Local TV News Sucks
The local news, at least in Seattle, spends way too much time covering stuff that doesn’t matter. Of course, the big news for today for the Seattle area is: The Seahawks are going to the Superbowl! Not to say that doesn’t matter, but I think almost everyone who cared about that fact either watched them whip the Carolina Panthers on TV or were at Qwest Field enjoying it in person (it’s a damn fine stadium, speaking from personal experience). It’s certainly alright to mention it for the odd person who might have had a life and had other things to do, but it should not monopolize a 30 minute newscast.
While this is just one example, I could probably come up with 50 others where the local newscasts have devoted time to stuff that, quite frankly, is promoting something else on the channel, absolute fluff, or in the case of their hour-long newscasts, a repeat of something they said a few minutes ago. It’s absolute garbage. And doesn’t really let us know what the hell is going on in the world.
The only “local” newscast that I’ve seen that is actually worth a damn is Channel 2 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their hour-long 10pm newscast covers real news, or at least more real news than anything else I’ve seen. They cover a range of local, national, and International news. They actually cover stuff in a little bit of depth. They don’t repeat themselves. And it’s something I make a point of watching at least once when I am in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, I dream for a day when I can turn on my TV and be able to tune-in a highly personalized newscast anytime I want. I’ll be able to express my preference that I don’t want to hear about the local nuns who are Seahwaks fans (and the bad puns that went with that story) or don’t particularly care where Jessica and Nick are or whom they’re seeing. The funny thing is, I wrote a short story in high school that expressed this idea of a highly custom newscast. I think we’re a lot closer to that reality. Now if I can just figure out how to get a Myth TV box in my living room… 
