TRI In The News
What's Wrong with Television News
8/3/2011
TRI IN THE NEWS: WHAT'S WRONG WITH TELEVISION NEWS
From The Ludington Daily News
Original article available here.
From the vantage point of a small town newspaper editor, it seems too much of what passes for news on television, be it local, network or cable, consists of voyeuristic stories of crimes, bad news, and weirdness that doesn't accurately reflect life in the communities I know.
Yes, bad stuff happens everywhere, and when it does happen it deserves to be noted. It is news. But television's treatment is often shallow, heavy on images — pertinent or not — and with witness accounts from people who might be playing to the camera for their moment of fame.
Rarely do the TV cameras show up in our community for "good news." Watching some reports one would think living in central and northern Michigan is akin to life in a war zone or a crime-ridden ghetto.
It's crime story after crime story after crime story — despite the communities overall being very safe.
John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute has written a commentary worth reading if you care about news and where to get it.
