The News You Tune Out

[BRNout]

But nuzguy, you have to agree that crime news and politics are necessary evils - right? These are the two things most likely to directly impact the average viewer, are they not? If there is a bunch of violence going on down the street from me, I'd want to know. In fact, I hate it when stations DON'T report on violent acts in the area. It's as if they are in denial about the violence problem in their area.

Look, if you live in a market where homicide doesn't happen too often (think Boston, Salt Lake City, Boise), then a murder should be big news. That the City of Boston has been having more than one a week is news because it depicts a problem in a certain portion of the area. If you have a homicide in a suburban area where it is a rarity - that's big news too. And, as a suburbanite, I would be very interested in getting as much info as possible.

If, on the other hand, you live in a market where murder is frequent and out of control (DC, Philly, Detroit), that is news too. It is irresponsible for local journalists to turn their backs on such issues in a community. And, as a commuter to such as city, I would like to know what's going on there. Sometimes the reporting can take on too much of a "scorecard" mentality - and that approach is not cool. But, it can't be ignored.

No, I think that crime coverage is an important part of the local news.

And, as politicians end up making laws that control us, I think it is also important to cover this aspect of the local/state news as well.

Where I draw the line is this entertainment crap. I don't want to see the local news used as a platform for promoting the station's other programming, i don't want to see it become Entertainment Tonight, and I don't want to see it become "Idol Chat". That stinks and it guarantees a tune out from me every time. Particularly when they take time away from legitimate news to do it. Which is inevitably what happens. That makes it irresponible in addition to being distasteful.

 

[nuzguy]

I agree with your points about the impact of crime news, for instance. I'm talking about stations that do no more than put a VOSOT over a run of the mill" killing, or, worse run location video over tape shot the next day of a murder scene, or worse still, simply rewrite from the newspaper the details of the homicide (or whatever crime took place.) If Station XXXX has tape of the draped body and/or footage of the culprit being carted away then, depending on what else is the news that day or night, some credence may be lent to the story. But to lead the newscast with four homicide or other stories and do nothing past chroma keying a locator on each--that's what I'm referring to.

 

[Horns]

It was the news consultants like Frank Magid who
gave us this emphasis on crime on the local news;
he and his competitors recommended that stations
go for the "visual" (wrecks, fires, etc.) at the expense
of more substantive news (if I want to know what goes
on at a Greensboro city council meeting, short of a verbal
set-to, I have to read the News & Record). One exception
is WHAS/11 Louisville, which keeps a fulltime reporter in
Frankfort, Mark Hebert. His reports from the legislature
and the governor's mansion are quite informative (especially
this year, a gubernatorial election year).

It was also Magid and other consultants who encouraged
"Happy Talk."

If you can find it, read "The Newscasters" by Ron Powers.
It came out in 1978, but most of what he said then is still
true nearly thirty years later.

Actually, I work at a station that uses Magid as a consultant and our producers have been told to do less crime. They've been told this, especially on weekends when "things happen" and it isn't hard to start a newscast with one crime story after another.

 

[MotoMuzak]

Ixnay--

Portland, Oregon.

And yes, I am quite active in MX/BMX and even a little sport a few of my friends and I "inventes" moons ago called "MTBMX" (Motocross on mountain bikes, basically.)

Outside of maybe an occasional :30-second drop on ESPN (which I rarely get a chance to watch because I don't have cable, and the ESPN transponders seem to all be DC2+'d beyond any rational attempt to bother considering trying to descramble them) I almost never hear a word mentioned on local TV/radio about it. And by the time I get my copy of Dirt Rider or Bike Maxx it's already one or two months in the past!!

"YES! Somebody actually agrees with my anti-Idol stance! It is NOT news! It's sad to see WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford kiss ass to it as often as they can."

KPTV (channel 12/ATSC 30, a Fox affiliate) does this. American Idle is NOT, repeat NOT news. More than anything it is filler for a spot which otherwise WOULD have had legit news.

Morgan, remember my line about there not being slow news days, but only slow news people?

Yeah.

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And how is a vacant house fire "Breaking News" anyways? (KGW [channel 8/ATSC 45, NBC affiliates] does this almost on a daily basis.) How is anybody' slife, health or property in jeopardy, especially if it is a vacant house on property owned by the city? If it is a burning house they were going to tear down/bulldoze anyways I say why not? At least it saves wear & tear/hours/maintenence costs on the equipment the demolition team would incur!

But to brand it as "Breaking News" and present it like the house was the target of some bored Al Quaeda bomber? Come on..............

At least when I hear the term "Breaking News" I expect something a little more important, like a Category 5 hurricane is about to hit the Portland area (highly unlikely) or Mt. St. Helens is getting ready to blow (might happen sooner than I like to think.....) or a plane taking off from PDX has had some catastrophic mechanical failure and is now merely a mess of bodies and burning debris and twisted metal causing a huge traffic backup clear up to Olympia after it crash-landed in the middle of I5. THAT's breaking news. Anna Nicole's seemingly innumerable incessant posthumous scandals ain't.

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Just a thought.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

I tend to tune out weather that is not in a normal weather segment along with all the celeb blather.
For the most part the station I watch the most, WNBC, tends to have a great newscast keeping the nonsense to the end as kickers, tends to break big meaningful stories - like the Fort Dix thing - and it has some of the best political coverage anywhere. They may not be #1 in the overall ratings, but they get some very good demos by not pandering to the masses like WABC.

How does WABC-TV "pander to the masses"? Please explain that. IMO, they are still a solid, no-nonsense operation.

