Abstract
Cooper (2007) asserts that radio has experienced the most consolidation of all media industries. Hood (2007, 2010) has examined effects on local news content when production is outsourced to remote locations. An additional perspective is from news producers themselves. How does one choose local news for a community the producer may never have visited? What factors of newsworthiness are applied for “local” news in unknown locales? Building on the work of Berkowitz (1991, 1997) and Buckalew (1969, 1974) regarding news workers and news selection, this study examines such questions from the viewpoint of those whose job is to produce news for remote and sometimes unfamiliar locations.
Notes
1Some of these outsourcing arrangements have since been dissolved. Others may still be in place but were outside the scope of the research in the current study.
2Local television news outsourcing provides its own interesting case, though is largely outside the focus of the current study.