STUDY: FIRINGS SLOW IN TV NEWSROOMS

A study conducted by the Radio-Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and Hofstra University has found that 400 local TV journalists lost their jobs in 2009 — a relatively small drop compared with the previous year when some 1,200 were laid off. According to the study, 60 percent of news directors polled said they do not expect to make any cuts in staff during 2010. (That would appear to imply that 40 percent do intend to make such cuts.) In its summary of the study’s findings, the RTDNA also noted, “Even as staffing fell, the amount of news on the average station rose to another record high of five hours per weekday. That’s up from last year’s record 4.7 hours.” Stations, it said, were simply “doing more with less.”