This is it right here.

There are broadcast groups that own as many as 200 stations each, all over the country. And indeed, their main goal is to serve the shareholders' interests, not the public's. So they hire as few people as they can run on for as cheap as they're allowed. MMJs - multimedia journalists - shoot and edit their own stories and often go out in the field alone. Meteorologists double as reporters a couple days of the week. Directors work as photogs when they're not punching newscasts. And yes, especially in smaller markets, the anchors really are sometimes just out of college doing their first gig. Some of these people work for as little as $15 an hour.

Yet up above, the parent companies of the stations are continually involved in pissing matches with cable companies over carriage fees, and if the cable company doesn't get its way, it takes the company's channels off its lineup for days or weeks on end until it's satisfied.

I remember when being in broadcasting really used to mean something. Now it's barely just another job.