PoliSci prof Marion Just and Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism talk about why the Bush administration's video news releases have been embraced by some local TV stations.

Some excerpts from the NYT commentary:

For several years, the audience for local news at the traditional times of 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. has been declining. Yet, the news directors reported, the companies that own these stations have generally continued to expect high earnings, usually profit margins in excess of 40 percent. (Note: ?!?!)

To meet those demands, most stations have added programming, usually without adding resources. In 2001, when asked "what was new at your station," 29 percent of news directors said that they added programming. The percentage was highest for the stations in the smallest markets with the fewest resources; in those cities, nearly 40 percent of stations had added hours. And fully 71 percent of all stations reported budget cuts.

We could see the effect on the air. From 1998 to 2002, a study of 33,911 television reports found, the percentage of "feed" material from third-party sources rose to 23 percent of all reports from 14 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of stories that included a local correspondent fell to 43 percent from 62 percent.

Local broadcasters are being asked to do more with less, and they have been forced to rely more on prepackaged news to take up the slack. So we don't have to search far to discover why the Bush administration has succeeded so well in getting its news releases on the air. The public companies that own TV stations are so intent on increasing their stock price and pleasing their shareholders that they are squeezing the news out of the news business.