Is It Local News or the ‘E’ Channel?
First off - I must be sure you are all aware that I DO NOT watch Fox 12’s “News” program, or any other local news. It is only because I think this is the third time, in as many episodes, that at the end of the show ‘24′ there has been a promo for some portion of the ‘news’ related to the television show that preceded it. So I left the TV on - on mute - the only way I could make it through the rest of the drivel - and waited to see how this could possibly even remotely related to be local news. Tonight it was some sort of quiz on how well you do under stress… like Jack Bauer’s FICTIONAL TV CHARACTER.
Now - I’ll admit I’m picking on Fox here because I do think they are the biggest offenders - but all the the local news stations are guilty to some degree - this is not news people! And definitely not “first, live or local.” I can honestly say that the only people that I know that still watch local TV news are my parents, my husband’s parents and others of that generation. And they tell us that we’re uninformed of what goes on in our city and in the world because we don’t watch it. Seriously.
I like some trash television every once in while just as much as the next guy - but if I want a story about ‘24′ I’ll watch Entertainment Tonight - not the local news. And they wonder why they’re the media laughing stock.
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It seems to me that local news, as well as all the network one-hour prime-time news shows, have devolved into the “BE AFRAID!” show. Every episode, you can pretty much guarantee you’re going to see something designed to make you worry about the safety of your children, your wife, the air you breathe, the food you eat, and the structural integrity of your home.
The local news is much more entertaining, and makes more sense, if you just imagine someone shrilly screaming “BE AFRAID!” at the beginning and end of each segment.
“And they tell us that we’re uninformed of what goes on in our city and in the world because we don’t watch it. Seriously.”
I caught the first fifteen minutes of Fox 12’s news broadcast last night. It consisted of nothing but stories about local armed robberies, low-level crime and an oh-so-pertinent 30-second segment on baristas in Seattle that wear skimpy clothing to increase their tips. Nothing about charter reform, property deals, City Hall or anything else. The stories they’re running are roughly on the level of tabloid journalism.