Holding Local News Accountable
Also some recommendations from a Remote Notes Pal
Remote Notes is on semi-vacation this week. I’m recovering from the awful Red Sox performance over the weekend. Also, my interview fell through. But we still have some items to address…
THE LEDE:
HOLD LOCAL NEWS ACCOUNTABLE
Graphic by SorryNotSorry, Usage Rights Creative Commons 4.0
To paraphrase the old line, news is like the weather. Everybody complains about it, and nobody does anything about it. You’re probably thinking there’s nothing you can do about the news, but I’m here to tell you that’s not so.
First, I don’t want to be seen as a news basher. Especially local news, which I think does a remarkable job given the small budgets with which it has to work. Still, there are stations and station groups that sensationalize the news, and they give a bad name to the rest of the profession. Hold them accountable. I have witnessed the power that one letter can accomplish. And yes, I mean letter. Newsrooms are flooded with email. Send a letter, stamp and all, to a news director or general manager (their names and addresses are on station websites) if you feel a station covered a story unfairly.
Now, I don’t mean you should write to a station if they didn’t cover your favorite politician the way you wanted. I mean you should write the station, with specific examples, if they aren’t covering your community in a way that you believe reflects its true values. Don’t be negative or insulting; have suggestions on positive stories to cover.
Local news channels actually want to hear from you. They want positive, uplifting stories to tell. You can have an impact on local news.
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NEWS AND NOTES:
ALL-TIME LOW AUDIENCE FOR ALL-STAR GAME: The 2022 MLB All-Star Game was least-watched in the history of the game. Fox aired the game, which drew 7.5 million viewers, a 10% drop from 2021. According to Sports Media Watch, this was the first time the All-Star Game had fewer than eight million viewers.
NEWS ANCHOR CRACKS THE WHIP ON “AMERICA’S GOT TALENT”: By day, Jack Lepiarz is a news anchor at WBUR in Boston, an NPR member station. But he has an unusual hobby - he’s a master at cracking whips. Going by the stage name “Jack the Whipper,” Lepiarz appeared on “America’s Got Talent” last week and pulled off a stunt so amazing he got Simon Cowell to “take his X off the board.” Watch this very entertaining five minutes of whip-cracking action.
END TRAFFIC REPORTS ON BROADCAST NEWS: Here’s a quick way for broadcasters to reallocate resources: stop running traffic reports. First, as has always been the case, the traffic is different by the time you arrive at a “hotspot.” But, critically, broadcast traffic reports are dated and irrelevant. We all have traffic apps and GPS now. We are re-reouted on the fly. We may leave the house one way because the radio tells us there’s a backup at the bridge, only for Waze to say “Backup’s all clear, go back to that route.” If there’s traffic news - a 20 mile backup into town, for example - that’s different. That could affect hundreds of thousands of people and the day’s economy. But traffic every day, every ten minutes? Put it in park. Use the money on a reporter who can find an under-represented community story instead.
LINKS AND LIKES
We now turn over the editor’s chair to Remote Notes pal John Cockrell, who recommends some items:
PODCASTS: John recommends /reply-all/ (that’s the name of the podcast), particularly the episode The Case of the Missing Hit. From the description:
A man in California is haunted by the memory of a pop song from his youth. He can remember the lyrics and the melody. But the song itself has vanished, completely scrubbed from the internet. PJ takes on the Super Tech Support case.
This episode of the show dropped in 2020 but, like many gems, it is just waiting to be discovered. (Spotify, Apple)
John also suggests Kathryn Nicolai’s Nothing Much Happens, for those who like to listen to something to help them fall asleep. (I’d insert a joke here about listening to one of my lectures if they were available in podcast form.) He suggests the episode Summer at the Inn:
…a story about a morning by the lake at the great old house. It’s also about setting a table with care, a blue jay sitting at a feeder and how to borrow someone’s else’s joy and wear it as your own.
TV: As long as we’re handing John the remote, he strongly recommends “The Bear” on FX and Hulu. This is proving to be the breakout of the summer with a 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The series is about a chef who returns to his Chicago hometown to help run his family sandwich shop. Summarizes Rotten Tomatoes:
Like an expertly confected sandwich, The Bear assembles a perfect melange of ingredients and stacks them for optimal satisfaction -- and thankfully keeps the crust-iness for extra flavor.
STREAMING: OK, I may be late to the game, but I finished Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+. I really enjoyed this entry into the Star Wars canon. I don’t understand the people who say “it starts off slow, but stick with it.” It starts off with a lightsaber battle and builds from there. We see old favorite characters, and fill in some obscure characters, too. A very enjoyable series. Ewan McGregor (who plays Obi-Wan) has said there not be a follow-up to the series. I hope he’s wrong. There’s still lots more to investigate with his beloved character.
OMG OMG OMG: You can’t mention Star Wars without bringing up Star Trek. This past week saw the announcement of the Paramount+ series Picard, about the captain from Star Trek: The Next Generation. 2023 will see Picard’s third and final season, and judging from the teaser, there will be a lot of TNG guest stars:
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