First it was election scripts. Next it was copy on the Hostess bankruptcy. Now, for the third time this month, Conan O’Brien is taking aim at local anchors for using identical language to describe Cyber Monday sales.

“Local news outlets have been reporting on this big day, and each station has their own unique spin,” O’Brien said sarcastically on his late-night program Monday, introducing a video of anchors saying Cyber Monday sales can be enjoyed “from your desk or the couch” (video above).

In what has become a running joke on Conan O’Brien‘s show, the late-night host again poked fun at news anchors on Monday night.

O’Brien played strung-together soundbites of anchors covering last week’s news that Hostess was shutting down. The anchors all used some form of the expression “Twinkie trouble” (video above).

In what has become a running segment on his late-night talk show, Conan O’Brien took local stations to task Monday night over identical scripts about election coverage (video above).

“Luckily for Americans across the country, local news stations are providing their own fresh take as the campaign winds down,” O’Brien said before introducing a clip of 12 local anchors saying “the final days of the campaign can get a little salty.” Read more

New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson has been answering online questions from readers on the Times’ website today. Abramson delves into the newspaper’s recent investment in video in response to a viewer question asking if the Times is on its way to becoming an online TV station:

News stories can now be told across many platforms and the information our journalists collect can be presented in many different forms. The question I often ask as executive editor is: What is the most powerful way to tell a story or deliver information? Video is certainly an increasingly important platform for Times journalism. Our goal is not to become an online TV station, but to create video that enables our readers and audience to “watch The Times” as well as “read The Times.”

There have been several studies released lately touting the accomplishments of local television newscasts. Now there’s another one to add to the pile: a Pew study released Wednesday finds television to be the top source of local news in both rural and urban areas.

The study is divided into four categories — large cities, suburbs near large cities, small towns or cities and rural areas. Local television tops each category as the most-accessed news source among survey respondents, besting word of mouth, local radio and the print version of a local newspaper.

Local television had its best showing in suburbs near large cities, where 75 percent of respondents said they watched a local newscast at least once per week.  Small towns and rural areas both had 72 percent and urban areas had 65 percent. Read more

While some small TV stations in larger markets are struggling to make a buck off what they broadcast, recently investors have been snatching them up for how they broadcast.

Investors are buying up small stations in anticipation of what the FCC is calling incentive auctions, where broadcasters auction off their airwaves in an effort to free up much needed spectrum for mobile broadband.  The speculators are hoping companies, such as wireless phone carriers looking to meet increasing demand for their services, would pay a hefty price for the added airwaves.

The Wall Street Journal says the gamble is not yet a sure thing:

Much about the auction remains uncertain, however, including the timing. The agency plans to publish its proposed rules for the process sometime this fall, and industry observers say the auction could begin as early as 2014. But the FCC has until September 2022 to conduct the sale and license the airwaves to wireless companies.

Read more

A bat made its way into the newsroom/studio of CTV in Ottawa Tuesday. The bat began flying around the newsroom during the Noon newscast as anchors Michael O’Byrne and JJ Clarke were live on air. Amid some yelps, newsroom employees ushered the bat out a side door. A second bat was spotted swooping around the newsroom last night.

Click here to see the video…

Say hello to Kevin Eck.

Kevin joins us today as Editor, TVSpy / Producer, MediabistroTV. Kevin and his wife recently moved to New York. Back in the San Fransico Bay Area, Kevin worked as Video Manager at Juniper Networks. He’s also worked for Comcast Sports Net, KGO and KNTV in San Fransciso/San Jose and at KSBY in San Luis Obispo. Kevin will be working alongside Merrill on TVSpy as well as on our growing slate of MediabistroTV series.

Also, give a shout-out to Merrill who’s been promoted to Senior Editor of TVSpy. Right now she’s making her way through rain-soaked Tampa covering the RNC for both TVSpy and TVNewser. Look for her dispatches later today.

A new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll finds that a significant portion of registered voters still get their news from traditional news sources, particularly local news:

The USC/Times poll found that with a welter of new media alternatives available, there was only one source that a majority of registered voters turned to at least daily: local television news. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said they watched their local TV news that often. That gives local stations considerably more reach than the second-most-common news source: local newspapers, in both their print and online versions. About 39% of those surveyed said they routinely turned to the local paper.

Although younger voters turn increasingly to nontraditional media sources, they make a distinction about trustworthiness.  Read more

Pew Research Center has published the results of its study on the credibility of 13 news organizations, including the the cable networks, the broadcast networks, local news and a handful of newspapers. While the study finds “the believability ratings for major news organizations have suffered broad-based declines,” local news has the highest believability ratings, according to Pew:

Across all 13 news organizations included in the survey, the average positive believability rating (3 or 4 on a 4-point scale) is 56%. In 2010, the average positive rating was 62%. A decade ago, the average rating for the news organizations tested was 71%. Since 2002, every news outlet’s believability rating has suffered a double-digit drop, except for local daily newspapers and local TV news.

In terms of current believability ratings, the study finds local television leads the pack: Read more