2011 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey

The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey found that 2010 marked a turnaround year for local TV news.

Stations added 750 jobs last year, recovering all the losses of 2009 (400 jobs lost) and making a dent in the 1,200 jobs lost in 2008. In fact, the survey found that anticipated hiring in 2011 could bring the industry back to its precrash peak by the start of 2012. Total local television news employment is now 26,522. That's an increase of 2.9 percent in the last year. That's still 1,295 behind the 2007 peak of 27,817. The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) reports that newspaper employment rose by 100 in 2010 (up 2/100 of a percent) to 41,600. That's down from 55,100 in 2007. Overall, there are now 745 TV stations originating local news, running that news on those stations and another 223 stations for a total of 968 stations airing local news.