Local news: the Sarah Palin of journalism

First of all, welcome back to my blog. I won't bore you with lengthy re-introductions, but I've been bitten by the writing bug again and so here I am. I started this blog sometime around February of 2007, and now have re-focused it as a showcase for my articles.

I've had the pleasure of spending the last four weeks on holiday in Oklahoma City. No worries, no responsibilities, just lots of free time. What I didn't anticipate, though, was just how much television I would watch during my break here.

In my place at university, I actually do not even have a working television. There is one, but it receives no signal, so I'm used to spending weeks on end without ever seeing a single broadcast. During this Christmas season, however, I have watched more than my fair share of TV and what has caught my attention most is local news broadcasts.

If you don't watch local television news, you're both better and worse off for it. You're better off because of their lack of much to offer in terms of real, quality journalism, and you're worse off because you miss this great opportunity to marvel at the sheer ridiculousness of most of them. In fact, it's gotten to the point where I can't even make it through an entire half-hour broadcast before flipping the channel.

Each night the local news celebrities open their broadcasts with that faux-sincere smile that even a major air carrier stewardess couldn't pull off, and their patronising one-eyebrow-up-one-down look of concern whilst reporting the latest local fire is vomit-inducing. It's Minnesota nice of the worst kind.

Their stories: 2-3 sentence blips that are short, even by broadcast standards, and offer nothing but the barest and blandest of who-what-when-where-why facts. Expect no insightful investigation nor analysis here. And when they're through telling you about the Earth-shattering robbery on 23rd Street, hold onto your hats for the tear-jerking story about grandmother's 35 cats that need food.

Need I go on?

The worst part is the banter...oh! the banter! I haven't seen so much cheese since I toured that plant in Wisconsin. Never-ending back-and-forths and misguided, ad-lib between the weathermen and the anchors, and the reporters, and the guests and lamer jokes than your 4 year-old nephew can come up with, all make for the worst 30 minutes thinkable. But it's business as usual at your local news station.

It's sickening, and it has to stop. Unfortunately, it's merely one example of an industry-wide problem that is gripping journalism today. Faced with the ever-increasing threat of user-generated content, funny and insightful blogging, and other forms of media made available through Web 2.0, so-called "old media" has had to find new ways to captivate audiences and lure in elusive younger crowds.

But is it working? All indications (and these indications being my personal reactions and experiences, of course) say no. Instead of giving news that "down home" touch aimed to hold viewers' attention, it has stripped local news of any quality usable information.

It has turned the local news into the Sarah Palin of journalism. Cute, some even say sexy, but full of winks, nudges, and cliché refrains that make one nauseous. Sure, it might garner the viewership of a few golden-year folks sitting at home with their cross-stitching, but it does so whilst alienating core demographics necessary for survival and, more importantly, journalistic respect.

In other words, local news is working against itself, and its playful banter and folksy, extraneous on-air gab is ruining any integrity it may have had.

There's a reason that broadcast news greats like Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings were trusted news sources. They knew the power of hard-hitting facts, meaningful investigation and reporting and a sincere and professional approach to the news. They didn't need giggles or wild antics to gain viewership, their dedication to truth and extensive journalism did it all. They were like the political greats, those hallowed names of political Wallhalla so oft-repeated in our history: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, the Roosevelts. They are the golden ideal. And the local news? I present to you, Sarah Palin: loose cannon, in-over-her-head, desperately clutching for followership, yet alienating all the way.

Alas, I cry out for a return to journalistic greatness at all levels, but I suppose it makes sense why it has happened this way. I guess all the good talent escapes ASAP and moves up in the ranks...until they're rubbing elbows with Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings.