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- Let freedom ring
- Promoting socialized medicine
- Immigration Laws or Lack Thereof
- Atheist Diversionary Tactics
- The "Melting Pot" is unique to America
- Many mighty hearts covering the world
- Roan Drilling Bad for Colorado, country
- Americans entitled to universal health care
Television news isn't
By Harry Puncec, Lakewood
This Speakout has not been edited.
Returning from a Christmas visit to St. Louis we spent the night in Hays, Kansas, just a couple of days after the great storm that paralyzed the area. After darkness fell the parking lot at the motel filled with utility company trucks driven by clearly exhausted men dressed in layers topped with mustard colored coveralls. What didn’t contribute to the crowding were remote satellite television vans. The story of the widespread damage to power lines had clearly gone cold (sorry) and they had moved on.
The next morning we joined with the vehicles heading west on I-70 and could see in the distance those quiet heroes replacing broken power polls in the bitter wind. It didn’t seem right that they should be laboring in such obscurity.
Channel 9 here in Denver broadcasts five hours of regularly scheduled local newscasts between 5 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. each weekday. They also broadcast additional news on Channel 20 during the off hours. They are typical in that such shows make up nearly all of the locally produced television. With such a wealth of time available you would think that they would be out searching for stories to tell like the ongoing work to restore power. Apparently they don’t.
About News lets get this straight right off, any broadcast that includes segments about how to cook broccoli or spends time discussing weight loss is not news. It’s entertainment and, even more, it’s entertainment directed at women. Have you ever seen a segment on replacing a transmission in a confined garage using tools found around most homes? Local daytime news is like a average home, nearly all the inside space is designed and decorated by and for the wife while the husband is free to make a mess in the garage. They need to invent a new title for it, something soft, cuddly, and color-coordinated; perhaps they should call it “The Meandering Woman’s Hour” or “The View”.
It’s not that they don’t ever broadcast real news, because they do. Every morning and evening the sky is filled with helicopters searching out the latest fender bender, or, even more thrilling, a house burning down. The streets are clogged with TV “personalities” broadcasting live on the falling snow for those shut-ins who live in homes without windows. Other TV personalities remain in the studio looking concerned while they report an Amber Alert or on a politician announcing a new initiative for something. They do a public service, but it seems to be the least of the broadcast.
Stations will spend much time on a weather forecast that is frequently given by a woman most remarkable for her big hair, finely tapered fingers, and fixed smile. The exception is Jennifer Zeppelin on Channel 4 who seems determined to survive in the business with short, stylish hair. The men forecasters are much better as they only have to decide on which tie to wear with their impeccable suits. They too smile a lot.
Sports are the throwaway for men, but I don’t know why they bother. They will show videos of a homerun landing in the bleachers, a goal going into the net, or a field goal crossing the crossbars as though such an event had never before been witnessed.
They could easily slip in an old video from last year without anyone noticing the difference. But then just giving the score would take all of a minute and then we’d be left with dead air, not that that isn’t what were getting now.
With all this time and staff you would think that a typical news hour could cover it all. It doesn’t! Every news broadcast includes a plug for another important story that will appear only on the 10 o’clock news. Unused news is used as a commodity to entice the unwary back for more later. It’s all empty calories.
In German the word for “no” is nein. Perhaps they should change it to Nein