My new favorite local blog
…comes from the acerbic pen of The O’s television critic, Peter Ames Carlin.
Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know the OMI crowd could probably care less, since they’ve been on PAC’s case from Day One for not covering the local television news scene with the gravitas they desire. (Frankly, I think that’s just another reason to applaud the man - he knew enough to steer clear of that mudpit when he came aboard during that whole contract negotation phase, it seems. Sorry, Lynn - am not a fan of the local tv news scene.)
And here’s yet another acerbicism worthy of deep bowing and scraping (especially for those following the travails of OLive’s foray into comment-enabled blogging):
That’s it for now. But please rememeber that, while this blog appears to invite you to contribute a response, or a comment or something, this blog is in actual fact not able to accept your contribution, response or comment at this time. Don’t ask me why. Because if you do, I can only pass along what I’ve heard, which is some combination of eye-rolling and exasperated sighing and then maybe some muttering, usually sort of on the angry side, and then a request for patience. So there.
So there, indeed.
Related posts:
What, you think I *am* a fan? pfft. I love TV newsrooms, is what I love about TV news. TV newsrooms are addictive. I loved the people, I loved the pace, I loved being in the middle of the hubub. The newscasts themselves are usually pretty thin these days. Sometimes, a great story, but those moments shine brightly against a dim background.
The beef is less with PAC than with his editors. Media news–TV, radio and print–deserves better coverage, serious business coverage, but all we get is the TV critic, and then only when all hell breaks loose (*cough*KOIN*cough*).
Now, he’s a good critic. I like his writing, and he’s turned me on to a couple of shows I would never have considered otherwise. I have no personal problem with the guy or his work.
Having said that, I’ll add that he’s also a complete luxury; the O doesn’t need a TV critic. NO local paper needs its own TV critic, or its own movie critic (apologies to Shawn Levy, who I also like).
What it could use is a solid business reporter who has as part of his/her beat local media. There isn’t enough media news for a full-time beat, but there’s enough that someone should keep a hand in. It could use someone to look at the newscasts, hard as that can be, and hold the outlets to account. These are the public airwaves, after all. But nobody does. It’s left to OMI, which is ridiculous. Nobody knows that better than me! :)