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The Local News Story: Is Quality a Choice?
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The Local News Story: Is Quality a Choice?
Marion R. Just
Wellesley College
## email not listed ##
Todd L. Belt
University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
## email not listed ##
Abstract
The conventional wisdom in local TV news is that quality journalism does not sell and that only by focusing on crime, disasters and other “soft news” can newscasts get good ratings. Political scientists have decried the poor quality of TV news as a betrayal of the press’s mandate to inform citizens of the important policy issues of the day so that they can hold government officials accountable. This study tests the proposition that audiences prefer tabloid journalism, by looking at external measures of commercial success, i.e. the Nielsen ratings data. Utilizing data from a five-year study matching the content quality of 33,911 local news stories from 154 TV stations in 50 TV markets nationwide to corresponding ratings success, we show that solid reporting and a focus on significant issues actually produces better ratings than slapdash or superficial tabloid journalism. These surprising results have practical implications for democratic practice and local TV news. The authors thank the Project for Excellence in Journalism for the use of their data.
Prepared for delivery at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association,
Chicago, Illinois, September 2-5, 2004
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| | Authors: Just, Marion. and Belt, Todd. |
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The Local News Story: Is Quality a Choice?
Marion R. Just
Wellesley College
## email not listed ##
Todd L. Belt
University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
## email not listed ##
Abstract
The conventional wisdom in local TV news is that quality journalism does not sell and that only
by focusing on crime, disasters and other “soft news” can newscasts get good ratings. Political
scientists have decried the poor quality of TV news as a betrayal of the press’s mandate to
inform citizens of the important policy issues of the day so that they can hold government
officials accountable. This study tests the proposition that audiences prefer tabloid journalism,
by looking at external measures of commercial success, i.e. the Nielsen ratings data. Utilizing
data from a five-year study matching the content quality of 33,911 local news stories from 154
TV stations in 50 TV markets nationwide to corresponding ratings success, we show that solid
reporting and a focus on significant issues actually produces better ratings than slapdash or
superficial tabloid journalism. These surprising results have practical implications for
democratic practice and local TV news.
The authors thank the Project for Excellence in Journalism for the use of their data.
Prepared for delivery at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association,
Chicago, Illinois, September 2-5, 2004
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