Scripps dumps anchors for field-first news

WISCONSIN: This is something Indian news channels could learn from, especially in tough advertising times like now. A channel in the US has no smiling anchors and no polished desk banter during its 6 pm news. Just a quick weather check and then straight into the stories.

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, that is how the 6pm news now looks on WGBA in Green Bay, Wisconsin. A recent bulletin moved quickly from the forecast into pre-recorded field reports: a sheriff suspending licence-plate readers, plans for new power plants in Brillion, and an interview with the head coach of the Preble Hornets football team.

The change is part of a wider experiment by E.W. Scripps Co, one of America’s largest owners of local TV stations. The Cincinnati-based group is tearing up the traditional evening news format and rebuilding it around streaming and continuous online feeds. Studio anchors are being replaced by a steady flow of reporters who shoot and edit their own packages.

Ten of Scripps’ 40 local markets have already dropped the classic presenter-led bulletin. Bigger cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas still keep anchors, but every station is expected to run more pre-recorded field stories throughout the day on air, online and on social platforms.

The strategy targets audiences who have stopped watching scheduled television, a shift that has hurt ratings and advertising income. Scripps media president Dean Littleton said the company is focusing less on the old process of building a studio newscast and more on “protecting and investing in the journalism on the street.”

The overhaul has come at a cost. Last month Scripps cut 268 jobs, taking its workforce reduction this year to about 12 per cent. Studio staff were among those affected. At the same time the group says it is hiring more reporters and paying them higher salaries. The number of journalists working in the field has risen 10 per cent since 2022.

Chief executive Adam Symson believes the new model will add $100 million to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by the end of this year. Scripps shares are down roughly 35 per cent in 2025. The company recently rejected a hostile takeover approach from Sinclair.

Early online figures look promising. After launching 24-hour news streams on platforms such as Samsung and Roku, viewing hours rose 39 per cent in Tallahassee and 58 per cent in Green Bay. Symson argues the approach also delivers better local coverage by placing reporters in neighbourhoods rather than parachuting them in only when something goes wrong.

Viewer reaction has been mixed. When the Scripps station in Baltimore went anchor-less, hundreds of comments appeared online, many of them critical. Some called it the beginning of the end for local TV news.

Scripps is pressing on regardless. In a market where fewer people sit down for the evening bulletin, the group is betting that a constant stream of reporter-driven stories will matter more than the familiar faces once trusted to deliver them.