And, let's not forget, "toby" -- WNBC-TV basically killed off Live at Five and created News 4 You, which I feel is misplaced. This should be on at some other time, not 5:30. So, as a hard news person, I'll go elsewhere for hard news between 5:30 and 6. At least it isn't as bad as iVillage Live.

If there's any New York station that "panders to the masses", then it has to be WNYW, with its emphasis on style over substance. I watched an entire week of channel 5 newscasts in March, for the sole purpose of seeing how they marked the 40th anniversary of The 10 O'Clock News. What did I see? Too much fluff (like another poster mentioned already, American Idol is NOT news), way too many needless anchor standups. Why do they need all those monitors? And, of course, every segment is tagged with an intro and theme music. If this is what the Fox News Channel looks like, I'm glad I blocked it from my DirecTV channel guide. That one week was enough to last me the next five years.

 

[ixnay]

Ixnay--

Portland, Oregon.

I thought so, from the description of the area. 8)

And yes, I am quite active in MX/BMX and even a little sport a few of my friends and I "inventes" moons ago called "MTBMX" (Motocross on mountain bikes, basically.)

Outside of maybe an occasional :30-second drop on ESPN (which I rarely get a chance to watch because I don't have cable, and the ESPN transponders seem to all be DC2+'d beyond any rational attempt to bother considering trying to descramble them) I almost never hear a word mentioned on local TV/radio about it. And by the time I get my copy of Dirt Rider or Bike Maxx it's already one or two months in the past!!
[/quote]

Not being a MXer or follower of MX and not one who knows anyone who is either, I don't have a dog in that particular fight. That said, I'm sorry your hobby, which I hope you and your pals continue to enjoy , gets short media shrift. Thanks for responding. I myself would like to see more media coverage of railroads. ;D (I just renewed my Trains magazine subscription.)

ixnay

 

[MotoMuzak]

What really baffles me is the coverage here in Portland.......CBS reportedly last year was supposed top be the carrier for the AMA Supercross tournaments.......they even had the time-slots marked as such in our local TV Guides (and even the EPG in my digital TV receiver) but for some reason KOIN (CBS affiliates, channel 6/ATSC 40) decided to air infomercials in the time slot instead. As far as I know none of these races are subject to blackout so they can be shown freely in any given market.

;D At least, I would much rather see James Stewart's /-\$$ get wooped by Ryan Villopoto (another fellow Washingtonian!) on an arena moto track than yet again having to see Al Borland trying to make the best of his post-Binford hardship years selling extension ladders.................. ;D

And if nothing else a little coverage on the Evening News sports report would be more than much appreciated!!!

(Should be mentioned that Portland is basically one of the several bigger moto/BMX/mountain bike capitals of the USA. Not why I live here tho.....I am actually from Vancouver [Washington, about 5min. north of PDX] and my job is only about 10 minutes' walking distance from my apartment here. Now contrast that to a 20+ minute commute [not counting sitting through/fighting traffic] from the 'Coove................)

 

[jcs]

I turn out the following:

1. Local crime
2. Bad news from Iraq: according to many soldiers the "drive-by media" is wrong on their reporting and there are many good things happening there! Ah, yes, I think the media is colluding to make Bush look bad!
3. Tabloid news: Anna Nicole Smith or the Kobe Bryant incident in that Colorado resort four years ago
4. Scandals involving politicians: How is the media going to treat liberals/Democrats William Jefferson (LA) or Alan Mollohan (WV-sp?) in comparison to how they did conservatives/Republicans Duke Cunningham (CA) or Tom DeLay (TX)? Can you say "favoritism"?

 

[radionative]

You said; Personally, I think local news should stop being "The Crime Report". There IS other news going on on a given day than whatever crimes may have occured that probably matters to me zero.

You said 'killings, stabbings, Methamphetamine-lab-raids."

It sounds to me like you are not yet 20 years old.

The only news I WANT is the "crime report." Growing up in Chicago, I could care LESS about politics (it's all corrupt anyway) and what the high school did (unless my kid was going there).

Obviously, you have no connectin to "news" because most people (ESPECIALLY OLDER people) want "police news." Thats what the advertisers want, too.

You're joking right? I don't watch ANY local TV news (and I worked in it for nearly a decade) because I'm sick and tired of crime news. What does the local methamphetamine lab raid have to do with your life? How does it personally affect you? It's nothing more than entertainment. I want news that makes me think about things. Something that gives my brain a workout. Not "We have breaking news: someone is holed up in this house in Crime City and everyone's been evacuated. We have an update: Nothing has changed in the last five minutes. We will continue to breathlessly report this major non-development every 30 seconds."

Do you know the local ABC affiliate where I live broke in from the wall-to-wall national news coverage on 9/11 so the anchor could toss to a live shot of a reporter at our airport to tell the viewers that security was tight at the airport today?" Thanks. I'm so surprised to hear that.

Peter Jennings would say, "We now have just learned about a major development..." <CUT TO LOCAL AFFILIATE> "Hi, I'm the local anchor, and security is tight at the local airport today. Let's toss to our reporter to tell us more. That's right, Bob. Security is tight, and security is going to continue to be tight for some time. Back to you." (Anchor): We'll be back in 30 minutes with another update about our airport security." <CUT BACK TO PETER JENNINGS> "... And, so that's the breaking development that we've just learned."

When it comes right down to it, the stories that they choose to cover in the planning meetings of local TV affiliates aren't news, and thus, local news is not worth watching anymore. National and world news is the only real news on TV nowadays.