By Stephen Whitley, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – I have long thought the local television news in Dallas left something to be desired. Most television newscasts in this city tend to play softball with major news stories, opting instead to highlight puppies in need of new homes or senior citizens reflecting on their lives. Mind you, I don't have anything against homeless dogs or reflective senior citizens - both have their place - but a good, hard-hitting investigative news story would be nice every now and again. I blame the corporatization of the media for this lack of journalistic chutzpah. Then again, I blame corporate America for a lot of things. But during the recent ice storm, I believe our local television stations reached a new low point.
Monday night, as I was listening to the pitter-patter of sleet on the skylight in our living room, one local weather forecaster, in his understated way, advised us that "It's really coming down out there." Other than the obvious grammatical difficulty in that sentence, he wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know. But Tuesday morning was when the real fun began. One traffic reporter, standing in front of scenes of hapless motorists struggling to get to work, said, "It's really slick out there." Am I the only one who sees the futility in a statement like this? Of course it's slick out there. According to the weather man, it was sleeting all night. The cameras these television stations have posted all over the area to monitor traffic are equally disturbing. Are we living in 1984? Am I the only one troubled by this?
Because the university I attend was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, I had little to do except watch television. By the mid-day news Tuesday, the television stations had fanned their reporters out to various locations in the Metroplex to report on the icy conditions. Two of my favorite segments included one where an intrepid reporter walked a few yards in the sleet and said, "Do you hear that crunching sound?" Yes, I heard it this morning when I walked my dog. Another fun segment was the reporter who was standing by the side of the road asking a policeman if the motorists driving by were driving too fast for the road conditions. Here's a thought: Instead of getting on the news, perhaps the policeman could have ticketed those speeding motorists. Channel 8, always attempting to interface with their sister division at Belo, read the headline of yesterday's Dallas Morning News on the air. Wow! That was newsworthy!
I realize North Texas doesn't see weather like that very often, and it's important to make people aware of dangerous weather and road conditions. But the overabundance of reporting on a couple of inches of sleet? Give me a break, please! Segment after segment that only repeats what the previous reporter said but in a new location is overkill. I only wish the local television stations would spend as much time on the fake drugs scandal, or other stories that are infinitely more important, but have had short shrift in the local media. But I'm not holding my breath. As long as we don't expect much from our local media, we'll continue to get trite, bland, feel-good stories.
Ahead on the news, local policeman recounts rescue of elderly lady's cocker-spaniel from flood due to melting sleet.
Stephen Whitley is a writer from Dallas.