Published December 11, 2005 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
By Aaron J. Brown
It hurts to say, but television is important. I spend a lot of time thinking I should watch less television. I read, surf the Internet and listen to the radio, but TV remains a major source of information and entertainment for me. When a toy rocket launches into a guy’s crotch on “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” I laugh, then I cry, then I laugh again. Even if it signals the descent of mankind, it’s funny.
Television’s influence over our society is often criticized. Today I’m taking a realistic look at this situation. Does anyone have an idea to keep Americans from turning to TV for the bulk of their news, entertainment and consumer decision-making?
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
The magic combination of moving pictures and sound seems to be unbeatable. Turn it off? Go sell that snowball in Nome, comrade. People won’t turn off their TVs. I know some who are generally successful in avoiding television, but when something important happens, they’re rooting around for a TV like it was eye meth.
So TV is powerful. We’re free to hate it, but stupid to ignore what it does and how it works.
Not surprisingly, one of the big losers since the rise of the flickering living room monolith has been reading. Newspapers, magazines and books have seen their share of the information pie fall behind television since the 1950s. Newspapers were once the single most important source of information in a small community. Now, more people in our Iron Range towns get their information exclusively from television than ever before. As many as half of some towns’ residents don’t read daily newspapers at all. President Bush even boasted during the last election that he doesn’t read newspapers. Appalling? Well, this was really only reported in newspapers and magazines, and you can see how it turned out.
Coupled with this, all media outlets – broadcast and print – are becoming less and less local. Modern commercial radio stations tend to be owned by large, out-of-town corporations and feature out-of-town voices. Many small newspapers face the same situation.
That’s why a recent headline is an encouraging sign, and a signal of what might help television become a news friend, instead of a news foe.
A new Ashland, Wis., television station begins local news broadcasts later this month. According to a story on the Associated Press wire, WAST-TV will broadcast from the Hibbing-sized northern Wisconsin town by Dec. 19.
This new station is operating as a partner with other news gathering organizations, such as News 6 and KUWS-FM in Superior, Wis. This is nothing new. The Hibbing Daily Tribune also partners with News 6. Most daily newspapers have television and radio partners these days. Partnerships like these were first developed to cover up the damage done to news gathering capabilities after significant staff reductions over the past decade, though executives might rephrase that. Now that news sharing is common, it’s high time these partnerships were used to increase the scope of news reporting in smaller local markets. Perhaps this new Ashland station is an example of better things to come.
News 6 invested in the Iron Range three years ago with the advent of Range 11. While viewers still see an Iron Range version of their evening newscasts, more could be done to increase local news gathering and reporting on the Iron Range. If small town people are going to rely on TV news, we should see TV reporters in our towns every day, not just when mines close or a grisly murder occurs.
When you add the Internet to the equation, you can see even more possibilities. A news organization’s home page could serve as an information portal involving TV news video clips, radio news sound clips and pictures and text from your local paper. Additional links could show you what’s going on in nearby towns and cities. We’re so very close to this happening now as it is (just check out the Tribune’s site at www.hibbingmn.com).
Consumers, just like the guy who took the rocket in the crotch on “Funniest Home Videos,” have put up with a lot lately. Consolidation and downsizing have cheapened the news product in every kind of media. Increasing local coverage will cost money, to both media owners and the people who read, hear and watch their products. Still, it is time for the commercial media to make good use of all this technology and efficiency they’ve been talking about for years.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.