Employment Trends in Local Television News
Local television news employment dropped for a second consecutive year in 2025. Data from the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey shows a 2.2% decline in full-time staff members. This brings the total count to 26,458 employees across the sector. While the rate of decline slowed compared to the 2.9% drop recorded in 2024, the downward trajectory persists across the industry.
The reduction in headcount matches a decrease in the total number of stations producing original local news. There are now 689 such stations, down from 695 the previous year. This contraction follows a series of corporate moves. Major station groups have undergone significant shifts, including the Nexstar acquisition of Tegna, the Sinclair interest in Scripps assets, and Gray Media buying stations from Allen Media Group. Consolidation remains the primary narrative for owners of local broadcast outlets.
Hiring Challenges and Workforce Motivations
Commercial stations outside the largest ownership groups saw a slight gain in staffing, but researchers describe this as a likely statistical anomaly caused by survey response rates. Most categories experienced a reduction in full-time personnel. Part-time staffing also saw a modest dip. Newsrooms report an average of two unfilled positions per station. These vacancies persist most heavily in the largest markets, while stations in markets 100-150 report fewer gaps.
Filling those roles became marginally easier in 2025. Data shows 76.1% of news directors successfully filled open spots this year, an improvement from the 73.9% reported in 2024. Multi-Media Journalists (MMJs) and producers remain the most sought-after roles in the hiring market. When staff leave, news directors often struggle to retain them due to compensation. Salary remains the top reason for departures, cited by 61.8% of respondents. Work-life balance and burnout account for 50% and 38.2% of exits, respectively.
Digital Strategy and Operational Shifts
Staffing patterns align strictly with newsroom size. Large markets continue to command the most resources, yet even these operations show declines in digital staff. This contraction signals a shift in how stations distribute their limited human capital. Although there were two years of decline, the use of MMJs ticked upward in 2025. Almost two-thirds of stations now rely on this model as their primary reporting method.
New-hire volume remains at historical lows. Most recruitment activity is reactive. Replacement hiring far outpaces the creation of new positions, with producers and MMJs leading that replacement demand. This survey, conducted during the fourth quarter of 2025, involved responses from over 1,100 television stations and 600 radio stations. The S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Radio Television Digital News Association manage the study annually.
Future Implications for Broadcast News
Industry observers watch these figures for signs of further institutional decay. As stations merge, the capacity for local investigative journalism often fluctuates. The reliance on MMJs suggests a pivot toward operational efficiency over traditional production structures. If stations continue to struggle with pay and retention, the talent pipeline for local news could dry up further. The long-term health of local journalism rests on these staffing metrics. For now, the numbers show a lean operation struggling to maintain its footprint in a consolidating market.