Published March 13, 2005 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
There’s a bear in the woods. Some agree with the bear. Others believe the bear is engaged in a dangerous neo-conservative agenda that will doom us all. Others just don’t trust woodland creatures in general.
Three people are hired to watch the bear, making sure it stays out of town and doesn’t do anything stupid with taxpayer dollars.
For years, the three diligently observe the bear. When one or more of them catch the bear laundering money, doing drugs or accepting illicit campaign donations, the bear is quickly shamed into submission.
Then one day, the biggest of the three people says to the smallest: “OK, little one. Go home.”
“But, how will sending me home help? You’ll have one less set of eyes.”
The bigger person smiles. “Silly. You’re hurting my profits. Never mind the bear.”
Last week, the new owners of KDLH-TV (Channel 3) shut down the station’s news department, laying off about 50 workers and scuttling the organization’s ability to gather independent news. KBJR (Channel 6) will now operate Channel 3 from its studios as part of an agreement with the new KDLH owners, Malara Broadcasting Group of Sarasota, Fla. All Channel 3 programming now originates from KBJR studios and there now are just two TV news organizations in our market area, KBJR and WDIO (Channel 10).
(NOTE: KBJR has a news sharing partnership with The Daily Tribune).
Many who follow the madcap world of media mergers might have predicted this would happen when the Federal Communication Commissions first considered the proposal. Still, this is a huge step backward for media in our area. TV viewers in the Northland will ultimately be worse off for this action, not better.
Channel 10 had fought the plan, citing it as not in the best interests of the public. The protest fell on deaf ears at the FCC. I watched the WDIO morning show the day after the KDLH layoffs. Their coverage was in depth, involving actual employees and local media experts.
I flipped over to KBJR, the highest-rated station in the region and new operator of KDLH, to see how they framed the story. The story was about a minute long and large portions of it sounded lifted from a company press release. The only interview that aired on the morning news show was with Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson. I have no problem with Bergson, but find it interesting that their first source cited in this new era of deregulation was an easy-to-find government official saying nothing of particular interest. It was kind of like “anti-symbolism.”
The brief KBJR story that ran Wednesday morning made three references to the fact that the FCC approved the agreement between KBJR and KDLH. That is very true, but neglects one important possibility.
The FCC was wrong.
In fact, the FCC’s entire stance on media consolidation over the past 25 years has been wrong, since multi-station ownership became prevalent during the Ronald Reagan administration. (Thus, this column’s opening is a tribute to Reagan’s 1984 “bear in the woods” campaign ads).
Look around at the fruits of consolidation. Here in Hibbing, an outside parent corporation runs The Daily Tribune (fortunately, our overlords are wise and benevolent). One outside company runs virtually every Hibbing radio station out of the same facility, with the same staff voicing all stations. Compare this to when the town had multiple newspapers and every radio station was independent and locally owned. Most radio stations even had their own news staff. Compare the numbers of reporters, writers and announcers in the ‘50s, ‘60s and even ‘70s to the number currently employed at small town radio stations and newspapers.
Is the news gathering better because of deregulation and consolidation, or worse? In the case of local broadcasting, I offer this possibility. When the government actively reduces competition to make a few rich people even richer, you know something is up.
Those in charge will tell you “that’s the way it is in broadcasting today.” That’s partially right. No one can do much now about the KDLH situation. But reward your favorite media outlets for independence and local coverage. You never know when they’ll be blown away by the winds of change.
There is a bear in the woods. Keep an eye on it.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.