The top executive at the E. W. Scripps Company is defending the broadcaster’s decision to lay off journalists and restructure many of its local television newsrooms around inter-station collaboration and artificial intelligence, claiming there are some early signs that the effort has started to pay off.
In an internal memo he published as a column on social media this week, Scripps CEO Adam Symson used cherry-picked anecdotal evidence to suggest that the company’s restructuring efforts are starting to produce measurable results.
Many stations are now participating in a new initiative that involves distributing live and recorded newscasts through 24-hour online streams. According to Symson, total viewing hours have increased 23 percent on those streams, while viewers are spending an additional 10 minutes watching news programs compared to before the streaming feeds launched.
Scripps-owned news stations have long offered live newscasts through online streams, but many of them opted to simulcast the company’s national news network Scripps News instead of rebroadcasting their daily newscasts.
Four early participating markets — Tallahassee, Green Bay, Tucson and Waco — have recorded nearly 70 percent average growth in viewing hours after eight weeks, Symson claimed. The Desk was not able to independently corroborate those figures.
Symson acknowledged that the increases are coming from relatively small initial audiences but said the results indicate growing engagement rather than temporary interest. He claimed the streaming gains have not negatively affected each station’s traditional TV viewership, though the statement couldn’t be verified.
The changes are part of a broader restructuring of Scripps’ local television operations, which has included eliminating positions, reorganizing newsroom workflows and shifting some stations toward regional management.
At NBC affiliate KSBY (Channel 6) in San Luis Obispo, California, the changes have included the elimination of local leadership positions and departures of experienced newsroom personnel — something that has played out at other Scripps-owned newsrooms.
In prior comments, Symson said the restructuring and layoffs were necessary to bring each station’s news operation into the current age, where viewers have multiple options to receive local news and information, including social video sharing platforms like TikTok and YouTube and curated media platforms like Facebook and X.com (formerly Twitter).
“The most painful of those has been eliminating roles held by talented colleagues who gave so much to Scripps and cared deeply about our mission,” Symson wrote. “These are not abstract changes on a spreadsheet to me. They are wrenching decisions that affect people and families.”
Symson has been on something of a media blitz over the past few weeks, with the company’s communications department offering interviews to news outlets like TV News Check (which paywalled their write-up on Scripps’ purported local newsroom improvements) and a blog called Realm Cincinnati that was intended to highlight the benefits of the company’s restructuring and layoff efforts. (The Desk was not given equitable consideration for an interview.)
The restructuring comes as Scripps faces continued financial pressure: The company carries more than $2.5 billion in debt against approximately $13 million in cash. Although its shares have increased approximately 37 percent over the past year, the stock has lost nearly 83 percent of its value since October 2021.
Symson’s note comes about two weeks before Scripps is scheduled to disclose its third quarter (Q3) financial earnings report.
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The company is developing more continuous news coverage that combines neighborhood reporting, consumer information, weather, national coverage from Scripps News and local lifestyle programming.
In many cases, the traditional news format has been broken, with local news anchors shown the door and neighborhood reporters producing recorded packages that are strung together in a recorded, 30 minute newscast. Most stations have preserved the format of local weather and sports reports, which are peppered throughout those newscasts.
Early reaction to the news format has been mixed, with viewers in Baltimore criticizing Scripps online for the changes. In smaller markets, the response has been more tepid, according to online comments reviewed by The Desk.
The changes are unlikely to be rolled back. Instead, Symson said viewers should expect to see similar news packages distributed across other platforms, including station-branded Facebook and TikTok accounts. Scripps is also looking for ways to connect people on Nextdoor to its original journalism.
The new editorial strategy for Scripps-owned local news stations includes using technology to make news production more efficient and allowing individual reports to be repurposed across multiple platforms, Symson said. He asserted the company must continue improving its programming, audience measurement and advertising monetization while making additional operational changes.
“The work ahead will still be hard, and we will have to make more difficult decisions,” Symson wrote, a strong indication that additional job cuts and newsroom consolidation could be coming.
