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Local TV Stations Criticized

By TChris, Section Media
Posted on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 09:16:13 AM EST
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by TChris

The Bush administration has no business disguising propaganda as news, but publicity surrounding the administration's effort to manipulate local news coverage may have sent a wake up call to local broadcasters.

With the abundance of independent sources for video feed -- all three major networks, CNN and the Associated Press have wire services that supply national news to local stations -- there is no excuse for airing government-sponsored news stories, television officials said.

According to Jim Morris, news director at WABI in Bangor, the lack of reporters and resources at small stations is a "lame excuse for airing government-sponsored news packages" -- particulary when the station neglects to inform the viewer that the piece was created by the government, not by the station's news department.

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    • Local TV Stations Criticized | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 10:08:31 AM EST
    The real reason small stations accept fake news is purely political. It's good to kiss the KINGS butt!

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 10:19:52 AM EST
    Read "into the buzzsaw" and you will understand how news is controlled. bush is only doing the normal thing that has been done by other presidents over 200 years. But the reason why bush is doing his thing is as evil as can-be and his real plans for you are not to good. in other words "see it for what it is"

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 02:59:44 PM EST
    Now you're getting it. It's not the Bush Administration's fault that the news media is too lazy to do their job. Now blogs are becoming the watchdog of the media. The media has failed as an institution - to both the liberals and the conservatives. $ED is either a child or doesn't understand the real world. It's not about kissing the king's ass. It's about doing their job. You think evil people care about local news? Maybe close to an election, but otherwise they couldn't care less. Especially in very blue states. Like, New York or California or Illinois. You know, major media markets.

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 03:42:08 PM EST
    Bocajeff is either Dumb or dumber if he thinks the evil empire doesn't care about local news. If they didn't care they wouldn't send the crap to them. Duh Any one who UNDERSTANDS the real world of politics understands the phrase "All politics is local" Boca a GED justisn't enough! :}

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#5)
    by desertswine on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 05:20:48 PM EST
    Our local channel 2 is so putrid that they've shown stories straight from the Heritage Foundation pretending to be news.

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 07:07:50 PM EST
    Why can't they just require all government VNRs to have a continuous crawl at the bottom so indicating?

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimcee on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 07:15:16 PM EST
    Sorry but I have no problem with VNRs. Every company worth its nut has something that is similar to VNRs. The idea that local news outlets use this crap for fill is purely a local decision not some giant VRW conpiracy. Any way, who the heck watches local news except for the weather? Just becauce Uncle Sam offers fake news reports doesn't mean the local stations have to run them. That they choose to run them speaks less well of the local stations than it does of the Federal gov't. For what ever reason local news has become awful in most small market towns and cost constraints seem to keep them from getting better thus cheap fixes such as VNRs that are no different from the private VNRs that started showing up 10 years ago that fill air-time really inexpensivly. Cheapness and shoddiness on the part of local new outlets is really to blame.

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#8)
    by john horse on Sun Mar 20, 2005 at 05:08:08 AM EST
    Propaganda is much more effective if the people watching it don't know that it is propaganda, and, in fact, believe that it is an unbiased news report. The only thing that surprises me is that the Bush administration felt the need to eliminate the middle man, given that the mainstream media usually serves as lapdogs for corporate power. Of course, it is also much more effective if the people, after discovering that they were conned, decide to shoot the messenger, rather than hold the person responsible for the misleading message accountable.

    Re: Local TV Stations Criticized (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 07:48:59 AM EST
    It gets harder and harder to know what is true and what isn't these days. My solution is to be sure to question everything.

    Local TV Stations Criticized | 9 comments (9 topical)