WGA STUDY SAYS JOB CUTS AFFECT NEWS QUALITY AT ABC, CBS (THR)

By Nancy Vialatte

A white paper study by the WGA East purports to show a drop in news quality at both ABC and CBS. The study, released Wednesday said that based on interviews with WGA members at ABC and CBS between May 2006 and April 2007, survey results show "the conglomerates have slashed jobs overall, converted full-timers to part-timers and combined jobs�The result is too many conflicting demands on the few workers who are left, resulting in a lower-quality news product."

The report also identified a trend toward fewer news stories overall and a shift toward softer news items, which it said often amounted to "infotainment" or promotions for outlets and products owned by the same company as overseeing newscasts. The WGA presented those findings against a background of diminished guild influence on news operations.

"Twenty-five years ago, most jobs at the major media networks and their owned-and-operated stations in the largest markets were unionized," the guild said. "But year after year the media conglomerates have fought to weaken union contracts ... in order to add more temporary and part-time workers and reduce full-time staff positions."

Meanwhile, ABC, CBS and the WGA East have been locked in protracted contract negotiations since the parties' contracts covering TV and radio newswriters in several markets expired more than two years ago. Employees now continue to work under terms of the old pacts and there are no new negotiating sessions planned between the WGAE and ABC or CBS.

An ABC spokeswoman declined comment on the report, said the Hollywood Reporter and officials at CBS weren't immediately available for comment.

The report made several recommendations that the guild said would "ensure that broadcast media provide a higher standard of news quality." Among them was a call for a return to the broadcast "fairness doctrine" requiring newscasters to present multiple sides of public issues. The guild also suggested that video footage carry "a continuous, frame-by-frame visual notification of its source."