Convergence concerns in local television: conflicting views from the newsroom.

Sonya Forte Duhe (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include science journalism, crisis and risk communications, and the applications of broadcast news research. Table 1 Time Spent Per Day on Convergence Content Time on Convergence Percentage (N = 292) Less than 30 minutes 56.7% 30 min-1 hour 29.4 More than 1 hour 13.9 Table 2 Perceptions about Convergence by Market Size: Percentage of Workers Who Agree or Strongly Agree Perception: 51-100 (N) 101-150 (N) 151-210 (N) Peers' workload increasing 87.1% (74) 67.3% (33) 65.6% (38) * Peers' quality suffering 32.5% (27) 20.8% (10) 14.3% (8) ** Management emphasis on 69.0% (58) 50% (24) 57.9% (33) ***

providing content is

increasing Note. * [X.sup.2] = 23.835, df = 4, p < .001; Cramer's V = .249 ** [X.sup.2] = 10.355, df = 4, p < .05; Cramer's V = .166 *** [X.sup.2] = 10.372, df = 4, p < .05; Cramer's V = .166 Table 3 Station's Overall Experience with Convergence News Managers Versus News Workers

News Managers News Workers

(% N = 150) (% N = 283) Somewhat-Very Positive 90.0% 60.7% Neutral 10.0 32.2 Negative 0.0 7.1 Note. [X.sup.2] = 42.07, df = 2, p < .0001, Cramer's V = .3117 Table 4 Convergence Concerns: News Managers Versus News Workers

News Managers News Workers

(% N = 106) (% N = 200-202) P-Value Pressure to increase production 65.1% 62.4% n.s. Lack of training 44.3 46.5 n.s. Competition with partners 42.5 44.0 n.s. Losing niche 29.5 29.2 n.s. Decreasing product quality 28.3 46.8 <.01 * Technological issues 26.4 40.3 <.05 Differing values 21.7 51.0 <.001 *** Note. * [X.sup.2] = 9.08, df = 1, p < .01; Cramer's V = .1789 ** [X.sup.2] = 5.25, df = 1, P < .05; Cramer's V= .1379 *** [X.sup.2] = 23.42, df = 1, p < .001; Cramer's V= .2837