Your local TV station wants to make the news look like YouTube

TV news programs are standing at a crossroads. The evidence is clear: Each year, more Americans turn to social media as their primary news source. Among younger generations, the trend is even more pronounced. To keep up with internet-based competitors and avoid dying out entirely, TV news programs must evolve to meet the needs of today’s consumers.

KSHB Kansas City is taking that mission seriously. The NBC affiliate, which is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, has started making YouTube-style news clips that turn its reporters into social media creators.

A look at KSHB’s YouTube channel reveals several videos that look quite different from typical TV news segments. Reporter Elyse Schoenig did her best lifeofcian impression with a segment shot in her car, and KSHB editors added in some Casey Neistat-style text overlays to boot. Schoenig’s colleague Charlie Keegan channeled Tom Scott with his on-the-spot reporting, and the sharp cuts between his takes wouldn’t look out of place in a Vlogbrothers upload.

None of these videos are doing bigger numbers than a typical KSHB YouTube upload, and they require more concerted editing than traditional segments, but the station nevertheless sees its vlog-style approach as a worthwhile experiment. KSHB Executive Reporter Ryan Takeo

told TV News Check that the new approach allows correspondents to do “meaningful journalism in a modern way.”

KSHB’s owner understands the power of digital news outlets. Long before TikTok-based reportage was a thing, E.W. Scripps moved into the social media world through its 2013 acquisition of Newsy and its 2016 deal for the comedy publication Cracked.

A decade later, social video has moved toward short-form, vertically-oriented feeds, and legacy media are searching for the solutions that best allow them to meet today’s consumers where they are. For publications like The New York Times, the focus is on the production of short-form videos that can fit into spaces like the For You Page.

TikTok users, however, are more likely to get news from individual creators rather than esteemed journalistic outlets. That’s what makes KSHB’s strategy so intriguing. Instead of chasing hits on the FYP, the station is trying to make viewers come to its channels. If we’re going to learn how well that’s working, we’ll need to get Elyse Schoenig and Charlie Keegan on the scene.