A type of resource sharing that is more common in the largest markets involves local news service, or LNS, arrangements that sprang up when the economy nosedived in 2008. To cut expenses during the recession, network-affiliated but separately owned stations in about a dozen top 20 markets agreed to jointly operate helicopters to cover breaking news and in many cases they also set up a formal process for sharing video of events.65(For more on Local TV Stations in Cooperative Ventures see the Media & News Indicators Database)
Here, too, there are divergent views on the impact of LNS agreements on the quality of newscasts. Proponents say that the sharing frees up newsroom resources to do more enterprise and independent reporting. Critics say it can produce more homogenized, less differentiated newscasts among competitors.
The Fox Television Stations group was a spearhead of the LNS movement and remains involved in these arrangements, both in the air and on the ground. “I could never understand why someone would want to spend resources getting the same picture that someone else was getting,” said Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy. “To me, the idea that you need to send four people to cover a press conference where the only difference between one station’s view and the other is about two feet is crazy. It’s allowed us to go out and do more independent reporting.”66
[local news services]
As an example, Scott cited a story about a break-in at a gun shop in Phoenix. While the LNS shot video of a local ATF agent making a statement about the crime, the Scripps station shot its own interview with the gun shop owner and used both interviews in its report.67 Critics feared that cost savings would lead to staff cuts at stations participating in LNS agreements. Scott says no positions were eliminated at Scripps stations.
[the NBC stations]
Media General’s Reed says sharing gives her competitors an economic advantage that she sometimes wishes she had. “If I had a choice between sharing an asset like a helicopter or not having it, I would share it,” she said. “If that translates into saving money on one end so I could hire another reporter, sure.”
On the other hand, Reed said, stations that don’t share with others in the same market may be able to provide more distinctive coverage. “If you’re really focused on original reporting and they’re sharing everything,” she said, “how original is that? If we’re the only ones in the market that aren’t in that arrangement and we are unique and differentiated, then it’s to our advantage.”
