Making news: A look inside two Ottawa television stations

Abstract

The work conducted in Canadian television newsrooms has significant implications for journalism, news and society. This research investigates how the routines and decision-making processes of two local private television newsrooms form a "working ideology," potentially influencing choices relating to news content. Data were collected through interviews with employees of two Ottawa newsrooms, both technical and editorial. This thesis finds a 'dumbed down' routine may have serious implications for content, including increasing bureaucratic dependency and centralization of story choice. It finds that dwindling resources result in aggressive efficiencies, including the new emergence of a competency gap between newsroom needs and available skill sets of employees. Finally, it finds that soft integration between news and advertiser interests is occurring. The findings raise important questions about the ability of Canadian local television news to deliver the socially important stories the public expects. Keywords. Television journalism, work routines, news objectivity, professional ideologies, television news industry.