Local Television Snooze
There should be a disclaimer on the local television news. Something like, What you are about to watch may be eye-catching, even titillating, but it is not the news. Local news is no longer about informing people; it’s just a vehicle to sell advertising. In some markets, where people have access to dozens of channels, local news can account for 60-percent of the station’s revenues. And since revenues are based on ratings, and ratings are simply a head count, the stations now do everything they can to draw viewers to their local news programs.
Our local station has so lost touch with the reason for news that they actually have a contest in the middle of the news. Not only is this like buying votes, but it shamelessly admits that they can’t attract viewers for the news itself. And no wonder. In the half-hour newscast, they run eight minutes of commercials. Plus four minutes each of sports and weather.
Listen up. Most advertisers are trying to reach women because they are the buyers. More than 85% of women viewers say they’d prefer less or even no sports coverage. Strike one.
Most people surveyed said they tuned into the news for the weather. So the consultants said, Put on more weather. Make the weather guy a personality. No, you idiots. People simply want the basics about the weather, like what it is, was and will be. You can do that in thirty seconds. Strike two.
The other problem with wasting so much time on sports and weather is that you don’t leave much time for the news. In our consumerist society, with multitudinous sources for news, why waste a half-hour watching ineptly produced drivel when you can simply turn to the Internet for more up-to-date information? In fact, we’re seeing a significant shift for people getting local news from on-line rather than television, and as one surveyor commented, the Internet viewers aren’t going back.
Television ratings are based on the number of noses pointed at the set. In most markets, the numbers are too small to really break down in terms of intellect or even buying power. In places like Redding, the ratings for the local news are so low that the stations compete simply on the basis of total numbers. And on that basis, the advertisers get the audience — and the buying response — of people who respond to shapes and colors rather than to an intelligent sales pitch.
But it’s not just bad business. When they call it news and it’s nothing more than electronic wallpaper of car crashes and press conferences, the stations are misleading their audience and dumbing down the community. If ignorance is bliss, their audience must be ecstatic.
And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.
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