A Little More on Hype

I have wondered a couple things for many years about television news (and news agencies in general).  One is why all the urgency and second, why all the location shots?

Television news, whether national or local, seem to rely on the tag line, “you heard it here first” or "breaking news." They are apparently trying to take credit for their speed – minimum time between the event and the report – even if they must sacrifice details.  Most of the time, what they are telling me, whether it’s first or not, has no urgency for me.  It could be a hurricane on a distant coast or a farmer losing his barn to a high wind.  It could be the results of an election or a fire at a local factory.  It might even be another Hollywood celebrity arrested or entering rehab.  In all these cases, I care so little that it could easily wait until the next day.  Most of this stuff has no effect on my life.  I don’t change my plans based on it.  I don’t lose sleep over it.  In fact, the way both local and national news have become littered with celebrity- or gossip-oriented “news,” I wouldn’t care if I never heard some of it.  If an event affects me directly, I’ll probably get a call from the police or hospital.  “Oh, no – we have to evacuate!”  On the other hand, people having to evacuate from a town 1000 miles away is interesting but not time-sensitive.  So why all the urgency?  They want us to think they are special and use speed, rather than accuracy or objectivity to try to differentiate themselves.

I also am puzzled by and feel sorry for all the reporters forced to stand on location out in the cold and rain or in the dark telling me about what happened there several hours ago and showing me a picture of a street, a field, a house and possibly some yellow police tape.  I know the stations and networks have paid a lot for the fancy equipment that allows for these reports, but trust me, the novelty has worn off.  I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture of a reporter standing on a dark street corner or in a blizzard telling me it’s snowing is worth no more than the same reporter, warm and snug in the studio, telling me the same thing.  Sometimes even they seem at a loss as to why they are there, searching for a witness to interview or a by-stander for an opinion, desperate for an intelligent question, finally settling for, “How did you feel when the barn blew down?” or, one of my personal favorites, "When you woke up this morning did you ever imagine this would happen?"

This is just more hype from the news outlets requiring us to have the perspective to recognize it for what it is.  If we show that we care more about substance than fluff, they will start delivering it.