It is the great misfortune of WCVB-TV that the hardworking staff of Campaign Outsider generally chooses to watch its newscasts over the other Boston stations’.
What follows, however, could be said of of virtually all local newscasts.
YOU’RE NO LONGER LOCAL!!!
The “local live coverage you can count on” that ‘CVB endlessly flogs is actually “elsewhere canned coverage you could live without.”
Take Monday night’s NewsCenter 5 at 11. (Alright. Please.)
Three of the newscast’s stories were straight off the satellite feed:
• A “Billboard Battle in the Bible Belt.” From the ABC News website (WCVB is Boston’s ABC affiliate):
Deep in the heart of the Bible Belt, a dispute over God and country is being waged very publicly.
It all started when an atheist group decided to remind people of the history of thePledge of Allegiance by putting up six billboards around the state of North Carolina, in honor of the July Fourth holiday. One was placed even on Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte.
The signs read “One nation indivisible,” a reference to the Pledge of Allegiance but deliberately omitting the words “under God.”
(clip)
In Asheville, N.C., where one of the billboards stands, the Rev. Ralph Sexton, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, is fighting back — with his own billboards and help from the church coalition We Still Pray.
The predictable rumpus ensued.
• A breast feeding ruckus in Kentucky. (Local newscast story here.)
• A car chase that ended with the suspect crashing into a Detroit TV station. (Sorry, no video here.)
But you could see it on a Boston TV station. The question is, why?
I know, I know – times are hard, budgets are tight, satellite feeds are attractive.
Even so, those stories ate up valuable airtime and meant nothing to Boston residents. They qualify as interesting, not important.
As Neil Postman said 25 years ago: Run that stuff all you want. Just don’t call it news.
Campaign Outsider 
But give them credit for their coverage of the un-tornado racing down Rte. 2 – even to the point of pissing off Bachelorette fans by running until 8:31 with it (in fact, they basically closed with Heather Unruh telling Bachelorette fans to stop their whining and suck it up – tornadoes are life and death).
Good point, Adam. I had shortchanged them there.
No news is bad news. I don’t want to “meet the patriots cheerleaders.” I want news.
Pingback: Tweets that mention Local Live Coverage You Can’t Count On | Campaign Outsider -- Topsy.com
Their “local” coverage consisted of almost 15 minutes of getting excited about severe weather which never really materialized in Boston proper.
It’s amazing how weather-obsessed the TV stations are in this town. Part of it is how much they’ve invested in their SuperDuperDopplerRadar gizmos, but part of it is also a response to what weather weenies local residents have become.
Whatever happened to those “hardy New Englanders”?
Don’t forget that before the weather guru says :Super Duper Doppler Radar, he also says, quite proudly, Storm Center Five yadda, yadda, yadda, so by the time he chokes out the full title, there’s barely enough time left to report the results. How about calling themselves the Channel Five Weather and leave it at that?
WBZ-DT, channel 30 (although it still calls itself channel 4) also preempted programming after 7:00 pm, which meant no ‘Jeopardy’ Monday night. Bwaaahh! I think it ran over 8:00 pm but I don’t know what’s on then; I had switched to the Keith Olbermannless “Countown” with Laurence O’Donnell substituting. Even though I’m a “Laurence” with an Irish surname, I don’t think I’ll be watching his 10:00 pm show in the fall.
Local news is a sad joke, for sure. Channel 7 is the worst–they’ll highlight and run a long piece on a dog stuck in a tree in Texas, if they have video to go with it. And they have lots of celebrity news, too. Very sad, but a good reason to shut it off or get news elsewhere.
Note that the function formerly known as “weather center” has been re-named “storm center” on one of the local channels. So the “storm center” often reports that the weather is hot, cold, moderate, quiet, etc–no storms to be seen. Just amping up the hype, for no reason.
Good point, Bill. Makes them permanently overcaffeinated.
I think most of you who commented above are jealous of WCVB Channel 5. If this station is as bad as you people say it is, then why is it consistantly no. 1 24/7.
You must work for WBZ or WHDH. Give this station for the credit it deserves. They are number 1 by a large margin and growing even stronger. Wake up people…….