CONVENTION NOTES

National Association of Broadcasters convention (Las Vegas): For notes on NAB president David Rehr's convention speech, see "Five Steps to Broadcast Success." National Association of Broadcasters convention page Radio-Television News Directors Association homepage American Society of Newspaper Editors conference (Seattle): For excerpts from former Los Angeles Times editor John Carroll's speech at the ASNE convention, see "Last Call at the ASNE Saloon." For excerpts from ASNE president Rick Rodriguez' convention speech, see "Guardians of the Soul of Newspapers." For ASNE convention updates, check out ASNE Reporter on the association's Web site.

As news directors head into the May sweeps period, Bob Papper has news for them: They may be planning the wrong kinds of stories to get viewers' attention.

The Ball State University researcher released preliminary data from his ongoing study into viewer interests and habits at this week's NAB conference in Las Vegas. One of his key findings: These are serious times, and people are far more interested in national and world news than newsrooms might assume.

While many of the viewer responses were consistent with past research -- weather, for instance, came out as a top interest -- two areas scored almost as high: national and international news.

What? They want national and international news instead of entertainment? By far, says Papper. Entertainment news scored near the very bottom of the list. (I couldn't help but think about the "Today" show, announcing for the past several days that Ann Curry has gone to Africa and has returned with an exclusive. Darfur? Nope. An interview with Angelina Jolie -- and an "exclusive" one, at that.)

When I talked about the research with Papper, he said, "These are serious times." Viewers may want lighter or more local fare during happier days, but there appears to be a genuine interest in seeing more world coverage in the local news.

Stations that have loaded their newscasts with crime news will be discouraged to learn that coverage of crime and accidents also turned out to have low viewer appeal. Papper suggests that stations consider rethinking their late-night news strategy. If they have been trolling for live, local and criminal -- in an effort to make their late news look different from the early evening newscasts -- they might consider serious national and international stories of consequence instead.

Though the research, commissioned by the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation, is still in the field, Papper says clear trends have surfaced. Among them:

• TV news is still "incredibly popular." More than half of respondents say they get their news from local TV. Television will remain a mass medium, even as viewer habits evolve.

• Different age groups want different things from newscasts. Papper predicts that when all the data is in, he'll be able to break out defining elements of newscasts that attract or repel viewers in the 18-to-34 versus the 35-and-up crowds.

• The audiences are into technology, but not necessarily the technology we're starting to share with them. Seventy percent of respondents have never read a blog, and blogs aren't really seen as news.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't get involved in blogs and podcasting," he said. But given limited time and resources, newsrooms need to set priorities. Papper senses that the real interest from viewers is in their ability to assemble their own newscasts and be significantly more interactive with news providers.

Papper expects RTNDF to release his full research results, from 1,000 phone interviews nationwide, in late spring or early summer. While he was careful to note that the data he shared represents the first 200 respondents, he anticipates the story will stay the same. But he'll have even more information on demographic trends, at a time when newsrooms are hungry to reach out to viewers of all ages.