E-Media Tidbits

KFTY.com KFTY-TV, Channel 50 let its news staff go and has asked its local community to provide news coverage.

It's in the "truth may be stranger than fiction" category. Or, it could be in the "Give 'em credit for trying, because they could have tossed local content overboard entirely," file. Either way, it's worth a mention here.

Today, Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com has a story of a "tiny" Clear Channel television station in Santa Rosa, California, KFTY-TV Channel 50. Two weeks ago, the station laid off of its news staff of 13, cancelled its newscast, and is now taking a new approach.

"Over the next few months, the station's management plans to ask people in the community -- its independent filmmakers, its college students and professors, its civic leaders and others -- to provide programming for the station," wrote Garofoli. "Will they be paid? That's being worked out. Who will cover the harder-edged stories? Some will be culled from local newspaper and TV online sites, [Clear Channel senior vice president Steve] Spendlove said, and 'other sources' that are still being discussed."

Give him credit, at least, for the following admission: "There will be a loss in local coverage, I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "But there are a lot of other places to get most of that information."

One thing's for sure: Garofoli was correct when he said, "The next step in Channel 50's evolution will be a nationally watched experiment in local television coverage." Definitely. But will it be watched locally? Will there be anything worth watching?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Currently the Channel 50 site is running text-based local news stories, most recently dated Feb. 9. These are bylined by Maria Bremer. A Clear Channel e-mail address is given for Bremer, but no other information, so it's unclear what her status or role is. Right now, the KFTY on-air personality bios page is suspiciously sparse, listing only sportscaster Kym McNicholas.

CORRECTION: The original version of this article confused the Santa Rosa paper, the Press Democrat, with the Santa Barbara News Press. Remarks associated with that error have been removed since they are not relevant.