I remember this classic from a commercial for Roanoke’s local news two years ago.
Holy shit, it’s gonna snow!
…and somebody shot at the governor but whatever.
Details at 11.
A major supermarket chain is poisoning you!
Find out who at 11:00.
I guess I’m in the minority here. I actually like that there’s a source through which I can get coverage of ongoing news stories. What I’d like to see changed is to greatly shorten the weather segment. Dump entirely the coverage of what today’s whether was like, and leave in only the 30 second forecast for tomorrow part. Cover the weather only when it actually is news.
Likewise, dump sports coverage altogether. Use the time saved by not covering sports and weather to enable more in-depth coverage of actual local news stories.
What bugs me the most about local news is the way they’ll highlight an interesting story, one that DOES have some actual newsworthiness, and then they never do any follow up.
85 Horses found in near starvation conditions in a Dallas suburb…couple is being sought for questioning…
Local college van in deadly accident…
Robbery at…
AND???, then nothing, you look the next day, and the next. No followup, no news on whether thy caught them, or how the survivors are doing. Nothing.
They give just the sketchiest details, and never ever followup. Very annoying.
Yes!! Same one. Did you see the latest one a couple of weeks ago?
Sex can kill! Details at 10:00.
Man gets worked up over a message board and types something bannable!
Film at 10!
[sub]Don’t you all just wish! 
[/sub]
My local news is not exactly local… at least not in what they report.
I live close to VT, I can see it if I go down a few blocks to the lake. The “local” news channel covers all Vermont news first then goes to New York news. Most VT sports are covered first and to top it off there’s a “what’s in tomorrow’s news” section that has the sponsorship of both the Vermont and the local NY paper. Guess which one they cover first.
On top of it we have the regular sensationalist news.
I’ve certainly known my shares of local newsies over the years. And I’d say that most of them agree that it’s crap.
But seriously, what the hell can you expect. A half-hour broadcast is probably 20 minutes of news. Toss is 7 minutes for weather, sports, and half-assed clowning and you’re looking at 13 minutes to cover the state of the world/area/whatever.
OF COURSE IT’S CRAP!!!
And, again…let me remind you of WHY it’s crap. The public clearly WANTS crap. They want crap so badly they’ll run away from real good to get crap.
So don’t blame the newsies. Blame the people who would rather hear about some celeb breakup than the weakness of the dollar.
Well … Bush DID win the election …
This ad just ran:
“Cheerleading squads exploited . . . without their knowledge. Tonight, on the news at 10:00.” Of course, it was black and white footage.
Heh, KSO, you must be in the Detroit area. I saw that story at 10. It was…wait for it…complete crap.
YO’ MAMA!
My son loves candy. If given the chance, he would eat nothing but candy. Using your argument, if would be his fault if I only fed him candy, since I’d only be giving him what he wants.
I do not feed him only candy. It would be irresonsible of me.
So the public are like children and the media should do what is best for them, without regard to what they want? That’s a pretty crappy analogy.
IS THERE SNOW IN THE FORECAST? TUNE IN AT 11 TO FIND OUT.
At 11:00 -
Answer: No.
Yes, it’s called being responsible. The media need to learn how to do this. Our politicians need to learn how to do this.
And yes, the public are like children. It’s like that line from MIB, “A person is smart, people are dumb.”
I’m in Hartford, Connecticut. Must have been slow news days in both cities… As for the story, let me guess–somebody secretly taping the cheerleaders and selling the video on the internet?
Close. Some guy secretly taking PHOTOS of cheerleaders and selling them on the internet. The photos were taken while said cheerleaders were in poses where those little cheerleader undies were on prominent display. There’s some contention over whether the site was a parody or not. That was never really explained in depth; so the whole “story” was an excuse to manufacture outrage and show photos of innocent teens who were “violated” by this guy who…took pictures of girls cheerleading and put them on the internet.
Get this; the newscast put a big censor block over the crotches of the photos they showed, leading me to think “Hmm, weren’t they wearing the special cheerleader undies? You’d think they’d know better than to do high kicks with no pants.” Then the reporter said “While no nudity was involved, blah blah blah…” So they WERE wearing the undies, and the photos weren’t any dirtier than what you might see in the high school yearbook; the censor blocks just led you to THINK they were, making the story more sensational than it really was.
Connecticut huh. Wow. This story wasn’t just local crap, I guess, it was NATIONAL crap.
I see; so you think it is the government’s job to protect people from themselves?
The Fox affiliate had this one the other week:
“Muslims are moving into YOUR neighborhood and building a mosque! What are they up to? Story at ten.”
The way they phrased it, I expected Alibaba himself to throw a pipe bomb through my window any second. Racist xenophobic fucknoses.
The one I found most interesting was a few years back:
“A man wakes up in a bathtub full of ice and finds his kidneys missing! There are alligators in the sewars! Film at eleven.” Of course, it turned out to be an extrememly fluff and unsatisfying bit on urban legends.
And then there are the “investigative” stories. There was one where a man was accused of looking at child pornography and was on his way into the courtroom. They tried to get an interview with him, and he blocked the camera by opening up an umbrella. The camera operator tore the umbrella out of his hand, ripping it. Essentially, they were persistantly in his face with the camera and wouldn’t back off, despite his many pleas for privacy. He finally had enough and slapped at the camera. “He refused to answer our questions and attacked our cameraman without provocation.”
Yeah.