According to this article which appeared in the Los Angeles Times (via BoingBoing), researchers found that the average LA TV newscast offers a mere 22 seconds of local government news coverage every 30 minutes. According to the article this is in violation of FCC regulations/mandates.
Now, I don’t typically watch the local news. It’s not because I’m uninterested–as many of you know that couldn’t be further from the truth–it’s simply because the majority of what’s show on TV news here is absolutely terrible to watch. But, being the crazy person I am I decided to sit down in front of WCCO at 10 PM last night to see what they do in an attempt to meet their mandate and cover local government news. While this is far from scientific (or fair), when I have seen TV news WCCO seemed to be, by far, the most coherent and worthwhile group and because of that it’s the reason I chose to watch them tonight. So I sat down to watch the 10 PM WCCO newscast, arguably one of the two more important newscasts of the day and mostly because Jason DeRusha does his Good Question segment during this portion of the day’s news.
Anyway, with a handy spreadsheet created and a clock with seconds ticking away I did my best to track WCCO’s 3/17/2010 10 PM newscast as best I could. Unfortunately I somehow lost 58 seconds of tracking so you’ll just have to take my word for it when I say they didn’t seem to meet the FCC’s mandate on local government coverage as it wasn’t mentioned at all, not one second:
Now, obviously this was just one newscast out of many and only one station but if these stations were really supposed to be covering local government happenings why wouldn’t they have given at least 15 seconds to it? I mean, they didn’t even try! While I don’t know the definition used by the USC researches referenced in the LA Times article, I simply figured that anything talking about government and which didn’t fit into the topics I show above, would be good enough. Pretty loose definition and one that should have been easily met, right?
So, what do you think about this? Do you believe that TV news has jumped the shark? Are you a local TV news fan? If so which station(s) do you prefer to get your news from? If it weren’t a FCC mandate would you rather see more fluff or more local government news? Whatever you have to say about my completely worthless and unscientific recreation of what other researchers did and reported to the FCC go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Dakota Complaints Map
Dakota Inmate Dashboard
Loading ...
March 18th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Local TV News Not Living Up To The FCC’s Expectations? http://bit.ly/cSDHGn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
March 18th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Not caring to watch most news for your similar logic, I would take an uneducated guess that there isn’t anything exciting aside from health care in the gov’t these days? that is a broken record in itself..
Otherwise, Local news somewhat is interesting to me, mainly for the weather (which I can get on my phone, laptop, email, TXT, billboard to name a few other places, and sometimes I like to keep up on flooding situations around the region, as I try and volunteer time to help battle that..
My biggest turn off to news is all the national shit that never seems to change “yup, still in a war”, “yup, housing market blows, people are jobless, and gas is expensive” “yup somebody’s been shot, somebody’s been abused” – I don’t care what celeb is in rehab or re-marrying this week. I want to see solid action, and a plan, and until you have that in place to solve problem ‘X’ I don’t really give a shit, because nothing I say or think will change it anyways.
While your research was slightly less than scientific, it gives me a good chance to bitch and whine about something, which, I’m starting to enjoy doing more in my old age.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:51 am
*local* government, not national.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:51 am
This reminds me of a Mass Communications assignment from high school. I recall sitting in front of the TV with a stopwatch and timing something (yeah, can’t remember what that something was).
March 18th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Local news (on TV) seems to have evolved (or devolved) in to more of a story-telling format rather than “legit” news. The “hard news” (gov’t., crime, etc.) almost seems to be a turn-off for TV viewers (check out KSTP-TV’s ratings). Evan with the shape of newspapers, they are still (and their websites) the place to go for government news. And more government officials have taken to blogging and tweeting to get their news out ot people who care. It’s basically catering to your audience. TV viewers (locally) don’t care so much about government news so V doesn’t cover it as much as they did or should. On the flip side, Pat Kessler – when he’s on – does a good job of covering government on WCCO-TV. His approach of cutting through the bullshit of political TV ads is worth far more than the hard details of what local government is doing/not doing.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Not enough local government news on TV? RT @SouthMetroNews: Local TV News Not Living Up To The FCC’s Expectations? http://bit.ly/cSDHGn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
March 18th, 2010 at 11:19 am
One of the best reasons to read newspapers! @garciasn Local TV News Not Living Up To The FCC’s Expectations? http://bit.ly/cSDHGn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
March 18th, 2010 at 11:40 am
I rarely watch CBS for anything else so news isn’t an exception and I’ve never been able to get into watching Don Shelby, which doesn’t help. If I ever do watch any TV it’s typically NBC (guess I’m a rarity), so KARE gets far more viewership from me than their fluff deserves. I guess KSTP would be my first choice, but at the end of the day, none of them are what I’d like to see. A bunch of 30-second blips about the latest fire or burglary are way too easy and get old really fast.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Interesting, as always Bill. Kessler is in our 5 and/or 6 almost every day, with 2 minutes of content there. He had a reality check that ran 2:30 Monday at ten, so obviously your results vary based on the day and on what’s going on.
This community has full-time Capitol reporters at every TV station, and that’s a rarity. I’m glad because of the work those guys do, but also because they are internal advocates for those important stories.
My Good Questions are public affairsy probably 1 or 2 out of 5 nights. Depending on the season. During election season, it’s maybe more like 3 of 5.
I would say if we don’t have anything of a public/governmental interest in a newscast, that’s a bit of a failure. (to nit pick a bit, I would say last night’s story on the new policy and problems related to 1st Avenue – which was about 2:25 minutes of the newscast) is a government story.
March 18th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Local television news is pointless. When a 30-minute timeslot is divvied up between headlines, sports, way too much weather, and inane banter between anchors, it doesn’t leave much for substance or analysis. And don’t forget the stories posing as commercials for Survivor or American Idol.
I sure wouldn’t mind being an anchor, though. Especially one that only works one 30-minute shift a day. Can you imagine? All that money to read words off a teleprompter for less than 30 minutes!
March 18th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I think Pat Kessler does a great job, although I dont normally watch WCCO. Most of my local news is from Fox9, only because they are on several times in the morning and evening, so its a little easier to catch a broadcast.
March 18th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
The lack of local government news is frustrating. KSTP does good with their AT Issue show. Kessler’s reality check is great. note, local government doesn’t have to mean just MN government. We have counties, cities, etc. There has to be something going on? Especially when the legislature is in session. to be honest, I rarely catch the tv news any longer due to frustration. Frustration with improper language usage. A lack of good news coverage, where you learn about the what, how, why, who. And really no follow-up on stories that obviously will have more to talk about. Stories that tell both sides of the story, not just the popular one.
Oh well.. what do you expect?
March 18th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Followed by:
Sorry Mikeh, but that made me laugh. :)
March 19th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Lack of a way to edit, and the lack of a producer on my side allow forgiveness for improper language usage when commenting on a blog, but not when reading a script from a tele-prompter.
Most of the times when I catch the wrong language usage is when I am passing by or working in the area of a TV that is on and someone is watching the news. I hear a story that peaks my interest, and then have to just shake my head when either it is reported incompletely or some conclusion is stated that isn’t valid for the information that was presented.
May 16th, 2010 at 8:09 am
[...] So, even though I guess I’d vote WCCO, it would really only be because I know of Jason DeRusha and not for any other good reason. It’s not like I remember watching any particular local TV news aside from my lame analysis of how they might be spending too much time on things other than what the FCC mandates as important. [...]