This commentary by a longtime local broadcast industry analyst is adapted with permission from a Wednesday blog post. The author, who doesn't name WJBK/Fox 2, is a founding partner at Tanner Friedman, a communications agency in Farmington Hills.
By Matt Friedman
When word got out this week that a highly rated local TV station, owned by a global public corporation, was letting go three popular, respected on-air anchors and reporters amid other cuts, we started getting questions:
- Don’t they understand how much the audiences likes and trusts these guys?
- Don’t they get that they will lose viewers in the long term?
- Aren’t they concerned this will hurt their product?
I believe local management does understand that and is concerned about it. We know them and work with them. This is a station that takes its community role seriously and this has to hit hard.
But ultimately, in today’s media world, it isn’t their call. As one former general manager once told me about most local stations: “They’re an ATM for headquarters.”
Matt Friedman: "While journalists lose their jobs, headquarters bean counters will earn bonuses." (Facebook photo)
It used to be all about gaining ratings points and selling commercials. If ratings and sales were good, headquarters would leave you alone.
Today, as with every public company, it’s about making a corporate spreadsheet look a certain way. Yes, management by Excel document dictates who you see on TV.
It reminds me of the famous scene in the movie “The Fugitive.” The escaped prisoner, played by Harrison Ford, tells the deputy marshal, played by Tommy Lee Jones: “I didn’t kill my wife.” Jones, whose only job was to find him, responds: “I don’t care.”
In the powerful accounting and finance departments of big public companies, when it comes to things like customer loyalty, brand building and long-term reputation, they don’t care. They really only care about three things – hitting their numbers, hitting their numbers and hitting their numbers. It’s all about this quarter’s targets and meeting number expectations for this year. The cruel reality is that while journalists lose their jobs, headquarters bean counters will earn bonuses for making their marks.
This is just how it works with Wall Street.
Some viewers just don’t get how this can happen. They have no idea who owns these stations and how it works.
The stations do a good job of convincing the audience that they’re completely local. They’re only local, of course, to a point.
We have seen the hard evidence from newspapers and radio that cutting aspects of the product that customers notice is not a pathway to growth or increased relevance in a fast-changing media landscape. TV follows this path at its own risk.
They will hit their numbers now, but risk their long-term viability. The number crunchers just don’t care.
Related coverage:
- Fox 2 Staff 'Shocked, Angry' at Loss of On-Air Talent, Anchor Huel Perkins Says, March 29
- Fox 2's Bloodletting: Station Cuts Murray Feldman, Jason Carr and Lee Thomas, March 28
