Television News Jobs and Salaries Decline As Amount of News Increases, RTNDA/Hofstra University Survey Shows

Results of the 2009 Hofstra University/Radio-Television News Directors Association Annual Survey indicate jobs in local television news dropped by 4.3 percent and salaries dropped by 4.4 percent last year. At the same time, stations set a record for the amount of news on the air while the net number of stations originating news declined by only 4 in the past 16 months. "It's clear that stations are banking on local news to carry them into the future," said Bob Papper, director of the survey and professor and chair of the department of journalism at Hofstra University. "Television is clearly suffering from the same stress as the entire economy, but stations are by no means giving up on local news." Papper said he expects jobs and salaries to continue to decline in 2009, but looks for improvement in 2010.