Do you ever wonder why you see so many stories on local TV about crimes or wrecks and fires? In my small, local TV market the thing is drug busts. Interstate 10 runs through the city and county, and the local drug enforcement agents have had themselves quite an operation for some time busting big semi trucks and SUVs and other cars they profile stop for various traffic offenses.
And animals. The local TV news directors have learned that animals pull at the heart strings. Ears perk up on animal abuse stories tons more than they do for a “misdemeanor” homicide. That isn’t to say I “heart” animal abuse. I still have a hard time looking at Mike Vick without some semblance of disgust.
The reason you see so much of the above is because it is easy, or” cheap ” as David Cay Johnson points out in this excellent piece in the journalism journal Nieman Reports. Your city council or school board or water district might be ripping you off because reporters are too busy chasing dog stories their editors sent them out on. You wouldn’t know you were getting reamed though because the reporter’s beat has given way to the easy and cheap.
If you want a real insight into what local news is really all about — and it’s not the conspiratorial, political clusterf**k that the far right has led you to believe — then check out this article.
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