Veteran TV exec sees cuts in newscasts and newspaper home delivery in TN


Some predictions for 2009 from MIke Sechrist, a broadcast veteran and now entrepreneur.

I would not be surprised if the Tennessean cuts back on home delivery as a number of papers have already. I would not be surprised if one or two local TV stations cut back to one or two newscasts a day. And it would not surprise me at all if the FCC takes another look at ‘convergence’ letting one company own a newspaper and possibly multiple TV stations in one market.

Sechrist predictions come in a column posted today on NewsTechZilla.

He also has some advice.

Reporters and photographers both print and broadcast who are still employed or recently laid off would do well to invest in a digital camera and laptop with a good editing program and develop or refine their skills in shooting and editing. A skilled freelance video journalist will find themselves in demand in the coming years.

Sechrist will be at the Jan. 30 “ONA Nashville: Journalism Has a Future, “Real things real journalists can do right now to embrace it,” at the Freedom Forum in Nashville. He will be on a panel on the “The Evolving Newsroom.” Join us!