Steve Jones

In a time when the notion of "fake news" is ever-present, and unsubstantiated and ultimately untrue stories spread across the Net like an unchecked virus, the work of legitimate news organizations can get unfairly tarred and lost in that clutter. That's one of the main challenges facing Steve Jones at ABC News Radio, along with providing reliable, reasonably objective news to stations whose hosts mix opinions with facts. Here he explains how ABC News Radio meets those ongoing challenges with accuracy and dependability.

What are the biggest issues facing radio news today?

When working to provide accurate and relevant information to listeners through affiliates, unfounded questions about accuracy and integrity has the potential to create a problem in the listeners' minds about whether they can trust the brand they're hearing. That's the larger issue confronting radio news. I talked about this when I was the beneficiary of an RTNDA First Amendment Award. Five of us were honored on a night when the theme was how to essentially protect the First Amendment's freedom of the press and assure that the work journalists from legitimate organizations do is not impacted negatively by the work of others for whom the truth is irrelevant.

Has the current heavily polarized political environment impacted your efforts to combat the "fake news" stigma?

It's an enormously important issue. How do we address it at ABC News Radio? We play to our strengths as a world-class journalism organization where, every day and night, we work to get the facts right and the story straight. Our commitment is not necessarily to be the first on a story, but to always be correct. Being the first on a story is good, too, but it's not as important as being accurate.

We have over 1,500 radio stations relying on us to provide accurate information and we take that responsibility very seriously. Radio news is immediate. We tell you what's happening right now. When news is breaking, the story may evolve or change. And through every step of a story's development, we want to make sure that our listener always gets the truth from ABC News Radio. We want our audience to have a high level of confidence with us as their information source.

Do you get pressure from affiliates or listeners who complain that your reports lean too much in one way or the other?

On balance, we have been growing in affiliates so I take that as an acknowledgement of the quality work we provide. But the broader claims of "bias" and challenge of navigating through some level of suspicion has been in existence for years. Remember, we provide news to Talk radio stations that have opinionated hosts who are both trying to inform and influence their listeners. At ABC News Radio, we're trying only to inform, not to influence. There can be a level of tension in that relationship, but at the end of day, Program Directors realize we're complementary to what their hosts are saying. We're additive to their content and not in conflict with Talk hosts who give opinions. And, when news breaks across the country or around the world, our stations know we will be there for them. They need us and we need them.

That said, I do talk to listeners who complain about "mainstream media bias" in general. In some conversations, we have a vigorous dialogue on what we actually reported versus their general perception. I have to tell you, when they hear the level of preparation that goes into our news product, the checks and balances we employ, they're usually pretty impressed. They and I emerge with a mutual respect. We also talk to Program Directors every day; the relationships we have with radio stations require constant two-way communication on how we're covering certain stories. There's a very healthy dynamic there.

How do you handle newsmakers who play "loose and fast" with the facts, or who make allegations that are clearly false or at the very least, unverified. Do you call out the falsehoods?

Our mission is to provide facts and to identify the truth to the best of our ability, and if there is something said that is factually incorrect, we point out what the facts are. When a government official issues a statement and if we have no reason to believe that statement is false, we report it with attribution. If we find facts that don't support that statement, we then point that out and identify the facts that are in dispute.

Is ABC News Radio offering its product on podcasts now?

We were early adopters with digital audio. ABC News Radio, then led by Bernie Gershon, started steaming newscasts in the early 1990s with Real Networks. In 2010, we partnered with Slacker Radio to create a fully interactive, on-demand audio news service, which we continue operating today on Slacker. We also offer a growing suite of both original podcasts with ABC hosts Robin Roberts, Dan Harris, Rebecca Jarvis, Jon Karl & Rick Klein, Amna Nawaz along with on-demand shifted listening to World News with David Muir, Nightline, 20/20, This Week among other programs.

ABC Radio is a high-quality producer committed to giving our listeners exceptional audio experiences while providing advertisers unique opportunities to associate with our world-class brand. I know we will continue to thrive in the digital space and we'll do so without diminishing our focus on broadcast radio. And, can I point out how big our broadcast radio commitment is? We have up to six separate newscasts per hour, with different newscasts for news stations and music stations. In addition to that, we provide one-on-one hits with radio stations -- over 20,000 a year - and the majority are based on the news of the day. For instance, Karen Travers, our White House correspondent, can provide anywhere from 15-20 live hits in a single morning. We also provide stations live interviews with newsmakers and authors, and we provide live news audio to other major radio companies for their newsrooms to use, including NPR, AP, Sirius and Bloomberg. But it's ABC Newscall that gets the most affiliate use. Newscall provides audio to News stations through a server that is updated every five minutes. A lot of non-local news audio you would hear on a station such as KFI-A/Los Angeles comes from us and listeners would not necessarily know this.

Most importantly for stations is our live breaking news coverage. If something catastrophic is happening, we provide real-time anchored coverage. In fact, we are expanding the amount of breaking news coverage we provide because stations want to ensure their relevancy with listeners, and a sure way to do that is to provide smart coverage when major stories are breaking.

ABC Radio also is providing news content for music stations. We launched a nightly show hosted by Lynda Lopez for AC/Hot AC and Country music radio called "GMA After Hours." We also produce daily content for Rhythmic radio, as well as Country, Urban, Top 40 and Hot AC. We're bullish on our future in music radio.

Has radio consolidation - which is happening now with recent group acquisitions and station spin-offs - impacted your affiliate business?

The great majority of our affiliations continue with new ownership. And, because ABC Radio does not own stations, we've been told companies appreciate that we're not going to favor owned-stations against them in their markets. Of course, consolidation can produce negative outcomes. But as long as we offer a strong brand, quality content, reasonable economics and outstanding customer service, we'll be fine. Our 1,575 affiliates come from iHeartMedia, Entercom, Cumulus, Alpha, Cox, Emmis, Hubbard and more. We have a pretty diverse customer base.

Finally, what's your take on the future of ABC News Radio? Can you afford to set five-year plans, or does the quickly evolving digital technology and radio environment force you to set your sights on the near term?

It's both. On the one hand, new technology will change the way storytelling is presented to consumers in ways that will impact all media. The outcome of that is still somewhat unclear, but I'm certain whatever happens for journalists will actually be pretty empowering. The virtual reality technology being executed by entertainment companies will eventually extend to news providers; we expect to see an explosion of VR.

Our current challenge is that with information becoming more and more ubiquitous, people are seeking clarity and context, so if you have an organization of really smart people who are skilled in how to tell stories, based on facts, that organization is going to become more important in the lives of those consumers. I see this as an opportunity for us. I'm excited for the future and as far as challenges go: Bring 'em on! My team and I are ready.