Customer Reviews

News is People: The Rise of Local TV News and the Fall of News from New York

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I didn't know I was in Professor Allen's book until a friend picked it up on Google. I would be wary of factual problems in the book because everything he wrote about me, except the spelling of my name, was wrong.

-Kirstie Wilde, former television news reporter and anchor, KGW-TV, Portland; KCST-TV, San Diego; KGTV-TV, San Diego; KRON-TV, San Francisco; WHAS-TV, Louisville; KNBC-TV, Los Angeles; KTTV-TV, Los Angeles; KCBA-TV, Monterey/Salinas, in that order. Also, I wasn't the first female anchor in any of those cities, but I was the first female floor director at KGW-TV, Portland, my first job.

If you have ever wondered why the local news on television looks similar from one town to the next, or how it came to be that local TV news is more important to most folks than what Peter, Dan, and Tom--or for that matter any nameless face on CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC have to say--then this is a must read for you.

It is obvious that Professor Allen is an academic and takes a scholarly approach to his subject matter. But his work is very accessible for the reader because much of the material was gleaned from the author's interviews with over 200 figures who were there when local news on television moved from fifteen minutes of headlines read from behind a desk each night--to the primary way millions of Americans get their daily news.

How this transformation came to be is at the core of this book.

Anyone who works in television news, or is contemplating a career in a tv newsroom should absolutely read this book. You'll get a great understanding about the multi-million-dollar business that drives most local television stations across the country.