As big chains gobble up small TV stations, merged newsrooms are creating a uniformity of news coverage

The TV news has a familiar feel to it in west-central Pennsylvania. News stories broadcast on WJAC, the NBC affiliate in town, have appeared on nearby station WATM, the ABC affiliate. And many of those stories are broadcast on WWCP, the Fox station here, as well. Not just the same topics — identical stories, reported by the same reporter or anchor, and repeated, almost verbatim at times, by the other stations. Almost all of the look-alike news emanates from WJAC’s studios where reporters and anchors buzz around two sets equipped with backdrops representing the three different stations. The anchors assemble in front of the appropriate backdrop when that station has its newscast scheduled.

The media overlap in Johnstown (PA) — where all three stations are either owned or managed by the Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group — is part of a trend that has spread across the country, as a small number of large holding companies are taking over local TV stations, often more than one in the same market. It has allowed companies to cut costs by consolidating newsrooms that may have once competed against each other — creating a uniformity of news coverage and, critics fear, diminishing the watchdog power of local media. Sinclair’s arrangement in Johnstown — where the first newsroom mergers happened even before Sinclair entered the market — has parallels in many other communities.