Loss of a voice creates an echo in the Mahoning Valley

Loss of a voice creates an echo in the Mahoning Valley

The Mahoning Valley has lost an important voice. If that sounds like the beginning of an obituary, well, it is.

The voice we are mourning is that of a television news operation. Where once there were three — WKBN-TV, WFMJ-TV and WYTV-TV — now there are two. The news operations at WKBN and WYTV have been merged. Already, after only a week, it is clear to see what is happening. The differences between the two newscasts are largely cosmetic.

Both stations are reporting essentially the same stories. The order in which they are presented and some of the voice-overs are different. If a report is compiled by a Channel 33 reporter, for instance, it will air on WYTV in her voice. The same video will appear on WKBN, with the anchor reading the same script.

Tough business

The media business is extremely competitive and getting more so as what has come to be called the old media compete with the new media. A finite number of advertising dollars are being split among an increasing number of competitors.

We understand the dynamic; as a newspaper and Web entity, we face the demands that such competition places on our business every day.

In two-newspaper towns, the combination of operations has been going on for decades. They are called joint operating agreements. Pittsburgh had one between the Post-Gazette and the Press, before the death of the Press.

The difference however was significant, and remains so in other JOA cities, because the newspapers combined their production and office operations, but were scrupulous in keeping their news and editorial operations separate.

Two of Youngstown’s three legacy network television stations did the opposite. The independent news operations — the arm of a television station that has the greatest potential to serve local viewers in a special way — were sacrificed, while sales staff and managers were kept separate.

Everyone but the corporate owners lose. Viewers are deprived of the different coverage and stories they have come to expect. And while a relatively few familiar faces disappeared from local TV screens last week, as many as 50 or 60 other people most viewers never knew lost their jobs.