequences of the massive consolidation sweeping the television news industry, referencing the pending purchase of Tribune stations by Sinclair Broadcast […]
How Seattle’s KCTS 9 built an interactive website about the sharks of Puget Sound
Did you know that sixgill sharks, which usually keep to the dark, open ocean, are roaming Seattle’s Puget Sound? Last summer, independent filmmaker Michael Werner teamed up with Seattle public […]
Which local TV news stories do well on social media?
With a majority of adults in the United States getting their news from social media, social “shares” have become the news industry’s gold standard for measuring a story’s success – […]
Five local TV news trends from the Murrow Awards that we like
Last week, the Radio Television Digital News Association announced the winners of its 2017 Edward R. Murrow Awards, which honor outstanding journalism being produced across North America. The Reinventing Local TV […]
Behind the scenes of WGBH’s digital and social media strategy
Over the last few years, Boston-based broadcaster WGBH has been experimenting with ways to boost its digital presence. For a station of its size, that’s not a simple task. For one, it has to […]