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Local content

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
Deleted User 15783

Local content

Post by Deleted User 15783 » Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:01 am

An open letter to Channels Two, Four and Seven:

There used to be a time, in the not too distant past, when the local TV stations talked about ... wait for it ... local stuff.
Different people at the station would grab a copy of the latest Oakland Press, Ann Arbor News, Livonia Observer, Macomb Daily, The Downriver News Herald, etc. And someone would write some stories out of those papers.
And local news and happenings was the majority content of the newscast. What a concept, eh?

Now all you three seem to want to do is just grab video off a satellite, and re-hash one topic. Whatever the hot button of the day is, the viewers are just going to hear about it, over and over, and that's it. Am I the only one more interested in the Yale Bologna Festival, instead of yet another segment on whatever Washington is bickering about?

I'm thinking the folks that really are interested in most of the stuff you report anymore are not watching you anyway.
They're watching a cable news channel.



SolidGoldDancers
Posts: 187
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:03 pm

Re: Local content

Post by SolidGoldDancers » Wed Jul 06, 2022 5:50 pm

Yeah, pretty much there is no local journalism. Sure, some web sites exist such as Bridge Michigan, but more or less we get one view of news and it is national in scope.

The papers are owned by a vulture capital group hell bent on destroying whatever is left of print, and the TV stations still act as if their viewers have never heard of a thing called "the internet" yet most of their content is ripped right off the internet. They are simply 20 years behind WJR in watching the death of a listener (or viewer) be actively reflected in the ratings.



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Herm
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:31 am

Re: Local content

Post by Herm » Thu Jul 07, 2022 7:03 am

In The Bleachers wrote:
Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:01 am
An open letter to Channels Two, Four and Seven:

There used to be a time, in the not too distant past, when the local TV stations talked about ... wait for it ... local stuff.
Different people at the station would grab a copy of the latest Oakland Press, Ann Arbor News, Livonia Observer, Macomb Daily, The Downriver News Herald, etc. And someone would write some stories out of those papers.
And local news and happenings was the majority content of the newscast. What a concept, eh?

Now all you three seem to want to do is just grab video off a satellite, and re-hash one topic. Whatever the hot button of the day is, the viewers are just going to hear about it, over and over, and that's it. Am I the only one more interested in the Yale Bologna Festival, instead of yet another segment on whatever Washington is bickering about?

I'm thinking the folks that really are interested in most of the stuff you report anymore are not watching you anyway.
They're watching a cable news channel.
I work at 7/20. We do 9.5 hours of news a day during the week. With the exception of our 4pm news, the VAST majority of that is local news. Sometimes, a national story is the big story of the day and it would be stupid of us to not cover it just because it isn’t local. There are still plenty of times where we will cover a national story and then give a local perspective on it. While the broadcast hours and specifics are different, this is true of 2 and 4 as well. In fact, this is the way that most affiliate newsrooms operate across the country.
If you wish to log a complaint, maybe stay away from the hyperbole, because your assessment of how we go about our business is inaccurate.
I love the Yale Bologna Festival as much as the next guy! But we have to consider the impact on all of our viewers when choosing content, not just the viewer in the bleachers. Just because the hyper local newspaper covers it, doesn’t mean it should be covered on TV.



edj
Posts: 1963
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2022 8:54 pm

Re: Local content

Post by edj » Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:21 am

2 is the worst. Too much pop culture garbage that isn’t news.



dial-it-in
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:24 pm

Re: Local content

Post by dial-it-in » Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:46 am

I think the mix is OK. When big national stories are top of mind local stations SHOULD cover it. I like when national things are mixed in. I also like local things as well. Overall I think the stations do a decent job of keeping it fresh and interesting. You can tell though when its a slow news cycle and the same local feature is run over and over. I dont care for that and would prefer a refresher on a big national story at that point.



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Plate Cap
Posts: 222
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:18 am
Location: After the rectifier stack

Re: Local content

Post by Plate Cap » Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:27 pm

Despite what the station employee says, I have to agree with the original poster: we turn to local news for local news. The station employee is correct in that it would be 'stupid' to ignore a big national story, but it's usually just a rehash of the network news....the station, and even the poster here added "local perspective" as almost an afterthought. If it's not full of local perspective, all the local station is trying to accomplish is to try and 'scoop' the network 1/2 to 1 hour earlier.

If local TV is going to stay relevant (and that relevance is less so every day with the popularity of streaming TV), local news is the only thing they alone can provide.


The box that many broadcasters won’t look outside of was made in 1969 and hasn’t changed significantly since.

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