TVNewsCheck reported that five Sinclair Broadcast Group stations have ended all local news broadcasts.
The news came after layoffs eliminated most or all of their respective news teams.
The affected stations are in Iowa, Ohio, Nebraska, Oregon, and Florida.
Instead of regularly scheduled local news, the stations are now airing The National Desk (TND), programming that, according to a Sinclair statement, “provides real-time national and regional news from Sinclair’s television stations across the U.S.”
One fire employee is quoted as saying, “Information is power, and we just turned the lights off for many.”
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. The program features Dr. Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier and the students at student radio station The Dog: Jessica Martin, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and is news director of NEWS3-TV at WIU; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
