Without Newspapers, What Will Local TV News Shows Do?

The New York Post's Phil Mushnick has a terrific piece this week that ponders the fate of local TV news shows if newspapers go the way of the dinosaurs.

"Without newspapers, from where will local TV newscasts procure the news they daily report?" Muchnick asks. "Most local newscasts have for years taken much or most of their hard news from newspapers. The freshest genuine news that local TV newscasts now provide are weather forecasts, unless you count updates and previews of "American Idol," "Survivor" and "Dancing With The Stars."

Or they do what's become the staple of local TV news - cop and crime reporting. A bank is robbed. A person is gunned down on a city street. A warehouse erupts in flames. Newsworthy stuff, certainly, and often visually compelling, but it's about all you'll find on many local TV broadcasts.

Left out of the local TV news mix is in-depth reporting on issues like underperforming public schools, inner-city poverty and the human impact of plant closings and layoffs.

Network newscasts do these stories on a national scale. But if you want to know how your hometown will be affected by such issues, chances are you won't find that on local TV news.

So while there's been a lot of ink spilled over the fate of national papers like The New York Times, in some sense the survival of local papers is even more critical. There's simply no replacement for the service they provide.