A Local Professor's Rant Against TV News

One of the first things you learn when you do my job is that everyone loves to complain about the media.  Even the media loves to complain about the media.  Add to that list College of Idaho Political Science Professor Jasper LiCalzi, who also helps us as a political analyst for KIVI-TV.

You can link to his blog entitled "The Poverty of TV News" here ...

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2008/04/22/licalzi/the_poverty_of_tv_news

But here are some excerpts:

"I have seen the deterioration of local TV news in the Treasure Valley just in the last 15 years," LiCalzi writes.  "The Boise stations now have followed the mantra of other big-city stations: “If it bleeds, it leads.” The local television news has become little more than a reading of the police blotter. Why is it that every petty crime is considered newsworthy? And if it involves sex, and especially sex with minors, it has to be covered ad nauseum. Do we really have to hear about some pervert who was arrested for trying to videotape up women’s skirts in the mall? Is that really important? Luckily, there are plenty of car accidents and house fires to fill in the rest of the newscast, not to mention a good 10 minutes on the weather ... Where are the stories on issues that affect our lives? What are the state legislature, city councils and county commissioners doing? For that matter, what is going on in our schools? How is our tax money being spent? One story a month on these issues is not enough."

There's more from LiCalzi, but you get the idea.  Let me start by cleaning up some of his inaccuracies (or at least exaggerations).  I can't speak for the other stations, but we at 'Today's 6 News' don't spend 10 minutes on weather.  It's closer to 3-to-4 minutes in each half-hour newscast depending on weather conditions.  Every petty crime considered newsworthy?  We certainly cover significant crimes, and I would argue someone using a video camera in a public place to shoot up women's skirts is a notable crime if you happen to wear a skirt often (something I am aware LiCalzi does not do typically).

But there's a bigger issue here.  It is LiCalzi himself, who is unapologetically a bit of a political wonk.  He finds the nuances of politics fascinating, city council meetings intriguing, and much of government incredibly interesting.  There just aren't a lot of people who share his passion for what goes on in the public arena, especially when those activities don't really qualify as 'news of interest' to most.  Name the top three accomplishments of the year's legislature.  You probably can't, but LiCalzi can, and that's not the media's fault.  It's because it is something more interesting to him than it is to you.

Nothing wrong with that.  "Vive le difference," but it is unrealistic for Jasper to expect local TV newscasts to cater exclusively to his tastes no more than it is a good idea for the College of Idaho to cater to my concerns about the state of college education these days (As someone who often must employ college grads, I confess I do have a few).  And as I tell viewers all the time, to believe that every story we cover will appeal to every viewer is an unrealistic expectation.

But to say we don't cover the stories Jasper wants to see covered is just not true.  Lawmakers have told us our 'Highway Robbery' series helped bring the issue of highway funding to the forefront in the legislature.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, our investigation into the issue of transitional homes is used as a primer on the issue by the City of Boise.  As for schools, our investigation 'Child Interrogated' about police interrogations of children in schools brought a considerable response, and we've done many, many more.

'Today's 6 News' covers a wide variety of stories, and we also have a news agreement with the 'Idaho Statesman' to help us cover some of the issues that are more difficult for us to tell on television.  And of course, if we didn't care about politics and political issues, would we really need Jasper LiCalzi as a political expert?

And we will continue to do so.  That is if he'll have us.

Comments

[Randy Stapilus]

Can't let this pass.

Although television news - and I have worked in Boise television as well as newspapers - is not the same as newspaper news, issues of general public importance scan certainly be handled by both. But like LiCalzi - and, really, like anyone who watched local TV news at all - only a small sliver of that broad subject matter gets treated regularly. Whether I'm in the Portland area (where I live now), Boise, Seattle, Spokane, Twi-Cities (and I visit them all periodically), the newscasts are nearly identical, in each region and among all the stations - overwhelmingly dominated by crime, fires (especially house fires), car accidents and the like, with an occasional story about something else thrown in apparently as a token. (Would you be prepared to argue that the lead stories on KIVI over the last week or two - and being from outside the area I don't know what they were - were the most important stories in southwest Idaho during that time? Even close? Or did they just have arresting video?)

Last year I was one of several writers who watched local television news in Portland and recounted what actually appeared on the air on a half-hour night broadcast. Here's a report of what I saw on KGW, the market leader and probably the best TV news organization in the area:

--

KGW NBC 8, at 11. Portland’s top rated station, with a half-hour news program.

First up, briefly, a “two alarm blaze” in northeast Salem, caused by fireworks. A couple of quick promos of upcoming stories (one about Freightliner), then . . .

Then, cyclists are being attacked - Portland is now a place where cyclists are fearing for their safety.” It cites two women “attacked by a group of teenaged girls.” Reporter: “Shocking? Maybe not.” It’s dangerous for bicyclists, and cyclists are organizing.

The Benson school lockdown after a student is found with a gun.

A man hired a hit man to kill his wife; there’s an update on the case.

A child rape arrest in Troutdale.

Non-crime, non-violence appears for the first time: The Freightliner story, about layoffs in Portland and elsewhere. It’s a more substantial story than 12’s, getting into some of the background, why the layoffs are happening.

Back to crime with a suspicious death at the Wilsonville rest stop.

The coast fishing boat video appears here too, with a longer local report.

Story about a former Trail Blazer in a custody battle over his son and possible child neglect. (That story, the program noted, will be in the Oregonian on Saturday.)

Oregon Ironwork will be making streetcars.

A phone bank about Outside Inn aims to raise money for medical services. Then string of promos, and a commercial break.

National “news beyond the Northwest” - pieces about Iraq, the president and the Congress; a prison escape near Nashville.

Another national piece, a few seconds with video on how demand for tuna and some other fish will drive up prices.

And then the weather segment.

Totaling up KGW, we had 12 pieces (not counting the promos and national wrap), about three-fourths about crime, violence and criminal-related risk. The Freightliner, streetcar and Outside Inn pieces were the exceptions.

--

That was much the best it got - the other stations were all more crime/fire/accident oriented than KGW. And when I travel around or outside the region, I see the same, all over. (If you're going to argue that this is what people want, I would ask: How can you know? They have no alternatives.)

Television news can do a lot to help educate people, broaden their perspective about what's going on in their world; instead, it seems mostly to scare them into believing that everything outside their house, and maybe within, is simply terrifying. This is no public service.

Yes, local television does other things too - special reports in emergency situations, interview programs, debate hosting and more. And many of those things are good and useful. But in its day to day (or night to night) news reports, how can you argue that viewers are getting anything resembling a balanced world view - that their view of the world is being anything but distorted?

Here's hoping that, one day, television news will start to fulfill its potential.

[Rock and Roll Politics]

Well, Stapilus is certainly one to talk ... he recently relied on a blogger to "anaylze" campaign finance reports in Idaho's first congressional district. That's piss poor in any news venue. Second, is it not interesting how quicky Channel 6 is quick to defend its "lack of news coverage" by saying that LiCalzi is intersted in the wrong things? City Council decisions, legislative decisions and federal matters are all worthy of a journalist's time. But sadly, the depth of channel six's coverage starts with "hey, there's an election" and ends with "guess how much X candidate has raised for his/her reelection". That's it.

Basically, Channel Six, the Idaho Statesman, Press Tribune and others contribute nothing to the pool of knowledge. if you want to know what the latest big crime news is, you have a friend in Channel six. if you want a bit more depth, learn to use Google.