Cloudy Skies in TV's Forecast

Whether you want to call the current economic slowdown a recession or not, it has hit the TV news business. They, like their counterparts in the print world, are fighting a losing battle with the Internet, resulting in fewer viewers and ad revenue.

At CBS, one hundred positions have so far been cut at their local TV division, which included well-known personalities such as news anchors at their stations in Chicago and San Francisco. ABC and NBC had their own layoffs.

At WCCO-TV, one of CBS' premier performers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, longtime meteorologist Paul Douglas and weekend anchor John Reger were among those let go.

In the most recent TV ratings report, every Twin Cities network affiliates' newscasts (with the exception of Fox station KMSP) has reported double-digit losses in viewers. Blame that on the Internet and the recently-settled writers strike, if you like. But there might be something else going on. Could it be that TV news itself is driving viewers away?

In the chase for younger, more female viewers, local TV news has become too dependent on two things: touchy-feely stories (which NBC affiliate KARE excels at) and "if it bleeds, it leads" breaking-news coverage (the province of ABC station KSTP). If you don't like either approach, there's always The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. That's where most people are getting their news these days.

As for Douglas, his "I'm just the messenger" schtick has worn well with local audiences since he began at KARE in the 1980s, then a short stint in Chicago at CBS' WBBM-TV before coming back to town at WCCO in 1997. He has also been the only local weatherperson in town who advocated the possibility of global climate change. That might have been one factor contributing to his dismissal, if conservative debunkers complained loudly enough to CBS and WCCO.

But Douglas doesn't really need the TV gig financially. The Star Tribune reports that last year he sold Digital Cyclone, his weather information business, to Garmin for $45 million. So he could well afford to live in the gated community in Eden Prairie, and at that cabin up north he used to talk about on TV.

Douglas says he wants to stay in Minnesota. But can he, if he wants to remain in television? Dave Dahl at KSTP and Belinda Jensen at KARE aren't going to let go of their personal fiefdoms any time soon. And whoever becomes the new chief meteorologist at WCCO will presumably be working for less money.

What WCCO (and CBS) did may have done wonders for its bottom line. But it becomes a public relations nightmare when the cuts you do make ends up alienating the very viewers you're trying to keep from going elsewhere.