I don't recall who coined this phrase about Kansas City, in fact I can't even quote it verbatim but it goes something like "The city with the small town feeling" or some such shit. If you tell someone on the east or west coast you are from Kansas City, you will get the obligatory Dorothy and Toto reference. Even people who hail from KC like to refer to it as a cow town. I generally take exception to that kind of talk, but it's hard to argue the point when the biggest news story O the Day is the opening of a grocery store, or a waiter getting a big tip. Fox 4 has been reporting the grand opening of a downtown grocery store for the past month. With the grand opening taking place tomorrow Fox 4 has run the downtown grocery store piece a dozen times since last night. They did a man on the street interview with some guy who said it was about time they put a grocery store in the downtown area, the 5 minute drive to a midtown grocery was just too arduous. Not to mention he might be accosted by some crazy midtown wino bumming change or asking for a smoke.
My point in all of this is a trend that seems to be taking over of late. The local media seems to be content to serve up fluffy feel good horse shit in place of actual news. Fox 4 for example is more like an infomercial than an actual news source. In a city rife with crime, where murders are commonplace, where the city government is waging a war over an inept mayor and his nut job wife, instead of tending to the business of running the city, is a grocery store opening really the best they can come up with? Tkc linked a story from the Star about a cat killed in a house fire, which is a pretty good example of the direction the local media is heading in. It won't surprise me to awaken some day and find that the Star has been taken over by it's shallow, Valtrex snorting, stepchild Ink KC. Soon the news will be reduced to one fluffy story after the other. We will have to get our news from blogs and the few actual News related sites like Crime Scene Kansas City.
As a side note, Fox just ran the grocery store story, which I refuse to link, for the 4th time in the 20 minutes I've been sitting here pecking this out. I'll be back tomorrow with something a little less boring and it definitely won't be a fluffy feel good thing, I'll leave that to the professionals.
Have no fear MM. Within the first year the new grocery will either be robbed, somebody will be shot in it or at the least there will be several potato muggings in the parking lot to report on.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of the news people they have forgotten how to actually report the news. Or as a cost saving measure the powers that be fired anyone who had any sense. This is the best they can do - junk and weather scares. Since the weather hasn't been scary they have to do a LOT of junk to fill in the space.
ReplyDeleteAnother grocery store celebration.
ReplyDelete"shallow, Valtrex snorting, stepchild Ink KC."
ReplyDeleteBEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is better they report fluff. They cannot be trusted with the truth. Intelligent people will figure out where to seek the accurate!
ReplyDeletewhat would be news is if there were a new grocery on the Eastside! Although a DT store is, in fact, an advance for KC. Most major cities with NEW downtowns don't have grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteI like animal story fluff pieces. But this is because REAL news scares me.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I went to a luncheon where Wendall Anschutz of KCTV5 fame gave a very critical talk about the poor state of local news. He complained about how his own station wouldn't bother investigating anything. They would just listen to the police scanner and read press releases. No one really tried to do journalism.
ReplyDeleteWalt Bodine once suggested in the early days of television that the news stations vary the length of their broadcasts. On a slow news day like our downtown grocery store banner day, report the minimal junk like that in the 30 seconds or so that it might warrant and wrap up the anews broadcast early like in 15 minutes instead of the full fluff-filled 30 minutes. But then on big news days, he suggested doing in-depth analysis reports and stretch the news cast to a full hour, bumping whatever syndicated half hour fluff that would normally follow the broadcast.
It's too bad no one ever tried Walt's idea out.
An affirmed news junkie, I long ago stopped watching local television news. At 10:00 pm, I switch to Jon Stewart's Daily Show. He's at least honest about the product he's presenting - fake news.
ReplyDeleteThe really good TV reporters are as frustrated about what they're assigned as you and I are watching their stuff. It's all quick and dirty - chasing ambulances, fire trucks, and cop cars requires no research, no thoughtfulness, you can get in and out and get your story done fast. That's why Helling quit and went to the Star.
Most TV reporters, however, just have nice hair and perfect teeth and not a whole lot else behind their smiles.