Oregon Media Insiders

Lynn Heider is a serious news director and no doubt wants to compete but that does not mean the corporate 'overlords' will free the funds to make it happen. Koin has three primary problems:

1. Declining image: Increasingly, Koin is seen as non-competitive. They don't have the same staffing levels as their competitors and viewers have noticed. Their ratings have been sliding for two years and arresting that decline will take more than a new image campaign, look or set. Koin is going to have to win some big news stories - in a big way; that happens with resources and right now, Koin doesn't have them.

2. Strengthened Competitors: While Koin has gotten weaker, their competitors have gotten stronger. KGW and Fox have used the Koin implosion to their advantage and grown at its expense. Even Katu's newsroom, under the relatively green Don Pratt, has gotten on the path to stability. Katu may be 'the' station to watch in the market.

3. Experience: Koin has the greenest, youngest and most inexperienced newsroom in the market. Outside of the anchors, the producing/desk/reporting staff is fairly young and that's a competitive disadvantage. Koin has some good photographers [those who didn't vacate during the last regime] but the anchors aren't in the newsroom until 3pm and that's too late to have much impact on news coverage. The photogs have been through the grind and their morale is low. So the strengths Koin does have are not being properly harnessed.

If I were a betting man, I still wouldn't put my money on the Koin.