Broadcast Journalism seminar to examine future of local radio and television news

Broadcast Journalism seminar to examine future of local radio and television newsSeptember 29, 2001Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, in conjunction with the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association, is staging a panel discussion on the future of local television and radio news. The discussion will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 6 in Studio A of the Newhouse II building. The seminar is open to SU students and professional journalists.

Panelists for the discussion include Steve Kimatian, president of the Ackerley NY Station Group; Kirk Varner, vice-president of news services for Time Warner Cable; Will Wright, news director for WWOR-TV, New York; and Newhouse Dean David Rubin. Dow Smith, Newhouse professor of broadcast journalism, will moderate the panel discussion.

The seminar will also include an address by investigative reporter Anna Werner. Werner and her team at KHOU-TV in Houston broke the Firestone tire story, which resulted in a nationwide recall of millions of defective tires.

“It’s the most powerful journalistic investigation in recent memory,” Smith says. “The Firestone story had a major national impact with the recall of millions of tires. It’s also a great example of tenacity in the face of threats by Firestone, before the company was forced to admit problems with the tires.”

Other sessions at the seminar will focus on creative storytelling, “power” producing and radio news.

Smith says the panel discussion is particularly relevant at a time when local television news is changing dramatically and is likely to be quite different in the years ahead. “There are now more stations doing local news than ever before, but it’s a question of whether they can all survive,” he says. “Audience shares for local news are down, the Internet is becoming more and more widely accessible and cable news is now local.”

Students can sign up for the seminar by calling Mylinda Smith in the Newhouse broadcast journalism office at 443-1944.