How layoffs at local TV news stations affect Wisconsin communities

Keith Edwards was a mainstay on Eau Claire-area television screens for over a decade as a broadcaster for local ABC affiliate WQOW.

But when Chippewa Valley residents tuned in for the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news at the beginning of December, the long-time local anchor was missing from the news desk. No announcement, no acknowledgement of his absence — he was just gone.

Edwards was one of at least five staffers abruptly laid off by the station’s parent company Allen Media Group, which also made cuts at its local stations in Wausau and La Crosse.

It’s the latest iteration in an ongoing trend of shrinking local media coverage, which journalists say leaves the community less informed and less connected.

Tom Giffey is a former reporter and editor for the Eau Claire Leader Telegram who is now managing editor of Volume One, a biweekly culture and entertainment publication for the Chippewa Valley.

He told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that Edwards is a well-respected reporter who has a career of doing quality work on both television and radio.

“In a relatively small media market like this, people feel they know and trust people like him, who have been around and giving them the news for years,” Giffey said. “He is perhaps one of the most recognizable folks in town, and suddenly, without any explanation, he wasn’t there.”

The reduction in staff at WQOW has resulted in fewer local stories available to fill the same amount of air time, so the station has started running more statewide and national coverage from the Allen Media Group’s Madison station, WKOW. 

Similar broadcast changes have been reported at the affiliates that suffered layoffs in La Crosse and Wausau.

WPR made multiple attempts to reach Allen Media Group and station general manager Anna Engelhart, who did not respond to requests for comment.

Mike Wagner, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told “Wisconsin Today” that these types of reductions are becoming more common in local television across the state and country.

“We’re seeing local television stations experience less investment from their owners,” Wagner said. “Reporters are tasked with doing more stories for more newscasts, plus do stuff for the web, plus do stuff for social media, all in the job of also trying to chase down the verifiable truth about important matters for their audience.”

Wagner said many local TV news operations are financially healthy, especially in an election year that saw record spending on political advertising.

The Wesleyan Media Project found that over $4.5 billion was put toward ad spending this election cycle, with at least $770 million going toward ads on local and national cable TV networks.

Wagner doesn’t see that money trickling down to support local journalists the way it could.

“It’s often the case where larger companies are buying up more and more stations,” he said. “They want them to be more profitable, and gathering the news and doing a good job of it is expensive. And so reducing reporters, cutting the number of producers, cutting people who are photojournalists and camera operators, those are all ways that you can make a little bit of money.”

The risk they’re betting on, according to Wagner, is that the reduction in quality that comes from having fewer staff won’t drive away viewers and hurt the bottom line.

Having less robust local news coverage has real consequences for the community.

Research from Wagner and others have shown that viewers who stop tuning into local news tend to gravitate toward ideological cable television that favors their own political views and can increase polarization.

“Local news is one of the last places that’s widely trusted by the left and the right, that’s widely used by the left and the right, and also covers things that aren’t just about politics,” Wagner said. “Being able to tell those stories and do so in a way that’s trusted and credible is critically important to bind communities together.”

In Eau Claire, journalists like Tom Giffey and outlets like Volume One are trying to fill the gaps and provide quality, on-the-ground coverage from within the community.

He’s heard people in the city of Menomonee declare themselves a local news desert because of cuts that have happened not only in local television but also radio and print over the course of years.

“We cover arts and entertainment [at Volume One], as well as some hard news and community goings on that might have been covered by more traditional outlets in the past, but they simply don’t have the folks anymore,” Giffey said. “We are certainly a microcosm of many other communities that have suffered that decline.”