Putting the "Loco" in "Local News Coverage"

After watching an enjoyable episode of Judge Judy, I left the television on to watch the local news coverage on CBS at 5. Contained in the not-so-local local news program were incidents of burning houses, molestation, rape, drunk driving, disappearances, murder, hate crimes, and female house keepers kept as slaves. Disbursed in between these "important" stories was news of Tina Turner's husband dying, Jessica Alba's pregnancy, and Time magazine's top awkward moments. To lighten up the end of the hour long news segment, a segment about the Barney Cam at the White House finished the program.

Now, I personally have never liked local news, but let me place this in a larger context. I visited Berkeley in California in the summer of 2004, the year that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 came out. I stayed with a family out there, and they treated me to a trip to the theater to watch this movie. I remember, as I strained to listen through my disdain, hearing about Michael Moore's theory of the government instilling fear in the country - or should I say, about Bush propagating this fear.

I was left to wonder, and watching this news program reminded me, why would someone like Moore try to blame Bush and the government for this? First of all, it is liberals who as part of their ideology want more government involvement in society; second, it is the media who really propogates this fear through broadcasts such as the one mentioned above. Ironic that Moore would bash Bush! It seems to me that that is counter to liberal ideology, especially when media, which many liberals feel is in the hands of "Big Business," would have been an apt and ideologically sound place to blame. Then again, I suppose that wouldn't be in the spirit of Bush Bashing, but I digress.

We all know that crime happens, so what is the news trying to convey? Crimes are given air time that is disproportionate to how often such crimes actually occur, or to their importance. Plus, since CBS has a large audience to provide for, "local" stories out of Boston, New York City, and southern New Jersey were covered. Everything in the news was focused on what happened in the past. Why can't the news be focused on the future? Why can't we discuss what members of our local government and our state government are doing? We embrace the concept of preventative medicine - why not embrace the idea of preventative news? Surely, local events are the one thing that citizens really can change.

Asking for a governmental department such as the FCC to come in and regulate this is unacceptable to me - please, let's not give Michael Moore any more movie fodder. But is this the news we really want to watch?