Combined Newsrooms a Sign of the Times

It's a sign of the constantly shifting media landscape — television and print newsrooms in several major markets are being combined, led by Tribune Co., with merger operations either under way or scheduled soon in Los Angeles; Chicago; Hartford, Conn.; and Miami/Fort Lauderdale. It's the beginning of a new business model. Even as some stations across the country are shuttering their news departments entirely, many others are adding even more news. The average network television affiliate has on about 4.5 hours of news a day, even as station revenue is down 20 percent to 30 percent this year due to the severe reduction of advertising dollars. At the same time, even with staff cutbacks, stations are beefing up their Web sites to become 24/7 sources of news. Something's got to give, and for Tribune, which owns highly respected papers like the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, as well as local stations KTLA-TV and WGN-TV in those markets, the answer is fusing its newsrooms.