Do you trust your local TV anchor?

When you talk to people who have lived in a city for a while, they're pretty passionate about their local news station. They may not know it, but poke around a little bit and they'll start admitting how much they love John on the morning show or cannot stand Jane on the evening news. Anchors are celebrities in cities. You see their faces on billboards lining the highways, they emcee events, and they visit schools. We watch the ones we like and trust. We avoid the ones we simply cannot stand to watch. We know when our favorites change their hair styles, and we probably follow them if the switch stations.

The celebrity status of an anchor is something that is arguably on the decline because of anyone can be a star on YouTube and reality television. But I'm betting the need for local talent (news and entertainment anchors) will continue to make local television stations relevant in years to come. Yes, the format of nightly news will continue to change, and yes, there will be more blurring of the lines that divide news departments and advertising sales so it is even harder to tell who is a pitchman and who is a journalist. But there will always be a place for developing personalities we trust. Since video is the best way to do that, I believe the television networks know how to do this better than anyone. Therefore, I believe local TV stations are in a unique position to develop websites that feel more personal and more relevant that national websites. I'm eager to see how this unfolds as more and more video programming comes on to the web. I believe the audience response to online anchors will be positive and lasting.