Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20211228

A28 u.s. news
Diamars 28 December 2021

Outlets hurt by dwindling public interest in news in 2021

He sees the effect of those
Both CNN and MSNBC years in the intensity with
face key programming deci- which the media has cov-
sions in the new year. CNN ered every twist and turn of
must replace its most popu- legislative negotiations over
lar host, Chris Cuomo, who President Joe Biden’s “Build
was fired after it was revealed Back Better” bill. Like most
how he helped his brother work in Congress, it’s slow-
through a political scandal. moving and filled with incre-
MSNBC must replace Brian mental developments.
Williams in its lineup and
will most likely see its most He’s concerned that con-
popular personality, Rachel centration on this story has
Maddow, cut back on her distracted from other priori-
(AP) — The presidential Comscore said the num- hours. ties, including focusing on
election, pandemic and ber of unique visitors to the Those networks remain fo- local efforts to restrict voting
racial reckoning were sto- Post’s site was down 44% in cused on politics even as Although usage of the Times’ rights, ultimately a more im-
ries that drove intense in- November compared to No- viewership interest wanes. digital site is down, the com- portant story.
terest and engagement to vember 2020, and down 34% The media monitoring com- pany passed 8 million sub-
news outlets in 2020. To at the Times. pany NewsWhip looked at 14 scriptions and is on pace to Some 100 to 120 local news-
a large degree, 2021 rep- million political articles on- grow further. Doctor said the papers shut down in 2021, a
resented the inevitable While a Dec. 23 headline on line last year and found they Times has done an effective number that is on pace with
hangover. the Los Angeles Times front had an average of 924 engage- job of diversifying beyond the declines of the past two
page — “How Much More ments, or social media inter- politics, most notably with decades, said Penelope Muse
Various metrics illustrate the Can We Take?” — referred to actions. The 13.5 million ar- its Wirecutter service of con- Abernathy, a professor at
dwindling popularity of news COVID-19, it could easily be ticles NewsWhip has traced sumer recommendations. Northwestern University.
content. applied to the news appetite in 2021 had an average of 321
in general. engagements. Leaders at the Post have Yet local news outlets are also
Cable news networks were wrestled with how to deal expected to have their small-
the main form of evening For the most part, smart news To a certain extent, these out- their readers’ dependence on est number of job cuts in 14
entertainment for millions of executives knew the peaks of lets have turned elsewhere political fare, according to years, according to the re-
Americans last year. In 2021, 2020 were not sustainable. for revenue opportunities, the Wall Street Journal. The search firm Challenger Gray
weekday prime-time viewer- Doctor said. CNN is prepar- company is looking interna- & Christmas. That comes
ship dropped 38% at CNN, “It was entirely predictable,” ing to debut a new streaming tionally for growth opportu- after 2020 saw the biggest
34% at Fox News Channel said news media analyst Ken service early next year, and nities, Doctor said, a focus number of lost newsroom
and 25% at MSNBC, accord- Doctor. recently poached Fox News’ that plays to the strength of jobs since 2008.
ing to the Nielsen company. Chris Wallace to join that ef- its new executive editor, Sally
Perhaps that was most obvi- fort. Buzbee. “What we’re seeing this year
The decline was less steep but ous at the cable news net- is kind of a watershed mo-
still significant at broadcast works. They built a prime- Fox News, while doubling “People to some degree have ment in the pivot from a
television evening newscasts: time model almost entirely down on conservative com- focused inward,” Rosenstiel print business model that is
12% at ABC’s “World News focused on political combat mentary following perceived said. “They’re getting the diminishing to a digital mod-
Tonight” and the “CBS Eve- during the Trump years, threats from outlets like news that they need but it’s el that is beginning to take
ning News;” 14% at NBC’s which made it difficult for Newsmax and OANN, di- not as much news as it was a shape,” said Timothy Frank-
“Nightly News,” Nielsen them to pivot to something rected fans to its Fox Nation year ago.” lin, Abernathy’s colleague at
said. different, said Tom Rosen- streaming service. Arguably Northwestern.
stiel, a journalism professor Fox’s most attention-getting Particularly for the national
The Trump era saw explosive at the University of Mary- programming of the year was news outlets, Rosenstiel said He cited the Boston Globe
subscriber growth for some land. a documentary on the Jan. 6 2021 may best be remem- and Minneapolis Star-Tri-
digital news sites like The Capitol riot by Tucker Carl- bered as a transitional year bune as two newspapers that
New York Times and Wash- “You become, to some extent, son, that asserted it was an away from the frenzied news are succeeding in the transi-
ington Post. Yet readers aren’t a prisoner of the audience effort to silence Trump sup- pace of the Trump years. tion.
spending as much time there; you built,” Rosenstiel said. porters.

Snow blasts California and freezes Pacific Northwest

(AP) — Blowing snow in 193.7 inches (4.9 meters) as els after recent weeks of dry across the Seattle area. land, Oregon, also received
mountains of Northern more snow is expected. weather but the state Depart- snowfall. Frigid temperatures
California and Nevada ment of Water Resources re- More than a foot (0.3 meters) in the region could tie or
closed key highways over The Northstar California ported on Monday that the was reported near Port Ange- break records in the coming
the weekend, while an Resort in Truckee closed snowpack was between 145% les across the Puget Sound on days.
arctic blast brought frigid its mountain operations on and 161% of normal across the Olympic Peninsula. Port-
temperatures to the Pacif- Monday amid blizzard con- the range with more snow
ic Northwest, and unusu- ditions. The ski resort has re- expected.
ally warm weather settled ceived more than 6 feet (1.8
over parts of Texas and the meters) of snow over the last In the Pacific Northwest,
Southeast. 48 hours, according to the re- emergency warming shel-
sort’s Facebook post. ters were opened throughout
At Donner Pass in the Sierra, western Washington and Or-
officials with the Univer- Search and rescue crews are egon as temperatures plunged
sity of California, Berkeley’s looking for a missing skier into the teens and forecasters
Central Sierra Snow Labora- who was last seen Saturday said an arctic blast would last
tory on Monday said recent morning on a lift at the ski for several days. Sunday’s
snowfall has smashed the resort, KCRA reported. snow showers blew into the
snowiest December record of Pacific Northwest from the
179 inches (4.6 meters), set The snowpack in the Sierra Gulf of Alaska, dumping up
in 1970. The record is now was at dangerously low lev- to 6 inches (15 centimeters)