Tonight, I watched the NBC Local News at 11:00pm. While there were many stories covered throughout the half hour, only one, count em, one, was of a political nature. Now, you might say that this is normal, since it is the "local news." This may be true, but why do we need stories about how to find discontinued makeup? (Oh, and ladies, if your favorite shade of lipstick is no longer in stores, try beautyencounter.com haha). The only story about politics was about John Edwards and allegations that he spent some of his campaign money improperly. I agree that if you want stories about politics, anyone could just turn to CNN or Fox News and find some there. I do feel however that the local news should cover some more things about local government happenings. NBC did cover a few similar stories that CNN and Fox did today, such as the never ending Swine Flu, and the Dallas Cowboys training camp incident. They did however, place a more local spin on the Swine Flu outbreak, mentioning the reopening of the school in Queens where the first cases of Swine Flu were discovered in the US, and how the NYC Public Health Lab is testing for Swine Flu to help alleviate the backlog of tests that need to be done by the CDC.
What is good about the local news is that I heard stories that I never would have been exposed to. I mean, without watching tonight, I never would have gotten the warning about raccoon ringworm in Brooklyn. Plus, I now know what the weather will be like for the next fews days, and I can plan to play tennis accordingly. As discussed in class, it seems like the local news likes to cover subjects such as house fires and small robberies. An apartment in Newark burnt down, leaving hundreds of people homeless. Five men were also arrested in Long Island for breaking into dozens of cars and stealing Ipods, cell phones, and navigation systems. There was also a story about the International Reggae and World Music Awards in Queens, and the 2nd Annual Newark Hall of Fame Ceremony, where musician Bon Jovi and former Senator Bill Bradley were honored. And of course, there was a decent amount of sports coverage (about the last 10 minutes of the show).
Overall, the local news needs to cover more local politics, and focus less on entertainment and sports. If I want to look up sports, I can just check out Sportscenter. But hey, at least the local news isn't partisan.
An example of the kind of stories run on the local news. For those of you who love pineapples...
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