Local TV news: Not just crappy, also in violation of FCC regs

LA Times: Local TV news isn't meeting FCC standards of operating in the public interest. USC study shows just 22 seconds of local gov coverage for every 30 minutes. Humpback whale sightings, celebrity perfume lawsuits cited by stations as examples of "significant treatment of issues facing the community." Nothing particularly earth-shattering here, but interesting to see blatant disregard for public interest quantified and publicly talked about.

Previously:

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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Anonymous

I completely agree. It is a running joke between my friends and I about how ridiculous the local news is here in L.A. Celebrity gossip and funny animal videos seem to be the biggest news items every day.
Anonymous

Which FCC regulations is this in violation of? The only programming broadcast stations are required to carry are 3 hours of childrens television per week, and that comes from a specific Congressional requirement. The notion of public interest standards is a myth.

See here for the basic introduction to the topic: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html
Anonymous

Whew. Thank god for the FCC then, huh?
ab3a

To get a news story in any depth, I’ll usually go online to get details from numerous sources. I have stopped looking at television news for anything useful except perhaps headline coverage of one or two very significant news stories a year.

Local TV news has always been a wasteland of watered down, over simplified ignorance. It’s not worth anyone’s time to watch.

People would be better served if they put on SpongeBob Squarepants instead.
- MrsBug
  
  I am always in favor of more Spongebob.
IronEdithKidd

LA just needs more entertaining government. There’s no shortage of local government coverage on Detroit TV stations. Between Kwame’s continued antics, singing city council members, and the state takeover of the school district, we’re lucky they still save a little time for the weather report.
Anonymous

they can’t talk about anything serious – that would be encouraging TV watchers to think.