The local NBC affiliate in Washington just led its 4 o'clock news with a live report on the three missing mountain climbers in Oregon, followed by a trivial followup on the family that went missing in the snow in Oregon three weeks ago, followed by an update on the storms in the Pacific Northwest over the weekend. This covers the first five minutes of the broadcast. I said the NBC affiliate in Washington did this—Washington, D.C., not Washington state.
None of these stories matter in any significant way to local viewers, or affect their lives, and they're being well-covered (overcovered, in fact), elsewhere on national news outlets. This is exactly the sort of idiotic news judgment that drives viewers—and readers—away. Don't give me locally irrelevant, out of market news, especially not in a prominent position, at the expense of vital, relevant, local news. It's rare that you find yourself rooting for "if it bleeds, it leads" local coverage on a local TV station, but that's infinitely preferable to wasting airtime on national news.
Ten minutes into the show, the station just teased its first local story...
Comments