Fox's "7 on Your Side" team let go
Who’s watching out for the watchdogs? Investigative journalism is a casualty of media consolidation. Citizen journalism and consumer nonprofits [like HOT] will try to fill the void, but they lack the credibility and reach of broadcast television.

By Dale Roe, Austin American-Statesman, 8/3/2009
Source: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/entries/2009/08/03/fox_austin_eliminates_7_on_your_side_unit.html

Who’s watching out for the watchdogs?

Fox Austin, KTBC, has laid off its “7 on Your Side” unit.

Casualties of hard economic times, six full time positions were cut last week according to a source who asked to be referred to only as a station spokesperson due to FOX policy: two graphic artist technicians, three camera operators and one investigative producer were let go.

“In addition to that, investigative reporter Chris Coffey’s contract was not renewed,” the spokesperson confirmed.

Coffey anchored the consumer watchdog “7 on Your Side” reports for KTBC. The series reported on unethical business practices and scams, including door-to-door alarm system sales; comp time versus overtime pay; credit report scams; and false charity donation solicitors.

“Investigative reporting will continue to be handled by the rest of the news team,” according to the spokesperson.

SAMPLE READER COMMENTS: (newest first)

By Wayne Caswell [HOT Communications Director]

It’s a shame to see investigative journalism suffer as media consolidates and local media outlets rely more on news feeds. Citizen journalism and nonprofit consumer advocacy organizations like Homeowners of Texas will need to take up the slack. We'll need to find ways to publish our findings online using resources like YouTube, but we lack the credibility and reach of broadcast television.

By Foxy

7 On Your Side was a poor choice for FOX to cut, but only one in a long series of poor choices they have made. God help them at this point. They are made up of talented people and a lot of them are falling victim to bad decisions by management.

By L.O.

What a damn shame....7 on your side was the only thing worth watching on Fox.

By Brian

Local broadcast is driven totally by viewership eyeballs and ad revenue. TV has lost, online has won, same as with newspapers. These jobs won't be coming back. In fact, there's little point in the local broadcast stations continuing to run competing newscasts. They just read to us from this newspaper anyway. Might as well run sitcom re-runs or infomercials.

By HelYa

They took away the one thing local news is good for, which is watchdog coverage.

By ollo

At least Nationwide is still on my side. And, for some reason, I just find Nancy Zambrano hypnotizing.

By cd

The 7 on your side was the best part of the news/

By Leslie

I am shocked and saddened to see that FOX has eliminated the 7 on your side segment. Chris Coffey and his team did a great job providing us the news that the community "needed" to hear. What a loss for FOX and the community. I will also miss seeing Chris fill in as the morning anchor when needed. He did a great job. The other station that hires Chris will be getting a great reporter.

By joeblow

7OYS is the best part of the KTBC news.

By Kate

That is a huge loss for Fox 7! Chris Coffey is our favorite reporter. I hope another local station grabs him!

By Lori

Bummer! We love the "7 on your side" segment & especially Chris Coffey. He is a great reporter & will definitely be missed.

By Tracy

I'm really disheartened to see Chris Coffey and the "On Your Side" team go. I'm not much of a fan of FOX, but I always tuned in for the "On Your Side" segment because I thought it showed the station was committed to the community and to producing valuable journalism. Now that I see that's not the case, I'm committed to tuning to another station (hopefully one that hires Coffey and crew!)

By paper_poster

Companies in every industry are using the recession as an excuse to downsize. The media is an easy target because advertising is always the first to go when businesses cut back.

By banno

I guess Fox7 is no longer on my side.

By Jimmy

The only time local news is useful is during major thunderstorms. Aside from that, it's about as informative as the national news. Do people still watch network news broadcasts, local and national?

By Joe Jance

I don't watch local TV news if I can help it. In fact, the national TV news has devolved to such a lack of quality I hardly watch it anymore. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

By Kim

I think there is a lot of value in the "7 on your side" segment. I hope that Fox continues to broadcast this information in one manner or another. Someone needs to be out there looking out for us!

By enyaw60

We hate to see "7 On Your Side" gone from our favorite local news station. It was a feature some of my family members, friends and co-workers enjoyed discussing after each story was aired. We will have to search the airwaves to find another local station that can report on issues we appreciate heaing about. We do not notice any administrative positions being eliminated, so guess things are really not that tight at FOX7.....