Reader: If "News” Contained a Modicum of Something Resembling News, I’d Watch

The media itself is making news these days. While the Denver Post continues its fight with its hedge fund owner, TV news is battling ever-shrinking viewership, as we explained in a recent post.

Commenters told us what they enjoy about TV news or why they've decided to tune it out.

Bobbi explains:

I have to say, I watched every night when Kirk Montgomery was on. I watched when Adele Arakawa was on. Since channel 9 changed all of the folks and became less personality-driven, which to me was always a plus, the only one left is Kim Christensen. Very sad. It is fair to say, most people who grew up or are old find the reliability and loyalty disappearing. When was the last time people turned on the news while making dinner for your family? Now the instant news and lack of new stories are part of the low ratings. Stability in your TV station news has gone away. Sad.

James argues:

Watch the first ten minutes, because it’s actually local news. Then, after that, it’s all just brainwashing programming that’s on every other new stations in the country.

Jeff says:

Meh, the news was okay. I just cut the cord last year so I dropped out of the viewership pool.

Joann notes:

If the “news” actually contained a modicum of something resembling news, I’d try to watch.

And JP concludes:

It’s not news. all they do is talk about themselves and their self-interests.

Keep reading for more stories about the media.

"Chuck Plunkett on Resignation From Denver Post, New Gig at CU Boulder"
"How Much Denver Post's Hedge Fund Owner May Want to Consider Selling"

"The Worst, Most Hypocritical Gubernatorial Campaign Ads So Far"

"KGNU Celebrates Forty Years of Independent Radio"

"Op Ed: Love, Money and the Death of My Hometown Newspaper"

According to Nielsen, the most prominent company tracking television viewership, Denver is the seventeenth largest market in the country, with 1,589,560 so-called TV homes counted during the 2017-2018 season. The main metrics used by Nielsen to estimate audiences are ratings and shares. Each rating point translates to approximately 15,896 viewers, or 1 percent of the total, while each share represents the percentage of televisions being used at that time.

In 1999, as originally reported by broadcastingcable.com, 9News's 10 p.m. newscast had the largest audience slice of any Top 40 market in the U.S., recording a staggering 32 share. Its share in May 2018? Nielsen data provided by 9News calculates an 8.03 share — about 25 percent of the 1999 figure — and a rating of 1.98, or just over 31,000 viewers in the 25-54 age range most prized by advertisers.

The digits are even smaller for the other three stations offering up 10 p.m. newscasts on weekdays in Denver. CBS4 came in second during May sweeps, with a 1.10 rating, or what the station itself calculates as 18,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. Denver 7 comes in next, with a 1.07 rating, and Fox31 finished with a 0.85 rating.

Do you still watch local newscasts? What do you think of them? Let us know in a comment or at [email protected].