Media and foundation executives, education leaders and journalists gathered at the University of Southern California’s Washington, D.C., office on June 13 for a top-level discussion of the recently released FCC report, The Impact of Technology on the Information Landscape of Communities.
USC Annenberg played a major role in the research, development and drafting of the report. One of the principal investigators on the FCC team was Cinny Kennard, a senior fellow at USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP), veteran reporter and news executive. Kennard organized a team of four USC Annenberg researchers -- Rebecca Shapiro (B.A. Communication '08), Monica Alba (B.A. Communication '09), Cater Lee and Sarah Erickson (B.A. Communication '10) -- to conduct interviews and gather data. Their work informed the sections on radio news, public broadcasting and local television news.
Kennard (pictured above at left, with USC Annenberg dean Ernest J. Wilson III), along with Steven Waldman (pictured above at right), senior advisor to the FCC Chairman, presented the findings of the report.
“The good news,” Waldman said, “is the U.S. is close to having the best media system we have ever had," and one reason is "microlocal news," an innovation made possible by the Internet that was impossible until recently.
Read a summary of the presentation written by CCLP senior fellow Adam Clayton Powell III.
The bigger challenge, according to Waldman, is to beat reporting. “Accountability journalism” has suffered huge cutbacks in recent years as media companies lost advertising revenue and reduced editorial staffs.
Although Kennard’s team wrote about exemplary local news operations, they found that local TV news can also be lacking.
"The best of the local TV stations prove day in and day out that local TV news can be great - not only performing the great functions of journalism but doing so in a way that is accessible to a broad cross-section of the community," the report stated. "Unfortunately, the evidence is strong that many local TV stations have not stepped up to meet the challenges of the moment and in too many cases may even have moved backward ... it appears that many local TV news operations have not seized the opportunity presented them by the changing media landscape. So far, they have not filled the gaps left by newspapers."
Kennard and her team also reported on one disturbing trend in some local TV newsrooms--pay to play promotions, where advertisers pay local stations to run stories featuring the advertiser’s product or service.
"It is actually already a rule that you are not supposed to do that without disclosing it," said Waldman. But he added that viewers need sharp eyes to find the disclosure buried in fine print in the credits. As a solution, he said the FCC may now require stations to disclose "pay for play" on the Internet.
USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson moderated the discussion.
“I am proud of USC Annenberg’s role in the writing of this important report on the changing landscape of media,” said Wilson. “Not only did Cinny and her team make significant contributions, but the final report and recommendations also draw upon the research done by the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center on local television news in the Los Angeles media market, as well as the 2010 CCLP report on public policy and funding of news by Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal.
“The report also validates that the community news and citizen journalism we are producing at USC Annenberg-- Intersections, Alhambra Source, Mobile Voices, Neon Tommy, Boyle Heights Beat, California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting and more--is on target with the FCC’s recommendations, filling a need for local news in underserved communities,” Wilson said.
Read a summary of the presentation written by CCLP senior fellow Adam Clayton Powell III.
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