I posted last week about how newspapers are having to change what they publish because technology meant that most of their readers already know the news before they receive their paper the next day. The newspapers now have to provide more color and context in what are now less news and more features.
A story in today’s New York Times indicates that the same thing is happening in daily television news. According to the Times, the oldest television business news show — Nightly Business Report, which is seen on PBS stations in evening drive time across the country — has now realized that it won’t be able to maintain its audience it if continues to do the same thing it’s been doing the past three decades, that is, provide the day’s stock market results. Here is the money quote:
“…nobody wait(s) until 6:30 in the evening to get stock market information.”
Because of this, starting Monday, NBR is going to stop producing pieces on stock prices and instead provide more analysis. In other words, it’s going to be providing the same type of feature stories the New York Times and the other major daily newspapers increasingly find themselves having to do.
The key here clearly is the word “daily.” Daily print and broadcast outlets simply no longer provide information fast enough in a world of internet access and 24-7-365 news channels.
That makes you wonder how much longer weekly news magazines can possibly last.
Full Disclosure: I have been interviewed frequently on NBR on budget and other issues and Darren Gersh, the Washington Bureau chief, is a friend.
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