Local TV News Project 1999

While we did not find evidence as suggestive as last year that there are two paths to ratings success, stations that scored low in quality but thrived in the market still shared some traits.

Last year it was a classic tabloid formula -- scandal, celebrity, tragedy, the bizarre and breaking news. This year, the low road to ratings was not quite so direct.

Again to simplify the discussion, call the stations with low-quality scores (D and F grades) and rising ratings (up arrow) "rough and ready." Call the stations with low quality scores and falling ratings (down arrow) "down and out."
Few rough-and-ready stations this year could be described as classic tabloid. Rough-and-ready stations actually covered celebrity, scandal, crime and accidents less than down-and-outs. They also scaled back on their coverage of the bizarre and their focus on national news.

Instead:

• Rough-and-ready stations put the fewest victims or their families on the air than any newscasts -- even less than masters.

• Rough-and-ready stations also scored higher on covering the core local institutions and concerns in their community, at least compared to down-and-outs. On this core local index, they scored 25%, compared with 20% for their low-end rivals.

  Last year, rough-and-ready stations relied less on anonymous or single sources. They also did fewer very short stories (under 20 seconds) and more very long stories (over two minutes) than down-and-outs. This year, the opposites were true.