Amen on pointing out how some newscasts try to tie into storylines from shows broadcast earlier in the evening. I don’t know who came up for the idea for doing this, but it sounds like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with something for people to watch. It’s almost like local news is slowly blending with Entertainment Tonight. I don’t watch news to be entertained, I watch it to be informed.
One thing I really hate about local morning news shows is how they report on EVERY MINUTE CLOSING that happens in a city. Come on, we all want to know if schools and larger businesses are closed, but do we really need to know if chess club meetings are cancelled too?
“It’s only common sense,
There are no accidents 'round here.”
Torgo did a masterful job of explaining why local news is the way it is. (I will mount my soapbox here, so feel free to go pour a cool one while I rant.)
As a diehard “information” person, it horrifies me that people honestly believe that the “news media”–print or electronic-- exists to inform. It exists to make a profit for the stockholders, and sell advertising. Some media outlets do a better job than others of balancing that with “informing the public”.
But there ain’t no free lunches, folks, and people who forget that fact depress me but they make themselves vulnerable to misinformation–and disinformation.
I have a slightly different take on dismal midwestern local news broadcasts than Yosemitebabe. (She isn’t wrong! but there’s another angle to consider.) Of course knowledge of world and national events is crucial for any informed person, but frankly television is the flat worst medium to convey complex information.
Ever note voting patterns? Presidential elections and slime-slinging congressional races usually bring out some voters, while purely local issues and elections cause a resounding snore. But these are the issues that determine local tax rates, water quality, school funding and policies, whether streets get snow plowed and if dogs need to be spayed to be licensed.
In other words, the mundane and (yep-PER!) boring stuff has the most immediate impact on people’s lives. So some of that picayune coverage is actually pretty crucial, and thankless.
But the “warm fuzzies” stuff annoys me the most. The hardhitting news on dieting and decorating and choosing the best atheletic shoes…yuck! It’s disguised as “news you can use!” but mostly it’s glossy magazine fluff designed to appeal to the bored and indifferent rather than actual news.
IIRC, Oprah and other syndicated are bought…meaning they Oprah has her money, she doesn’t care if the TV station airs half of her show or not. as far as make goods go, only a small precentage of commercials are tacked on by the syndicator during the shows, most are sold by the local station (which doesn’t mean it’ll be only local businesses). so i don’t believe there’d have to be a make good. the commercials during the syndicated are probably written off, since maybe only one or two showings of oprah are preempted on any given day, so the majority of viewers see the ad.
and yeah, local news does suck. but it’s not their fault. tv sucks. the reason local tv sucks is once they ‘groom’ a good anchor or camera guy, the person gets a big head, goes to a bigger market for more money.
but on the brighter side, most local tv personalities are totally personable and easy to get ahold of.