Jax Daily

I admit to only watching the local news stations a couple of times a week, at the most. Frankly, the broadcasts are depressing. We start off with a teaser about the weather. Then footage from 9 different crime scenes. Maybe a car accident or two mixed in there. The weather finally comes on. Then 60 seconds of national news, 30 seconds of “world” news, and it’s on to sports for the remaining few minutes.

We’re less than three weeks away from an important election, and three months from an even more important election, and usually the most you hear about it on the local stations is during the advertisements, where the candidates pay to pound on each other with sound bites.

This is tonight’s “local news” according to Channel 4’s website…

A visitor to Jacksonville would think he had stepped into the “Old Detroit” setting of the Robocop films, not a vibrant, rapidly growing, and relatively prosperous city.

I don’t discount the importance of covering our crime problem. Particularly, covering the proposals to combat it. But delighting in the gorey details of every single carjacking or home invasion just seems crude to me.

At what point do people start looking for more out of their local newscast? More actual news and fewer segments like “Crime Where You Live” — which seems to be a recurring Fox 30 feature aimed at convincing viewers to weld their doors shut at night.

Is that asking for too much?

Maybe it is. After all, I don’t seriously think most reporters enjoy covering car accidents and shootings. They would much rather dedicate their energies to more worthy pursuits… but ratings are what decide the content of the program.

Maybe it’s the viewers who are to blame. After all, we keep tuning in night after night.