The Inbox....

FTVLive has been posting about the brain drain that is leaving TV news and leaving a very shallow and inexperienced talent pool in which to pick from.

Some of you are weighing in on that as well.

Email:

Scott:

I read what you posted about the lack of available talent in tv and more younger folks leaving the business. You are spot-on!

I left the business after 25 years. Pay was a big factor in addition to the volume of work of which reporters are now tasked with.

My former station here in ****** signed reporters to contracts in 2018 which included overtime. The news director used that as a selling point to attract reporters to that shop. Reporters weren’t rich by any means but they were doing fairly well and for the most part, the salary was commiserate with the standard of living for this market.

In 2019, they changed the pay structure and put reporters on salary. Raises are incremental, like 1 to 2% a year. MMJs make about $45K. And in addition to tweeting, facebooking and Instagramming updates, reporters/MMJs must now post their own work to the website before their shift is over which adds another hour or two to their workload. PS: there is a full webteam on staff. What’s more, they’re now being trained to shoot and a bunch of them are talking about leaving.

I am one of at least 15 former reporters in my social circle who left the business for greener pastures and a better work/life balance. I work in public affairs (cliche, I know) and I got a $20k raise over what I was making. And, based on anecdotal experience, I know tv news is lacking qualified and experienced talent. I get at least three to four calls a month from news directors looking to hire me.

If the business wants to grow, they need to start paying people what they’re worth. It’s hard to justify double-digit million dollar quarterly earnings while the staff who is driving the content that generates their revenue makes peanuts. Otherwise, this exodus will continue at a larger scale.

Email:

Scott,

It took just two articles to quickly surmise the state of local TV news - the News Director and former Buffalo reporter Kate Alexander.

Pay is low - hours are long (and often inconsistent because of the revolving door of other employees) plus demand for daily hard, accountable, or investigate turns with little help from the desk (also usually understaffed and tasked with updating the web) not to mention life without a photographer.

Then there is half the population echoing the words of our former President by openly calling us “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”

THEN there is social media where viewers can attack on-air staff for weight, hair, clothes, etc.

Even seasoned staff can only handle so much bullying, much less a 22-year-old young woman who earns $19,000 and struggles with these insecurities.

Oh, here is a reality check for owners: most PIO jobs, PR gigs, media relations positions…all roles for which we are qualified to hold…don’t regard $60,000, $75,000, even $100,000 as “a lot of money.” In an era where being an effective communicator is becoming a rarity, these salaries are considered commensurate with our skills.

But there are those of us who are mired down, who still live for the excitement of breaking news, and who remember a day when what we did really mattered( and look for reminders of why it still does!)

Email:

It's not just about the money. People will do work they are passionate about and that is meaningful if they earn a living wage -- make enough money to afford a place to live, food, car and Netflix and have quality leadership and a supportive culture. A lot of TV jobs pay enough for people to get by and there is always opportunities to get promotions and higher salaries.

There is much more going on with the TV news brain drain than pay. While people are willing to do work they love for relatively low pay, they are not willing or able to work themselves to the point of physical and mental exhaustion for weeks, months and years. Stations keep adding newscasts, streaming shows, podcasts, digital content (web stories, web extras, smart speakers, social media) without adding sufficient staff. They just want more production from the people they have -- piling it on until people break. Producers are now stacking one, two and three hours shows... writing stories, opens and teases, building graphics and editing video. Reporters are doing five or 10 hits a day... social media... live streams... web stories.

On top of all that, they have to deal with backstabbing from their colleagues, lying and manipulative managers, and news anchors who do nothing but read scripts while thinking about new ways to inflate their egos and feed their narcissism. Newsroom culture is completely toxic!

Another major problem is the public's perception of journalists leading to incident after incident like this...

Email:

Scott,

I handed in my two-weeks notice on Monday and I am putting TV news in my rearview window.

When I got into news, I loved the job with all my heart. But, it is now just about pushing out as much content as possible and quality has long left the building.

I got into TV to be a Journalist and try and tell people’s stories. It was never about “being on TV”, but now it seems that is all it’s about.

I’m a Patron and I will continue to read FTVLive each day. But soon, it will be my own entertainment and not about my current nightmare.

Thanks for all you do!