Today’s headline comes courtesy of TV news industry maven Rick Gevers and his eponymous newsletter, which emailed a breaking news alert this afternoon. The emailed bulletin contained an announcement that we weren’t shocked to read, but sad to learn of all the same:

RTDNA is suspending its annual convention and says it is unlikely to return.

The association had struggled to attract many to its annual convention in recent years. The last one we attended here in the Twin Cities was truly a shadow of the event that had been a yearly industry gathering since the association’s founding (as the Radio-Television News Directors Association) back in 1946.

It was the event where, in 1958, Edward R. Murrow delivered his famous “Wires and Lights in a Box” speech, which George Clooney would recite on Broadway some 67 years later.

The Association’s leadership quietly announced that instead of an annual convention, it will conduct a “World Tour” by participating in a series of smaller and regional events across the country each year.

"This series of local meet-ups, virtual town halls, RTDNA-hosted events, and training sessions embedded in conferences and events hosted by our partners replaces our 2026 conference,” as the association’s website states. We’ll note with only a small amount of sarcasm that the two black tie awards galas that the association hosts each year (The First Amendment Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Awards) will continue.

Aside from paying a pretty penny to dress up, eat mediocre hotel catering, and listen to speeches from presenters and recipients, these award competitions and the tickets to attend the awarding ceremonies are a significant source of revenue for the RTDNA. That’s true for many professional organizations these days.

We first detailed the issues with the RTDNA’s declining convention attendance back in June, when we asked the question: “Wither the RTDNA?"

That article may still be the most-read post we have written here. In it, we suggested that the RTDNA would probably be wise to take a page from the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) annual convention, which is still thriving and very well reviewed by those who attended this year’s edition held back in June in New Orleans. One of the stops on the RTDNA’s World Tour will be the 2026 edition of the IRE conference.

Maybe the IRE will use the opportunity to broaden its attendance by expanding its offerings beyond journalists focused primarily on investigative reporting.

We do find it sad that the RTDNA has never fully recovered from its 2001 annual convention, which was disrupted by the 9/11 attacks and aftermath. But it remains curious why their event didn’t regain its prominence. At the same time, other industry groups, such as the IRE and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), have seemingly increased attendance at their annual conventions.

Even in the age of shrinking budgets and soaring travel costs.

Who knows, maybe the whole “world tour” idea is the better one for the fraught times in the television news business. NBC announced its expected cuts to its news division today, leaving about 150 good people looking for new jobs. By all accounts, CBS News will not be spared in the also expected “reduction in force” or “RIFs” to come under the new owner, Paramount-Skydance. (They gotta find more than the coins in the executive office couches to cover that billion-dollar deal, let alone the quick $150 million to acquire Bari Weiss and her Substack.) Smaller and quieter personnel trimming has been going on at other networks and news outlets.

No one in the news business is immune to hearing that “their services are no longer needed.” And that’s before “Skynet” becomes sentient. Sorry, we meant to type “that’s before ‘AI' starts fully replacing newsroom positions at every level.” (Who would have thought 1984’s “The Terminator” would one day be seen as a documentary? A reminder that movie’s dystopian vision of a future ruled by cybernetic forces supposedly occurred in...2029.)

Sincerely, we do hope the RTDNA’s annual convention will be back, to paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger’s trademark line. We offered up some scenarios on how it might do so in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual Las Vegas show in this column back in June.

We note that it is one of the announced stops on the RTDNA’s “World Tour.” But as John Connor correctly pointed out in the sequel, “Terminator 2”:

“The future’s not set. There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves."

And with that, we will bid you a parting "hasta la vista…baby."

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