2026 RTDNA Survey Recap: The 20-Year Paradox of Broadcast Newsrooms Doing More With Less Has Entered a New Phase

Legacy television and radio news stations have operated under a familiar refrain for much of the last 2 decades: do more with less. As the RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey has reported, newsrooms have steadily expanded the amount of content they produce while staffing has remained within a relatively narrow range. Technological advances and evolving news philosophies have simultaneously expanded the number of platforms journalists are expected to serve. Academic scholarship has documented this paradox, finding that technological change and expanded production have coincided with shrinking staffs, consolidated job responsibilities, and growing demands on local journalists. The latest survey suggests that paradox is entering a new phase: Local news stations are increasingly being asked to do more in more places with less.