We Surveyed News Directors about COVID-19 Coverage - here's what they told us
Over the past several days, Boom posed the question to local news stations across the country: How is COVID-19 changing coverage of the news at your station?
Of those stations surveyed 94% are telling us that COVID-19 coverage is taking up over 90% of news coverage at stations – with the remaining portion of the news rundown being used for local breaking news and weather. And, of those, approximately a quarter said COVID-19 coverage is consuming over 95% of their overall newscast. Only two stations: one in Spokane and one in Las Vegas, said that COVID-19 coverage was currently 75% or less of their newscast.
The majority of stations (72%) surveyed said were uncertain when they will return to “normal” programming – taking it day-by-day. Several stations (17%) are currently planning to return to a “regular” news rundown as early as May, with a few (11%) looking more towards a summer/fall timeframe.
For the most part, stations surveyed said they are running their news programming with limited staff and only sending reporters into the field on an extremely limited basis. One station told us that they have condensed their morning programming from 1 hour to 30 minutes due to staff shortages. All stations surveyed are currently considering local guests for in studio interviews, with many preferring to do any interviews via streaming video services such as Zoom or Skype.
About half the stations (54%) contacted are not currently booking satellite interviews – this is in part due to limited resources at the stations as well as the overwhelming, wall-to-wall coverage of their local COVID-19 outbreak/health crisis. These stations are currently only considering booking local experts and officials to discuss the impact of COVID-19 in their viewing area and many using Skype or Facebook. We have, however, established a production protocol to offer relevant content/experts to media via Skype/satellite. This allows stations to access the content as they are used to, and your expert, and our crew to be safe in their own spaces.
Of those stations, who are still interested in booking satellite segments, the producers/bookers are overwhelmingly looking for segments specifically related to COVID-19 - whether physical health, mental health or financial. Several stations specifically let us know that they would consider booking experts, who they could not otherwise get locally and who offer “real value” to their audience during this health crisis.
A few stations said they would consider segments with celebrities, family fun activities, hobbies and projects to alleviate boredom during this time of isolation. Interestingly, we had two stations tell us that they are looking for evergreen pieces to have at the ready when they can get back to producing their show normally.
So while it is not business as usual at news stations across America there is still opportunity to get your message out there – if it is relatable to the current health crisis and offers valuable information with an expert that is not easily secured by a station locally.