Rip 'N' Read

   Back in the day, it was known as "rip 'n' read," as a local radio announcer ripped a packaged news script from a wire service, rushed back to the booth and read the news, often without reading it over before going on the air.
   As for local television news programs today, there seems to be a focus almost exclusively on weather, sports and traffic, supplemented by viewer-supplied video of auto accidents and fires. Very little time is spent on government news, business and economic news, or court reporting -- unless it's a major story that can't be ignored and much of the content is provided by PR folk or lawyers and prosecutors anxious for the publicity.
   One wonders why such shallow coverage.
   As with so many things, a major reason may be financial. Stories other than weather, traffic and police reports take time, expertise and staff to produce. It takes money to hire reporters, writers and producers and give them the time and resources to research and produce good (or even mediocre) material.
   Visuals of auto wrecks and fires are attractive and easy to provide for the evening news, especially as viewers send in videos taken by mobile devices. The station thus gets visuals at no cost.
   As for business and economic stories, reporters tend to dismiss them as boring or difficult, and people don't care anyway.
   A poor excuse may be better than none, but the reality is that the stories themselves are not boring, the presentation is. To some extent, reporters are lazy. They will rush to the flashy, attractive scene like a wolf pack on the hunt, and defend their action in covering The Big Story.
   Here's another Truth. The good stories write themselves.

   Another defense is that the audience has no interest in dull, boring stories such as government meetings or economic trends. That's a self-fulfilling attitude. If a reporter thinks a story is dull and boring going in, it will be dull and boring coming out. The answer to that attitude is that it's a reporter's job to make the story interesting because it's important. Especially when the subject has something to hide. Many officials disguise their manipulations behind dull, boring facades, knowing that many reporters won't spend the time and effort to look behind the curtain.
   Newspapers and magazines often do have the personnel and resources to do investigative reporting, but they too have been suffering in the economic squeeze, as advertising revenue goes down and the companies release some of their best reporters. TV stations have the added disadvantage of needing camera crews. Print media can send one person to cover a story; television must send four or more (reporter, producer, camera operator, sound engineer, and a driver), plus all the expensive equipment.


   These are some of the reasons why local television journalism is not what it could be. They are not, however, excuses.

   Gossip is easy. It's what people want to know. News is harder. It's what people need to know.