Interesting numbers
February 25th, 2005 : Filed by Mixter
This week’s TIME Magazine, in their “Numbers” column, reports the following statistics:
6 minutes, 21 seconds: Amount of time a typical half-hour local TV news broadcast devotes to sports and weather
38 seconds: Amount of time a typical half-hour local newscast devotes to U.S. foreign policy, including the war in Iraq
Local TV news stations live and die by their ratings. Americans want to watch their local channels for the local weather forecast and stories about their favorite sports teams, so the TV stations dumb down the news to attract the largest audience possible. After all, they ARE running a business.
watchingthewatchers.org
I don’t watch much local news. I can’t stomach the local Fox channel, which has about 6 hours of “news” per day. I will, however, flip on the local NBC affiliate when I’m getting ready for work in the morning, but I usually only catch about 10 minutes of the broadcast. During that time, I may see the “Monday Makeover,” where a lucky local woman gets a complete makeover before 7:00 a.m. Or I may get to see the anchors chat with a nutritionist, a cheerleading squad, or other local leaders. I’m sure to get weather and traffic, which is okay, I guess, but not all that enlightening.
To be fair, I guess you can’t really expect to get in-depth coverage of U.S. foreign policy from your local news channels. I would like to think, however, that U.S. foreign policy would merit more than a fleeting 38 second mention. |
