Thursday, December 17, 2015

Not Local News

I saw a promo on one of my local channels last night that offended me.

I am usually complimentary of ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York, but not in this incidence.

They have dispatched a reporter to Baltimore in anticipation of disturbances in Baltimore because of a mistrial in the Freddie Gray case.

Channel Seven’s responsibility, and the responsibility of all the other local television channels in the New York market, is to served the informational needs of the New York, New Jersey, and portions of the Connecticut, not to insert a reporter and television crew into the potential mayhem of a Maryland disturbance and call it local news.

Sure, a report on it from an ABC sister station in Baltimore would be legitimate.

It’s a tough managerial decision. New York local stations often send local crews to Rome, Israel and elsewhere because there is a logical and legitimate local connection to an on-going or developing story.


Sorry WABC, not this time. You are pandering to the voyeuristic tendencies of your audience.

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