Where are Philly’s local news iPhone apps? July 13, 2009

It’s no secret local TV news stations are still learning how to effectively use the Web — how to effectively incorporate unique stories, audio and video separate from their newscasts.

In Philadelphia, statistics show that most people visit philly.com, the site for the Inquirer and Daily News, for news online instead of TV news Web sites. The competition isn’t even close.

All four major network stations in Philadelphia have redesigned their Web sites within the last two years, but they still aren’t necessarily catering to their audiences’ needs.

It’s easy to find grammatical and spelling mistakes in local news stories. Copy editing does not seem to be a priority. Thankfully, the sites have begun rewriting broadcast copy for the Web instead of simply posting the scripts as stories. Navigability could use improvement on many sites, as stations attempt to wow the audience with the use of Flash instead of making it simple to find stories.

Side note: The fancy Flash sites also take longer to load, which is not fun for slower Internet connections.

One step in the right direction: an iPhone app. KOMO in Seattle (DMA No. 14) recently released an application that conveniently compacts all its news content in one easy-to-follow platform.

Philadelphia stations could greatly benefit from a similar application, as none of the stations’ Web sites are particularly iPhone (or Blackberry) friendly. All of the stations currently use Twitter, mostly to link to recently-posted stories, but an iPhone app could put these stations on the cutting edge of local news Web site success.

CNN.com is my personal favorite news Web site, and its mobile site is also easily navigable. At the very least, the stations (or the networks themselves) can work on more accessibility via mobile sites.

It’s important to note that KOMO is an affiliate of ABC, not owned-and-operated by the network. Therefore, KOMO has more flexibility in content management, whereas stations in cities like Philadelphia, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, for example, may not.