Gossip at 11

After watching yet another lackluster episode of 24 last night, we caught the beginning of the local Fox affiliate's (WTIC - Hartford) 10 pm newscast, and it finally hit me why I can't stand to watch local TV news. I believe it was maybe the the 5th story or so last night and it was about one dog attacking another in a Hartford suburb. This makes the first segment before commercial? Seriously, do you think the "Courant" would print a story like that except maybe in one of those neighborhood sidebars? How can these people consider themselves journalists when they have the audacity to tell me a dog fight is news. I bet if I had kept watching I might have seen them cover a cock fight during the sportscast.

The scary thing is there is a market for this crap, otherwise the locals wouldn't be competing so hard with one another for our viewership. Apparently, this is the only place these stations make any money, because it is all they are focused on. Notice how many affiliates have the word news in their name nowadays. It's not channel 22 or channel 40 anymore, it's 22 News, or ABC News40. What's even more sad is that these newscasts rarely actually impart any news of note. It is usually a run down of the local police blotter, with the addition of at least one crime that happened in another state, but gets included because they have security camera video or something like that which makes it good TV.

None of what is broadcast is news, it's gossip; and worse it's all headline driven. That's why they have all those stupid teasers during prime time. "What local community voted against something important? Find out at 11." I used to think it was just a really lame way to entice viewers, but when you actually tune in, there's no story, just an answer to the headline, and maybe some quote from a local dolt who's got nothing better to do than talk to an idiot with a microphone. Then it's on to the story about the Australian Siamese twins joined at the left nostril. That's really some late-breaking news that effects me.

The only thing local TV news is good for is providing the weather. Other than that they could have a mute orangutan reading the news and it would provide me without about the same level of knowledge I can get from these correspondence course dropouts who call themselves reporters.