Adapting to the Shrinking World of Television News

EL PASO, Texas — The entire crew stood in the studio, which is where we have our station-wide meetings. There had been rumors that the station was being sold, cutbacks were being made and people were getting fired. It turned out that the station was not being sold. However, there were cutbacks and people were fired as a result of the country’s current economic crisis. This was a good  example of the current trend in television news. With the way things are going, many jobs are being consolidated into single positions. It’s something that our station has been doing for years. The job I currently hold as a graphic artist, is essentially three jobs at other stations. And the way things are going, those stations will be following suit. All this time I thought our station was cheap, but we were really trendsetters. The consolidation of jobs is not only evident in production but in news as well. Our station has hired its first official video-journalist, which is essentially a “one-man band” reporter/photographer.