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Buffalo News

S

SirRoxalot

The Buffalo News ran a front-page story about their new web-based news service that will update local stories throughout the day. They are, in effect, getting into the news business 24/7 instead of publishing once a day.

They'll also be adding blogs by their columnists, and other content that will allow them to be much more interactive than in the past.

How will this affect radio, and perhaps even TV news? Will it make it easier for broadcast outlets to "borrow" from the Buffalo News? Could it lead to further cutbacks in broadcast news departments - both radio & TV - because content will be available without sending reporters out to gather information? Will it make broadcast news less relevant because there will be an up-to-date source available that has a lot more resources than any news department in the area?

Could local media devolve into a situation where one news source virtually becomes the media in WNY?
 
Rox brings up some valid points. But I do think he overstates the impact the newly improved News website will have on the rest of the media. First, I don't think you'll see a lot of "borrowing" going on because I doubt the News is going to be "breaking" a lot of stories on the web. I truly believe the News is going to hold an exclusive, like last Friday's word of an indictment of Altemio Sanchez in Joan Diver's murder, for the actual newspaper. What the News will be posting on its website throughout the day will be the routine developments, like coverage of a Giambra news conference or a verdict in a high profile court case. But the rest of the media, both television and radio, will continue to cover the day's news, regardless of what the News does. Maybe the News will surprise us by posting a story they've nailed down, let's say at 1:00 in the afternoon, on its website. But that will give the TV stations an opportunity to get the story for their 5, 6 and 11 newscasts, making it old news by the time it hits the paper the next day. Again, this is purely speculation on my part. But I truly think we're going to see just routine breaking news and updates on earlier stories on the News website. I find it funny that the News is making such a big deal about this. TV and radio stations, plus Business First, have been posting breaking news stories on their web sites for years now. It shouldn't have taken this long for the News to catch up with the 21st Century. Margaret Sullivan may THINK the News will be the only site people will need for local news. But, I, for one, will continue to check out the TV and radio station sites, plus Business First, Buffalo Pundit, New York Politics, Google News, etc. Bottom line, what the News will do on its website will have no impact on what the other media are doing.
 
The News' decision to maintain an "active" website indicates their realization that news happens 24-7 and changes occur "on the moment." From my perspective, The News is playing catch-up with heavily used websites such as Yahoo News, Google News, Reuters, My Way, MSNBC, ESPN, Fox and even the Weather Channel.

Perhaps the News has come to the realization that more and more people don't go to the news "paper" to get their news; a cold reality that radio has known for years.

It will be quite telling if News reporters are seen covering stories with microphones and/or digital cameras. It may be a stretch, but The News appears eager to get into the multi-media news business.

Now that the FCC rules have been relaxed, might The Buffalo News enter into a relationship with a radio and/or television station? Might Warren Buffet buy a TV or radio station here to complement (or compliment) the efforts of The News. He once owned a share of WKBW-TV by way of owning a significant postion of ABC stock.

Newspaper readership has been declining, precipitously in some markets. To Buffet, purchasing a TV station would simply be a way of proptecting his substantial investment in The Buffalo News. If not a TV station, perhaps radio?

It appears that every Internet service, from Google to television to newspapers, understands that having an over-the-air pipeline (read "radio station") is a big piece of the cross polinization puzzle. Radio isn't dead by any means, it's simply being re-defined on daily basis.

In old school terms, this might read something like "The Buffalo Evening News-WBEN-AM-FM-TV and The Buffalo Evening News Dot Com."

How long will it be before we hear news on 97 Rock, WJYE or even WBEN with the accreditation being "The Buffalo News dot com reports the Erie county legislature voted to...."

Here's where I think it gets interesting: Imagine, if you will (Twilight Zone theme fade up and under, run-on sentence to follow)... one of the Buffalo TV stations, let's say WGRZ-TV which is owned by news giant Gannett, which also owns USA Today and USA Today dot com, bought a Buffalo AM station, such as WHLD 1270 and operated it in a symbiotic manner, complementing and promoting Channel 2? "WGRZ-AM 1270, WGRZ-TV, WGRZ dot com... a service of Gannett News."

Talk about "news synergies."
 
Interesting propositions. The newspaper-TV synergy appears to be the greater strategy, although the newspaper-radio synergy would be more cost effective. In other words, "cheaper."

-9-
 
Synergy

If I were Citadel or Regent, I think I'd be on the phone to The Buffalo News trying to cut a deal over broadcast of local news content. You'd instantly have the biggest news department in the city. Add a reliable local news component to WYRK, WJYE, 97-Rock, and/or WHTT and you take another nip at WBEN. Look at how much headline news from WBEN helped Star during the October storm.

Radio may be the more logical partner. Getting decent audio off a shared feed, or off a reporter's digital recorder, is a LOT easier than trying to get newspaper reporter to shoot acceptable video. As long as radio is the ultimate portable live medium, the cross-promotion for the Buffalo News is valuable.

Can't you hear it now:

"Here are the headlines. For in-depth coverage, go to www.buffalonews.com."
 
What the News has done, is simply what most newspapers have already done with their websites in markets like New York City, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse years ago--namely, update their websites periodically through the day rather than just once in the early morning after the hard copy paper's bulldog edition has already hit the streets.

The result? The website traffic goes up, hard copy sales even get a marginal boost, but competing media like broadcast and cable don't really take a significant competitive hit at all. People who use these papers' websites also actively consume a lot of other media too.

Now, if they went all the way to providing web audio and video of stories they'd be more competition with the broadcasters...
 
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