TV STATIONS' NO. 1 WEB TASK: GET IT WRITE

After we push out our morning e-newsletter, I take a little break to tool around the Internet to see what’s happening in the world beyond television.

One of my stops is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette online, mostly for sports. Right now, that means Pitt (I’m on the bandwagon for the NCAA tourney only) and the Pirates.

As I was doing this the other day, it finally became clear why local newspaper Web sites usually draw far more visitors than the TV station-produced counterparts in most places.

Better reporting and writing. Simple as that.

For all the talk these days about TV on the net, the Web is still primarily a writer’s medium. It is more Gutenberg than Marconi.

And writing is what newspapers do and have been doing for a long while. In the case of the Post-Gazette, since 1786.

Repurposing content from the printed pages, newspaper Web sites are filled with highly detailed local stories by beat reporters.

They have editorials; op-ed pieces; letters to the editor; obituaries; TV, movie and book critics; and usually a street-smart columnist or two who really know how to tell a story.

It truly is rich media.

By contrast, most of news stories on the TV stations have every appearance of having been quickly cobbled together from broadcast or wire copy.

And the TV sites have little of the commentary and analysis that give newspapers and their sites so much color, depth and personality.

The TV sites really fall short on sports. Serious fans want real reporters on the beat delivering fresh, lively writing. Reading about the game is the next best thing to being at the game.

You get all that from the Post-Gazette. Right now, it has two reporters covering the Pirates. Paul Meyer is in Florida with the team and while the regular beat writer Dejan Kovacevic is in Pittsburgh (don’t know why) doing a daily Q&A and weekly online chat with fans.

Plus, it has columnists like Bob Smizik who add another dimension to the day-to-day reporting in all sports at every level—high school, college, pro.

None of the Web sites of the three network affiliated TV stations in Pittsburgh measure up to the Post-Gazette in sports. It’s not even close.

On Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Penquins lost a hockey game to the New York Rangers 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

On Thursday morning, the Post-Gazette site had its own story written by beat reporter Dave Molinari, who also managed to post a Q&A with fans that included a Q from Truls Lauveng of Aurskog, Norway.

Meanwhile, the WPXI and WTAE sites posted the same generic account of the game from The Sports Network, essentially a wire story. And, unless I missed it, KDKA simply didn’t bother with the game at all.

I’m not picking on the Pittsburgh stations. They’re as good as most. They’re just not good enough.

Now, sure, TV sites have something that the newspapers don’t have—video. Many TV sites now break up their newscasts into individual clips and post them alongside the text-only stories.

That’s fine. But unless the news clips contain some really compelling video, I just as soon read about it on the newspaper Web site. A still photo of a fire or accident is sometimes just as good as video—sometimes better.

I can get more from Dejan Kovacevic’s account of the Pirates' latest loss than I can from sitting through the TV news clip that tells me little more than what I could glean from the box score.

Because of league restrictions, TV stations can’t one-up newspapers by showing a lot of game highlights on the Web. If I want Pirates highlights, I have to go to the Pirates site on the MLB platform.

And broadcasters cannot count on always having a video advantage. More and more newspaper sites are starting to experiment with video. And it’s my hunch that it will be easier for newspaper to acquire the video skills than it will be for TV sites to acquire the writing skills.

There is a bright spot for station Web sites.

As a rule, they beat their newspaper rivals in weather. That’s because many TV stations have their own weather tracking and forecasting operations that no newspaper can match. Stations are smart to feature weather prominently on their home pages.

Most TV stations sites are basically news and information sites. By their nature, such sites are built on strong written reports and features. I don’t think you can get around that fact.

If stations intend to stay in that game and challenge the newspapers for local dominance, they had better start beefing up their stable of local editors, reporters and columnists—and showcasing them. Perhaps it’s time to raid the newspaper for talent rather than another station.

Why shouldn’t the TV station Web site have the best columnist in town, the best baseball beat reporter, the best movie critic?

Economically, this is easier said than done. I know that stations don’t have the resources to do all that newspapers do, but they have to start moving in that direction.

I need to wrap this up now.

The Pirates lost to the Phillies yesterday afternoon in Clearwater. I already know the score, 3-0, and that starter Ian Snell gave up three solo home runs.

But I still want to read the best story I can about the game. Perhaps I'll find reasons to hope.