New in the Phoenix: TV News Blues

I've got a cover piece in today's Phoenix on the state of the local television newscast. Layoffs, plummeting advertising revenue and an increasingly segmented audience have meant tough times for newsrooms here and around the country.

The blow to the local stations has not garnered as much attention as the decline of the ProJo. That's due, in part, to the paper's position as agenda-setter here.

But WPRI reporter Sean Daly, in an observation that didn't make it into the piece, points to another factor: the ProJo's woes fit into a broader, national narrative over the decline of the American newspaper.

Good stuff in today's Phoenix, too, from clomunists Phillipe and Jorge and our intrepid intern Chris Collins, who chronicles the fall of the Looking Glass Theatre, which entertained school children in this state for some 50 years.