This bulletin just in to the local newsdesk. CBS is planning to air a program called Survivor: Nicaragua. It isn’t a new show. It isn’t a new idea. A new setting and cast maybe.
Why does it merit coverage on the local news program?
The average newscast has about seventeen minutes to report everything that happens, once the commercials, sports, weather, and happy talk are subtracted. Last night we got a forty-five second promotion for the next night’s primetime offering instead of news. (I’m sorry, but being old school, I don’t count Survivor: Nicaragua‘s debut as news.)
I’m also crusty enough that I don’t consider what other people are thinking about the news as news either. (This blog – OBVIOUSLY – isn’t news. Just an opinion.) Another news item was knocked off the broadcast so we could all hear Soonermom’s thoughts about singing the national anthem at OU games. Important stuff. And it isn’t enough to hear only her feelings on the subject. We’ve got to wait while the anchor reads the deeply held beliefs on the subject from three or four other viewers who ran to the computer and submitted through the internet. Letters to the editor, modern style.
After every second or third news item, the anchor explains that you can get the rest of the story on the internet. Why bother turning on the television? There isn’t enough time on the newscast to include the news, because time must be allowed for showing the anchorpeople riding in parades or judging chili-cookoffs. And extra time has to go to that perennial top story, in which the Department of Transportation spokesman stands out in the windy construction zone explaining once again that the expressways are under construction.
News flash… We know that already. Not new. Not news.
Whew! I feel ten pounds lighter after airing that rant. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
Broadcast news that is truly entertaining: