Drive-by (and drive-thru) journalism

A friend of mine at a local tv station says he is nearly ready to put down his microphone and IFB (that little earpiece that lets the reporter hear the people in the control room and the anchor). The reason: What I've come to call "drive-by journalism," though I'm sure I'm not the first to use that term. I also like to call it "drive-thru journalism," since the effect on the brain is similar to what a diet of french fries and burgers does to your mid-section--ads a lot of fat but not much muscle you can use.

It's a chicken-and-the-egg dilemma. Focus groups, polls and ratings say that what you and I want to see is news about "personal safety." To me, that means knowing whether the nation is under attack or if a flood, tornado or blizzard is headed my way. As interpreted by all too many local news stations, that means reporting live in front of a smoldering house that burned the night before (even if the house was abandoned and the only victims are rodents), or in front of a gas station robbed several hours earlier, or the umpteenth "home invasion" which, if investigated further, would likely turn out to be not some random act but an ongoing domestic dispute or drug deal.

This, of course, is no new observation. I admit that it's easy to play "armchair news director" since I'm no longer in that line of work. The daily demands of putting together a lineup of newscasts are tough, to say the least. News departments, once considered a public service investment, are now required to be money-makers. Budgets are tight. Many reporters are very young and inexperienced. Between the morning planning meetings and news deadlines, there's really only a couple of hours to get the story. Ratings seem to indicate that in-depth stories bore viewers. "Flash and trash," as we called it, is easier to get and gets viewers, or so we've been told. In some markets, stations are struggling when they dare to do news that educates and informs rather than news that excites. There's a very small news hole, after you take out time for commercials, teases, weather and sports, and it has to be filled with quick hits. You only get a few seconds to capture the viewer's attention before you become a victim of the remote control. Channel surfing scares away sponsors. Sponsors pay the bills.

A news director once told me, "We should never be someone's only source for news. If we do our jobs right, they'll be inspired to read the newspaper or magazines and delve deeper into issues that impact them." Unfortunately, that doesn't make for good station promos, and it doesn't impress the people who are banking on reaching the most potential customers in the viewing audience.

My friend said to me, "I wish someone would have the guts to stand up and say, 'We're going to do real news. We're going to do what's right, what informs, not just what we think people want to see.'" It would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. These days, we're inundated with information, whether we want it or not. I know that my attention span is shrinking by the commercial. We know a little about everything. Unfortunately, we know a lot about very little. And as long as the feedback supports driving up, shooting some video, slapping it down and moving on to the next story, that's what we're going to get. Do you want ketchup with that?