Ever Wonder Why Your Local TV News Stations Run the Same Damn Stories?

[n2doc]

Everybody knows that most local TV newscasts kind of suck. On television, if it bleeds it leads, and if it's cheesy and trite it wins the night. Local news is a reliable source for late-night comedians—and The Simpsons has been lampooning it forever. Yet despite all of the genre's shortcomings, local TV news still manages to reach 9 in 10 American adults, 46 percent of whom watch it "often." It may come as a surprise to you internet junkies, but broadcast television still serves as Americans' main source of news and information. Which is why it matters that hundreds of local TV news stations were swept up in a massive new wave of media consolidation: It means that you, the viewer, are being fed an even more repetitive diet of dreck.


In terms of dollar value, more than 75 percent of the nearly 300 full-power local TV stations purchased last year were acquired by just three media giants. The largest, Sinclair Broadcasting, will reach almost 40 percent of the population if its latest purchases are approved by federal regulators. Sinclair's CEO has said he wants to keep snapping up stations until the company's market saturation hits 90 percent. (And that's not a typo.)

Now here's where things really get sketchy: Media conglomerates such as Sinclair have bought up multiple news stations in the same regions—in nearly half of America's 210 television markets, one company owns or manages at least two local stations, and a lot of these stations now run very similar or even completely identical newscasts, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. One in four local stations relies entirely on shared content.

On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission finally took steps to curb the practice. The commission's rules have long prohibited companies from owning more than one of the four top-rated stations in a given market. But there was no rule preventing a single company from managing more than one station per market. Companies exploited this loophole by controlling stations through "joint operating agreements"—essentially shell companies formed just to hold the broadcast license. "Removal of the loophole helps ensure competition, localism, and diversity in local broadcast markets by preventing a practice that previously resulted in consolidation in excess of what is permitted under the Commission's rules," the FCC said in a press release.

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http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/04/fcc-pew-local-tv-news-consolidation

[liberal N proud]

1. Closing the barn door after the horse got out.

"On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission finally took steps to curb the practice."

[wercal]

2. My favorite is the fake interview

The local news airs an interview....as if the local reporter is asking the questions, and the subject of the interview is directly answering them.

But its really a spliced together sequence. So obviously the network (CBS seems to do this the most) pushes down these stories to the local affiliates, complete with blank air time to be filled with a surrogate interviewer.

Another thing that used to crack me up - the local station got a large flat screen when they first hit the market. The woman anchor would stand next to it and speak...when she switched to a new story, she would tap the tv...acting like it was a touch screen. Somebody off screen would switch to the next slide. The timing was off sometimes and it was just too silly to even watch.

[JimDandy]

4. Yes, those spliced fake interviews are so obvious and creepy

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I hate the spliced interviews that are nothing but infomercials disguised as news.

The only thing worth watching on the local news is the weather. The rest is garbage. And don't even get me started on the national evening news.

[Blue_Tires]

3. This is why I don't get all the "chicken little" insults

for those of us truly worried about the USSC ruling on unlimited money as political speech...

The Telecom Act of 1996 was the progenitor of the modern landscape of media ownership deregulation...It was a good 3-5 years before we started seeing any changes, and some of the early, small changes could actually been seen as positive...But 8-10 years later everyone knew beyond a doubt just how evil and devious a scheme it was, and how it has killed any semblance of modern journalism in this country...But there's no getting the toothpaste back in the regulatory tube now...

[reddread]

5. at the same time for decades and decades?

collusion, censorship and perception management.